[VLM]

Aside from that Vne is like 7 m/s and cruise is 6.1 m/s or about 13 miles per hour.

Also the pilot in level flight would output 300 watts or so. The engineering values are vaguely similar to some bicycle calculations.

Look for

"Or, to put it in perspective, about 19 minutes to raise a 250 pound bike+rider 1000 feet." and thats at an assumed 300 watts or so output. So your descent at zero power out will be similar, it'll take about fifteen minutes to drop 1000 feet.

http://bicycles.stackexchange.com/questions/13090/extra-powe...

Personally I wouldn't worry about gliding to a landing, I'd be terrified of a wing folding up or shearing off and THEN you drop like a rock. Or indirectly (control system fails in full dive, Vne is like 16 mph so the wings rip off, then you descend much faster....

[clueless123]

I would assume they will not be flying higher than a few feet from the ground ( ~ 20) or that they will carring an emergency parachute..

[gomerclaus]

I didn't think parachutes were effective below a certain altitude. Off-hand, the only possible solution that comes to mind would be something like the airbag system NASA's been using to land some of the Mars rovers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Exploration_Rover#Airbags). Anyone else got any ideas?

[sopooneo]

That seems sensible, but in my experience with RC planes, flying low can actually make avoiding crashes very difficult.