Todd Pattist wrote:
I've heard the term "penetration" used solely to refer to
good L/D at high speed. Thus, a jumbo jet with a glide
ratio in the mid 20's at speeds above 150 knots might be
considered to have good penetration.
However, more often the way I've heard it used, it includes
an informal assumption that the "good" high speed
performance also includes a "good enough" thermalling
performance that the glider can climb in a wind broken
thermal and resume upwind progress.
I've heard it mean the first part (like a jumbo jet),
but have never heard it used to mean it also has good
enough thermalling performance. A glider which did both
(good L/D at high speeds, and good minimum sink rate)
would be nice, but I'd still use the terms seperately
myself.
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