Falcon & Sabre Glide Ratios

[jlkskycam 0]

Hey y'all -

I tried to contact PD and Precision with this question but no joy.

Does anyone know the glide ratio of a Sabre170 (or any Sabre) loaded at 1:1?

Same question for the Falcon 265 (or any sized Falcon).

Thanks!

Jerry

[Martini 0]

Wow, that's weird, I just posted a response but it disappeared.....

Anyhow, there isn't any good data or consensus on the glide of the Sabre. In theory wingloading within reasonable limits shouldn't affect glide, only speed. If you do some testing I'd like to see the results, I have several Sabres but haven't had the time to measure glide. I doubt that it is identical for my 107, 120 and 150 but it should be similar. I have a groundlaunch that could be doable at 2.5 but I'm guessing that we're talking more like 2.0 for the Sabre.

Sometimes you eat the bear..............

[erdnarob 1]

Years ago, canopy manufacturers were including the glide ratio in the specifications. Not anymore. But I agree it should be between 2 and 3 for the Sabre.
This summer, I am going to use the application SPEED CHECK using the GPS of my iPhone to see what is the horizontal full flight speed of my Katana. Flying it downwind and upwind and checking the corresponding speeds should allow me to get the ground speed of the canopy and therefore the glide ratio if I take in account the altitude and the time of the descent.

Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

[DJL 235]

Quote

Years ago, canopy manufacturers were including the glide ratio in the specifications. Not anymore. But I agree it should be between 2 and 3 for the Sabre.
This summer, I am going to use the application SPEED CHECK using the GPS of my iPhone to see what is the horizontal full flight speed of my Katana. Flying it downwind and upwind and checking the corresponding speeds should allow me to get the ground speed of the canopy and therefore the glide ratio if I take in account the altitude and the time of the descent.

You're going to have a pretty difficult time figuring out your air speed from an Iphone and assuming that you know the actual wind speed you were flying through. If you just hold onto a handheld wind speed gauge and use a digital altimeter to determine altitude loss over a set time then you'll be more accurate.

"I encourage all awesome dangerous behavior." - Jeffro Fincher

[theonlyski 8]

Quote

Quote

Years ago, canopy manufacturers were including the glide ratio in the specifications. Not anymore. But I agree it should be between 2 and 3 for the Sabre.
This summer, I am going to use the application SPEED CHECK using the GPS of my iPhone to see what is the horizontal full flight speed of my Katana. Flying it downwind and upwind and checking the corresponding speeds should allow me to get the ground speed of the canopy and therefore the glide ratio if I take in account the altitude and the time of the descent.

You're going to have a pretty difficult time figuring out your air speed from an Iphone and assuming that you know the actual wind speed you were flying through. If you just hold onto a handheld wind speed gauge and use a digital altimeter to determine altitude loss over a set time then you'll be more accurate.

I agree. GPS devices have a inherit signal distortion that wont allow a consistant signal to be much less than about 10 meters of where you are per second. Granted, the faster you go, the more accurate the signal would be.

Then you can take in the fact that your ALT wont show you exactly the correct altitude. they have flaws too.

I guess theres no logical EXACT way to find out, but... I could be wrong.

"I may be a dirty pirate hooker...but I'm not about to go stand on the corner." iluvtofly
DPH -7, TDS 578, Muff 5153, SCR 14890
I'm an asshole, and I approve this message

[DJL 235]

If you're making a measurement over 2000 ft with a digital altimeter then you're going to average out pretty well.

"I encourage all awesome dangerous behavior." - Jeffro Fincher