proper gliding

[101Ruebe_101]

dear pilots, i need some help.
how do i glide proper with all auto-settings turned off? like step-by-step procedure.
initiate glide:
throttle down to 0%?
oil radiators = ?
water radiators = ?
propeller pitch = ?
propeller feathering= ?
flaps?
...

 

i can imagine there r differences between planes. to get into it please refer to the fw190a3.

thx in advance

edit: i mean gliding-gliding, like to save fuel etc.

not glide-bombing

Edited January 10, 2022 by 101Ruebe_101

[Bremspropeller]

The A-3 relatively is easy:

 

Firstest: Pitch for best glide airspeed!

Then: RPM low

 

No moveable rads on the A-3. Flaps should be up unless taking off or landing in the 190.

Same applies for the landing-gear, which is electric in the 190. Leave the gear up for off-airport landings.

 

If the engine is out, throttle-position doesn't (normally) change anything for you.

If you want to belly-in, you may want to hit "E" first, to switch off fuel and batteries. AFAIK, it doesn't change anything for you in game, though.

As flaps and landing-gear are electric (in the Fw 190), don't switch off the battery before moving flaps and gear.

 

That's just off the top of my head.

 

Generally:

If prop-feathering is available, use it and use it soon (you'll need electric power or oil-pressure to do it). Normally, closing the rads should give you the lowest drag, but there might be exceptions, where a slightly opened rad is actually a lower installed drag solution. Flaps up will always give you the best Lift/Drag ratio, achieving flattest and farthest glide.

 

Hope that helps for starters.

[AEthelraedUnraed]

3 hours ago, 101Ruebe_101 said:

edit: i mean gliding-gliding, like to save fuel etc.

Just to be sure, you don't mean gliding on purpose to save fuel, right?

 

If you want to save fuel, you're better off just keeping your engine on and flying on at calm but steady pace. Real gliding should only be used in case of emergency.

 

Regarding the best gliding procedure, I just want to add to what Bremspropeller said, that you should also trim your aircraft for the optimal glide speed (you can find this speed in the in-game notes). As this speed is usually quite low, this means that you should usually trim fully up.

 

@Bremspropeller, how does the optimal glide speed relate to IAS vs. TAS? I would guess that, as lift suffers from similar air density-related effects as IAS does, it's probably closer to IAS?

Edited January 10, 2022 by AEthelraedUnraed

[Nocke]

Is there a way to know the optimal gliding speed (for range) from the data given in the plane specifications in game?

[AEthelraedUnraed]

3 minutes ago, 216th_Nocke said:

Is there a way to know the optimal gliding speed (for range) from the data given in the plane specifications in game?

It's in the in-game plane specifications. E.g. for the 109G2 it says "Glideslope speed: 109..205 km/h" meaning that you should stay between these two speeds.

[Bremspropeller]

For all intents and purposes, L/Dmax is congruent with best climb speed for props. Hence, you can actually look up that speed for all aircraft in the specs individually.

It's IAS. Well, actually it's an angle of attack, but we can't gauge those.

 

"Glideslope speed" looks more like the speed on final approach.

[AEthelraedUnraed]

3 minutes ago, Bremspropeller said:

For all intents and purposes, L/Dmax is congruent with best climb speed for props. Hence, you can actually look up that speed for all aircraft in the specs individually.

It's IAS. Well, actually it's an angle of attack, but we can't gauge those.

 

"Glideslope speed" looks more like the speed on final approach.

Actually, I think glideslope speed might be the best glide/climb speed after all since the best climb speed isn't mentioned separately in the specs. I've frustratedly searched for the best climb speed a couple of times in vain, but it never occurred to me that it might actually be equal to the best glide speed?. Makes perfect sense though, now that I think of it!

[Bremspropeller]

It's definately not - best climb for both the 109 and 190 families should be in the 270-290kph region @ Max Gross.

205kph final approach speed makes sense.

 

You could also try to test it: One test at 205, one test at 280 and one test at 350kph.

17 minutes ago, AEthelraedUnraed said:

Actually, I think glideslope speed might be the best glide/climb speed after all since the best climb speed isn't mentioned separately in the specs

 

Just re-checked it. You're right, there's no specific mention of the best climb rate speed. There's "best performance turn", though, which can also be used as an approximation.

[II/JG17_HerrMurf]

Anecdotally, I pitch for climb at 300, in both. Approach for final at 215, flare at about 170-175 and touch at 160-165 in all 109’s and Anton’s. Dora’s approach, flare and touch are 5 kph higher or she will go nose down on ya. My 2 cents.

[BlitzPig_EL]

In most of the US and British birds I shoot for a climb speed between 160 and 180 mph IAS, with the late war birds mostly on the high end of that range.

[Dakpilot]

https://aviation.stackexchange.com/questions/57262/how-to-calculate-the-best-glide-speed-if-there-is-none-on-the-poh

 

Cheers, Dakpilot 

[Bremspropeller]

@Dakpilot it's interesting that the numbers are off the theoretical part.

I suspect it's due to the fixed pitch prop (C172, AA5 and Pa 28-161), creating additional drag and hence shifting "minimum drag" to a slightly lower airspeed.

[Pahec97]

Depends what exactly you want to do. For both engine on and engine off, depends wether you want best endurance or range. For engine off, you can get it decently well

with guessing/estimating/calculating the aerodynamic coefficients of the plane, plot a polar curve and procceding as in the picture. If you want power on flight, you'd need a quite a bit of engine and propeller data.

I am pretty sure that closing all the radiators and keeping flaps retracted will help every time, however, as you mentioned FW190, german planes have automatic engine managment, so you can only manually feather the prop. Other thing you can do keep flying with no slip and using trim to keep the angle you want rather than elevator.