Flying with an old 80hp Katana I sometime make the students fly circles under well developed CUs to keep temperatures below redline while still climbing at a good rate. i wouldn´t call it gliding, but it´s very helpful on hot summer days to get up to higher altitudes.
In the Auster (which is related to the Taylorcraft – mine is actually a “Taylorcraft Aeroplanes of England” machine, before the company was called Auster) the best glide speed is about 50 mph indicated. The airspeed indicator becomes increasingly inaccurate on the low side below this speed, in a similar way to the Cessna 100-series planes (but for the Auster there’s actually a graph in the pilot’s manual which shows indicated airspeed versus actual airspeed).
We’ve wave soared the Auster (didn’t actually turn the engine off, just pulled the power to idle) and got 1000fpm climb, but wave can be quite strong.
I did a photo shoot of my old Cessna 140 near Salt Lake City, I took advantage of the quite strong thermals there to boost the rather poor climb rate.
There’s quite a few stories of people soaring Cubs and the like for a considerable amount of time with a stopped engine in places where there’s strong themic activity.
I didn’t quite glide, but passing under a cloud in a Cessna TR182, I was unable to maintain altitude with engine at idle (gear warning horn blaring) and IAS at the maximum.
I got caught in a micro burst – just the once!
In the vortex the aircraft was going down very quickly despite the engine being at full chat. Outside the vortex the rate of climb was as good and still climbing with the engine at thrust idle. If I had been brave enough and could have stayed with the micro burst, I have no doubt at all I would have gianed considerable height in the rising air without any power at all.
The last time someone ridge soared his TMG along a 400ft ridge at 700ft agl with engine at idle, his nearby gliding club received a low flying complaint from one neighbour who got the registration marks and even took pictures/videos, the letter did come from the CAA after a complaint has been filed…long story short you may have to do it engine off or on your way to land to be exempt from the 500ft agl low flying rule
Many other gliders were flying along that day but all were white (the TMG was yellow) and did not have a spinning prop 
A Fairly Swordfish was hillsoared to beyond its fuel endurance in the early 1940s.
If you wanted, most light aircraft could be ridgesoared. But if you had the engine off, and lost the lift, you’d be in trouble fast.
Never tried to soar in my Grumman Tiger, but on one occasion, I was flying level in VMC, but once I entered a cloud without changing the trim or thrust, my vertical speed jumped to +800 fpm.
@Peter, a Taylorcraft is a roughly 65 HP aircraft with a long span, low wing loading and fairly good glide ratio. Lowest sink rate would be at something like 65 statute miles per hour and the sink rate might be something like 500 rpm (my guess). Earlier discussion on the same video here.
OMG, that video is hilarious! Got to remember to tap the altimeter if I ever lose the engine !
The best (or worst….) updrafts I’ve ever seen were well in excess of 1000ft/min on a flight from Stovepipe Wells (L09 in Death Valley) to South Lake Tahoe KTVL in a C182RG. The airplane was barely controllable and the flight was like being in a tumble dryer for about two hours. I didn’t try to use the Cessna as a glider, though…
A Taylorcraft is a STOL type, no? What is the sink rate on that, at Vbg?
