Aircraft will glide for ever

[flightwz]

It seems that most of the aircraft will glide for ever when the power is pull back, is there a program to change the CFG's so I can play around with and maybe address this problem?
Thanks.....Stan
CG5290-BP007
Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit; 2.67GHz Intel Core i7 920 9GB 1,066 DDR3 SDRAM; 896MB GeForce GTX 260 (216 core); 1TB 7,200rpm Hitachi hard drive.

[ScatterbrainKid]

I had the 'eternal glide' problem with a Potez bomber, so I loaded it up to the gills with fuel and the extra weight increased the glide angle nicely, dunno if it'll work with other kites

[abrussell]

This is the 2nd recent post that stated that the aircraft will glide forever. I tried the following in the default 172. Level flight at 4,000 ft., 100 knots. Reducing power to idle,using no control inputs, resulted in a 4 mile glide. Same scenario, turning power off, again with no control inputs, resulted in a 3 mile glide. Same scenario, turning power off, going to full flaps and maximum back pressure on the yoke, resulted in a glide of 4 miles. As they say on Discovery channel, Myth Busted.
Bruce

[ScatterbrainKid]

I suspect in some cases when engines are throttled right back, they still give some thrust if joystick throttle levers aren't calibrated properly, so it's not a true glide at all.
To find out, we can switch off the engine in flight (SHIFT plus E) to ensure it's giving zero thrust, then see what the true glide is like.
(CTRL plus E to restart engine)

[Chairborne]

Exactly, abrussell: it pays to know your plane's parameters, such as manoeuvring speed, approach speed, stall speed and how to configure flaps, gear and trim to that effect. You (third person) just gotta get to know your plane!

I was on an FS server once, flying with a new kid who was taking the default Baron up; we decided to fly echelon and into KSEA, me landing first. After landing nicely and pulling off on the grass to watch, this kid came in at 220 knots, complaining about excessive glide, float, all that! He landed all right, but he said "How do you land these things?", so I spent the next couple hours coaching the kid on low-speed manoeuvrability and stuff like flaps, trim, gear, stalls and how to go from slow to fast and vice-versa. Needless to say, after getting airborne again for awhile, he got the idea quickly and improved a lot in short order.

Now I'm starting to worry if this was the same kid from my locale who swiped and crashed those 4 planes...

In summary, if I have one admonition to give, it's AIRSPEED. Know when your plane's at it's max, at fast cruise, maoeuvring, approach, near-stall and stall. Learn what it does, grab the visual clues, get some air and check out your plane's speed envelope. Speed is everything...to quote a good gentleman here, "Maintain thine airspeed, lest the ground rise up to smite thee".