Gliding Flight

DEN/305 Basic Level I Notes

Copyright G.Dorrington, Jan 2002

 Gliding Flight
T=0, dU/dt = 0

γ
D
U
W
 Gliding Flight
dU/dt = 0 L = W cos γ , D=W
sin γ ,

γ
D
U
W
 Gliding Flight
L = W cos γ , D=W
sin γ

vs = U sin γ
L
vs

γ
D
U
W
 Gliding Flight
L = W cos γ , D=W
sin γ

Mistake in
vs = U sin γ notes γ = sin-
L
1
(vs/U)

vs

γ
D
U
W
 Gliding Flight
L/D = 1 /tanγ ,

approximately for small γ ,

L/D = 1/γ
L
vs

γ
D
U
W
 Gliding Flight
approximately for small γ ,
L/D = U/vs

or vs = DU/W L
vs

γ
D
U
W
 Gliding Flight
Minimum sink
approximately for small γ ,
speed occurs at
L/D = U/vs minimum flight
power speed (even
though there is no
or vs = DU/W engine!)
L
vs

γ
D
U
W
 Sink speed
U

vs
End