Phoenix polars comparison

[shams42]

I made a figure comparing the published polars from the Phoenix against the Sinus, the PW-5, and the ASW-27. I got the numbers from the figures published in the POHs, and I have doubtlessly introduced some interpolation errors.

 

I've attached the Excel spreadsheet I used as well as a plot of the data (produced using R / ggplot2). 

 

I hope you find this interesting. The result seems to indicate (to me, at least) that the Phoenix is quite a capable glider. Benchmarking against the ASW-27 is silly, of course, but I wanted to see how much it gives up against a high-performance pure glider. A more even comparison would pit the Phoenix against other two-seat gliders. 

polar_comparison.xlsx

[shams42]

I added the Caret and Lambada gliders to this comparison. The Caret is a little better than the Phoenix in slow flight; the Phoenix is a little better at speed, though they are quite evenly matched. However, the Caret is a one-seater with retractable gear and a folding prop. 

polar_comparison.xlsx

[No longer active on TMGA]

Very nice to see the plots together. What we really need is some comparison flying; eg, Phoenix vs Carat, Phoenix vs PW5. My suspicion is the Carat is better than the Phoenix at every speed, as it is hard to imagine a retractable gear glider would become worse than a fixed gear glider at high speeds. There aren't any Lambada, Carat, or PW5 in my area, so I can't help out.