In article , puffnfresh
wrote:

| Given the lesser density of air on Mars what would be the glide ratio of
| a PW-5 starting at an altitude of say 5000 feet? (lesser gravity, too)
| Is it worth book a trip in next few years?

The X-Plane flight simulator has an option of flying on Mars,
implementing the correct gravity, air density, etc. Air is about 1% as
dense as on Earth, with 1/3 the gravity. I was able to start the
included SH-Cirrus sailplane at about 20000' AGL and dive it to get
enough airspeed to sort of glide, but IAS never got above 40 knots, even
though groundspeed was scary fast. Landing would be a *big* problem...

-- Tim Olson