This topic is for all gliding discussions and to determine meaningful data about gliding, as well as comparisons to the designs of others. Post your craft and information about its gliding ability! My Delta II can glide stably (without pulling up/stalling) at approximately 40 m/s relative to the surface, with a vertical airspeed of approximately -1m/s. This test was done at 1800-1400 meters altitude. I did some more extensive and scientific testing. Set FRAPS to take a screenie every ten seconds; the result of a solid minute of gliding indicates a vertical airspeed of -1.033 m/s. The average airspeed of this minute of gliding, from 1740 to 1678 meters altitude, was 38 m/s. Any slight variations in the screenshots are undoubtedly due to the turbulence which caused the Delta II to drift slightly off course and the corrective action taken to keep the craft straight. For a more practical application of these numbers, imagine this hypothetical: I am coming down from reentry, completely out of fuel. I regain control of my plane 5 km above the ocean, dozens of kilometers away from shore. If these numbers held up at 5 kilometers altitude (I\'m sure they don\'t, but roll with me for a second) then I could glide 183,930 meters, roughly. That should make it to any beach. Since the numbers will not hold up at that high altitude, however, let\'s just cut it out of the equation. From two kilometers altitude I could still fly 73 kilometers distance. That\'s pretty damned impressive!