Using a Glider as a flight system, it can be described as an aircraft that is heavier than air with no engine of its won to enable it stay aloft. This is as a result of the aero-dynamic forces acting on the glider. From their outward appearance, Gliders are just like ordinary planes with almost opposite kinds of flight systems. However, they are extremely light weighted. In technical terms, gliders have a low wing loading - the ratio of a glider’s weight to its wing area, and have a high aspect ratio - the ratio of the glider’s wing span to its wing width. A Glider’s wings are therefore designed to be much longer but narrower compared to the wings of a powered aircraft. A good characteristic of a modern glider of say, a sailplane type, when flying at a balanced level in still air, tends to sink at a given rate of less than 2 miles per hour, so its flight system enables it to go up in an air current that is rising at the same rate.

The body structure of a glider contributes to its flight system classification. There are three types of gliders namely: Primary gliders, Sailplanes and Cargo Gliders. The first is usually employed for instructional purposes and consist of a body frame on which its controls and surfaces are attached. This type of glider has an open seat for the pilot. Sailplanes are like ordinary aircrafts with a framework which includes a fuselage and housed cockpits for a maximum of two people. This type of plane is built to achieve aero-dynamic or air resisting efficiency just like a regular jet. The Cargo Glider type is used either for military activities or for civil purposes in times of peace. This is because the glider’s flight system has been designed to lift heavy duty cargoes. They are manufactured to be pulled along in groups rather than fly on their own.

Form its early stages of development, the glider flight system was primarily used by many scientists to understand the basic concepts of flights and how they operate. Research work done on gliders and its flight systems laid the basic foundation for the eventual development that led to the design and manufacturing of the first powered jet. In the late nineteenth century, precisely around 1870, a group of aeronauts built the gliders that made history as the world’s pioneer and successful flights. They also went ahead to provide further information on the gliders’ design and flight systems. Scientists like the German Inventor Otto his British counterpart George Coyley used the glider flight system to strengthen the foundations of the research and development in learning how to fly. Even the Wright Brothers: Orville and Wilbur – had their experiments in flights reinforced with earlier projects they had done on flights.

Gliders have their own advantages even with their different kind of flight system. Top among its benefits, a glider is capable of lifting large cargoes with its handling capacity and low landing speed, just like a helicopter. This is the major drawback of a regular or commercial type of aircraft. At the time of the Second World War, gliders were of great importance in transporting of arms and ammunitions, military cargoes, food and general supplies to the troops from various commands and bases. They were used extensively for tasks that required serious military operations and heavy equipments to battle fields. A glider would have been able to do the other jobs a helicopter does but it has its limitations.

Among a glider’s limitations is that due to the nature of its flight system, it is not allowed to fly outside daytime hours because of poor visibility, stormy weather and generally because of unfavorable meteorological conditions. It requires a certain level of experience and competence to fly and cannot fly to very high altitudes as a conventional plane does. Also, it does not have the ability to stay up in the air for a very long time if there are no winds or strong currents to keep it afloat. A glider’s flight system is such that it makes the craft slow in flight and cannot be used for emergency operations like helicopters can.