glide ratios for light prop aircraft

@galdri, @arquebus

The glide ratio is dictated purely by lift and drag. Weight does not alter the glide ratio. It only affects the velocity on that same glide path. That’s the reason that Cessna chart doesn’t mention number of pax, fuel load, etc.

LOL! The proverbial winged brick.

Sometimes the Tri-Pacer / Colt feels a lot less than 1:8 😮 It is, after all, a drag monster. I found this on the Internet “From my experience flying a PA-22 …. (has) a glide ratio somewhere between a rock and grand piano” I’ll second that

When I used to fly the later winged PA21-160 I recall the school thought that 1:12 was achievable. I have my doubts.

Moggy

The glide ratio of the C-152 is very similar to that of the C-172, at around 1/10. The C-152 has a smaller wing that the C-172, so even though it is lighter, the glide ratio remains pretty much the same.

All of the US manufactured, traditional, GA aircraft seem to have glide ratios around 1/8 (Piper Tri-Pacer) up to around 1/10

27vet- Thanks for that info. 1/10 is not too bad for a 172. Im pretty sure that the biggest factor is whether the prop is variable pitch or not. I think the glide ration for the Windex 1200 motorglider goes from 20 to 36 by adjusting the prop pitch. I heard the Cessna 152 has pretty much the same wing as the 172 so it probably has much better glide ration due to its lighter weight.

12000 feet for 18 nautical miles….do the math…= 666 feet per nm. Now, 1 mile = 6080 feet therefore for every foot you go forward, you descend 0.10953947368421052631578947368421 of a foot.

Here is one such example C172:

You can google other types such as PA28-RT201T (for contrast) PA-22 etc

They are usually found in the the Pilot Operating Handbook for the aircraft in question. And they vary according to many factors, so you won’t really have one ballpark figure for all types.