What is a glider?
A glider is a high performance motorless aircraft, powered by gravity. It’s a little like a bicycle that will roll down a slope without peddling – gravity moves it along. On a flat surface additional energy from peddling is needed to move forward. A glider is always descending and that is how it moves forward. A glider has a high glide ratio compared with a powered plane. A modern training glider has a glide ratio of about 30:1. That means when flying, for every one metre of height it loses, it goes forward 30 metres. By contrast, a powered light plane has a glide ratio of about 10:1.
