Thread: Glide Ratio

What is supposed to be the best glide speed in the CTsw? Seems like I've heard 54 or 58 knots. I was using 58 knots and testing the glide ratio of my plane today (a little difficult due to the wind). It appears that 14:1 is realistic.

One thing caught me a little by surprise. When I pulled the power, with my glide speed at 58 knots, the nose attitude was a little higher than I expected (no flaps). This being the case, the landing sight picture was certainly different than I am used to, and I landed a little harder than I otherwise would have landed.

In thinking about this afterward, as I got fairly close to the runway, I would probably have been smart to pitch the nose downward until I found a sight picture more like I am used to. Would that be the best solution? Obviously, lowering the nose too soon would cost me some distance.

My understanding is 70 kts w/0 degree flaps. The nose up attitude could be attributed to to much trim which could account for the lower speed. Just my thought, I'm no expert.

The CTSW AOI lists it at 63KIAS, which seems to work well for me at -6 and 0 flaps. It yields about a 400-500fpm descent rate.

The CTLS AOI list a few glide speeds based on weight from 78kts at max gross down to 64 kts at 880lbs.

As a rule of thumb for most light airplanes, best glide speed is around 1.3 x the power off stall speed in a given configuration.

If your practicing no flap power off approaches/landings with 0 or -6 flaps, it will look really flat on approach, shoot for 65-70 on long final slowing to 60-65 on short final, and be patient in the flare, it will float for awhile, watch out for ballooning.

If your practicing power off emer landings, maintain best glide speed through out, and use flaps once you have the field made, your goal for those should be to land at lower speeds with flaps in a target area.

Hope that helps

Regards
Eric Swisher
Copper City Aviation Services

IIRC the glide approach is done at either 0 or 15 flap? Not sure which, does anyone have chapter and verse? 60kts works reasonably well for me while practicing, but I am doubtful that accurate measurements are easy to do in practice.

I heard from a reliable source: 68 kt and 0 flaps.

you get best speed (at a given power setting) at neg six. doesn't that mean neg six has the best lift/drag coefficient?

Good point Charile Tango.....my only thought is if you glide out with -6 and on short final you go to 0 deg it would cause a baloon effect and foul up your flare,dead stick landing, etc. 68 kias and 0 deg is best all around IMO.

Also glad to see you and RL and others are still offering advice and suggestions to Fast Eddie on another forum. His input was always respected.

Originally Posted by N89WD

Good point Charile Tango.....my only thought is if you glide out with -6 and on short final you go to 0 deg it would cause a baloon effect and foul up your flare,dead stick landing, etc. 68 kias and 0 deg is best all around IMO.

for me #1 i want to make the (a) field, once i have the field made zero or even 15 might make sense for better visibility.

i would tend to slip and use less flaps then normal resulting in precision (hitting the numbers) and less chance of over doing the round out.

CT, I'm guessing at 68 kt and -6 flaps, you'll have to maintain a nose-up pitch which may cause flow separation off the back of the fuselage, and therefore more drag. I was told 0 was the best but given no reason.

A 15:1 glide ratio is nice to have when flying over Lake Michigan.