Front view of the plane: symmetrical, wings are level, tail is straight, the vertical tail is perpendicular to the horizontal tail

I saw that my glider flies straight but sharply down into the ground and doesn’t get a long glide. It matches “The Dive” problem on the chart, which means it is likely because the glider is nose-heavy (the center of gravity is too far forward). To correct this, I tried to shift my nose weight slightly backward.

I saw the same issues in my second flight, where the glider still dove straight down, which means it is still too nose heavy. I realized there may have been some confounding variables affecting my results; for example, when I was testing the weight's placement, wind could have influenced the pitch and made my observations less accurate. Before my next attempt, I made sure the change I intended to make (moving the weight back) was actually measured properly.

On this attempt, the glider showed improvement as the dive was much less severe, with noticeable reduced straight-down motion. It also made it further out from the ledge. Following Mr. Dubick’s suggestion to move the center of balance further back, I trimmed the elevator slightly upward and shifted the nose weight accordingly, as recommended in the troubleshooting chart. I was initially hesitant to make this adjustment in addition to repositioning the weight, but by this point, I felt confident in my ability to balance the glider and add a new change.

This was the glider’s best flight across all the trials. As it neared the ground, the pitch increased slightly, allowing for a short length of glide. However, the glider also began to curve to the left, showing signs of a banking problem. I may have accidentally shifted the tail while adjusting the trim. Alternatively, it could have been a result of a gust of wind, as it was a fairly windy day.

Having Andrew fly this one for me also made me realize that my glider throwing skills might have affected its flight, to an extent. Looking back, I did tend to throw up a little bit, but not to the point where it sabotaged the flight.

If I had more time to make further adjustments and conduct additional flights, I would experiment with realigning the rudder and checking for any wing warps to correct the left turn, while further tuning the elevator angle for a longer, smoother glide.