Davaar,
descending is a verticle acceleration ,ie it has direction and magnitude.
Lift is a function of IAS,wing area,wing shape (camber etc),Angle of Attack among other things (Cl=1/2RhoVsquared.S).In a gliding a/c such as your Tiger IAS is less than crz,wing area hasn't changed,neither has air density(in a measureable sense) so it can be seen from the Lift Formula that lift must be less,unless of course you want to increase AOA which is a VERY short term view followed closely by stall/spin.Therefore in a gliding descent Lift<Weight
There is no thrust from the engine but drag still exists but probably less due to less Form Drag from lower IAS.If you are at the optimum glide speed this equates to the maximum coefficient of lift so ideal AOA for min induced drag.
Overall in a glide Lift<Weight and the 'forward' component of weight = Drag.
By the way congrats to the 145 crew ,well done !
MM.
PS While I've not done a lot of gliding,gliders climb because the air they are descending in is going up at a greater rate.
