PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Another Stupid Question (No3) Best Glide Speed
Old 7th Mar 2012, 13:48
  #14 (permalink)  
Flaymy
 
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: UK
Posts: 106
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
It is far from a stupid question, but also one easily answered if you really are curious. Genghis has a good point, in the event you should be concentrating on the picture, but if you are pre-planning for potential failure it might be useful to know how urgent cleaning up after T/O is to avoid any point where you have no options, and what sort of glide you can manage.

Take a buddy up flying (head in the cockpit always have a second pilot on board to look out for you!) and try it. Set up a glide in T/O configuration at published best-glide speed. Note rate-of-descent speed against IAS. Do the same for 5 kts below, and then (at a decent altitude) 10 kts below. For completeness you might try 5 kts above too, although best glide with flap will be slower than without (flap increases parasite drag more than induced drag; increasing parasite drag reduces speed for lowest drag, and so best lift/drag ratio).

Using 100 ft/minute = 1 kt you can then work out the glide ratio at each speed. If you are really interested go back to school days and plot the points on graph paper, speed across and glide ratio up the side and draw a smooth curve through them. Then you will have best glide speed and glide ratio.

Then forget the precision with which you know this. You can probably work this all out to the nearest knot, but if you try to fly that after an engine failure you will crash with your eyes on the ASI.
Flaymy is offline