On Tuesday, January 21, 2014 2:04:40 PM UTC-5, Lucas Pirolla wrote:
If manufacturers stopped providing polars for their new gliders, how are the computer manufacturers supposed to calculate data for those gliders, like STF ?

Get a high tow into still air. Go on a sled ride. Determine the stall speed, then fly steady just above stall speed. Increase speed by 5 knots and fly steady. Repeat until you reach VNE.

Use the computer to log airspeed, altitude and elapsed time during this flight. Plot the logged results and connect the dots. Voila! A polar for your glider flown by you.

Thanks to Richard (Dick) Johnson for doing this the hard way on so many gliders.