Pilot's Guide to Maximum Glide Performance: Optimum Bank Angles in Gliding Turns

Abstract

A pilot’s awareness of an airplane’s power-off glide performance is critical for successfully responding to an engine failure in flight. Pilot’s operating handbooks (POH) and airplane flight manuals (AFM) provide the minimum required glide information; however, there is more information that can better equip pilots to extract the maximum glide performance from an airplane. Information about the effect of weight changes on the glide is available but does not seem to be common knowledge among pilots. Information concerning optimum bank angles to use in gliding turns is much less available and seems completely unknown to pilots. This paper provides guidance to pilots for applying weight correction to the best glide speed. It also presents a methodology for determining the optimum bank angle in power-off glides that require a gliding turn to a safe landing location. The results of the study include the optimum gliding bank angles for airplanes with varying glide ratios (GR) along with rules of thumb for determining the optimum bank angle in flight. The findings of this research can be utilized to supplement 1) the glide performance information used and presented by digital avionics, 2) the glide information contained in POHs and AFMs, and 3) flight training for power-off glides with or without turns to safe landing locations, all with the goal of providing pilots with more tools to land safely at a suitable location in the event of an engine failure.