The fact that the glider is descending only "unloads" the wing by a tiny amount, if we are talking about a steady-state constant-airspeed descent rather than an acceleration. The exact amount is cosine (arctan (D/L)). At a 10:1 L/D, you have over 99% of the loading that you'd have in level flight. The same would be true at a 10:1 powered climb angle-- there would be an unloading of the wing, but it would be slight.

Now, if you are pushing the stick forward to "unload" the wing and make the flight path curve toward a more steeply downward trajectory and make the airspeed increase, that's a different story from the steady-state case described above.

S

On Wednesday, June 3, 2015 at 8:58:36 AM UTC-5, Dan Marotta wrote:
How come nobody ever states that these G loading increases are for
level flight?* Since the glider is always descending, wouldn't it be
better to include something about the descent rate being
maintained?* What about a climbing turn?* Maybe some trig including
the flight path angle?



Curious minds...* And it's a slow morning before going to tow at the
Moriarty encampment.