Potential actions of FDGC

[Bill Cummings]

Here Joe the simplest inclinometer from your link.

inclinometer.JPG (18.61 KiB) Viewed 2980 times

A protractor glued to a piece of PVC or a short piece of batten tube.
Maybe at least a foot long batten tube -- longer for more accuracy.

[JoeF]

Or a slide "rod" (early term for Rog HG) to slide down an air incline ...

Or have a short table of tangents with fraction L/D equivalents glued to the simple inclinometer BillC featured above.

7 reach to 1 drop: L/D. ==> D/L:: 1/7 or 0.143 approx. arctangent (1/7)= arctangent (0.13)= 8 degrees. Handy table of tangents for 5 degrees to 45 degrees would be useful at Dockweiler.
http://www.rapidtables.com/calc/math/Tan_Calculator.htm has a handy calculator. Practice with the degree choice, if you wish, instead of radians. Practice for 8 degrees glide angle; see approx 0.140

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lift-to-drag_ratio

=================================== Distinguish glide angle from glide ratio. Here "a" is glide angle. Here the brief stepped fractions are the D/L. Take the reciprocal expression L/D as "lift-to-drag". That is, a h/d or height loss while traveling floor of d is D/L. Reciprocally, the floor distance d over the height drop in glide is the L/D ratio. https://www.grc.nasa.gov/www/K-12/airplane/glidang.html
Approximate values shown:
1/1 ==> a= 45 deg In calm, such a glide angle is steep. Wing running at Dockweiler slope will be fairly assured here.
1/2 ==> a~ 27 deg
1/3 ==> a~ 18 deg
1/4 ==> a~ 14 deg
1/5 ==> a~11 deg in calm at Dockweiler, this glide angle would put one out about 100 ft; ground effect will extend this a bit.
1/6 ==> a~9 deg
1/7 ==> a~ 8 deg
1/8 ==> a~7 deg
1/9 ==> a~6.3 deg
1/10 ==> a~ 5.7 deg Getting wet at Dockweiler: Please veer your flight path to avoid getting wet. Mixing with the waves won't be fun. Getting off Dockweiler top in calm could get one possibly wet here; the LZ survey has yet to be well reported .
1/11 ==> a~ 5.2 deg
1/12 ==> a~ 4.7 deg
1/13 ==> a~4.4 deg
1/14 ==> a~4 deg