Ol SOB,
I agree with you completely. Until I got the Pitts, about 75% of my
tailwheel time was within gliding distance of a field. I practice every
conceiveable approach, takeoff, engine failure, landing, you name it. I
liked to think I flew the airplane better at idle than I did at cruise and I
certainly knew what it was going to be like (or as near as you can get) if
the engine quit. I haven't carried any power in an approach in years, using
only a trickle if I have to to recover a low approach angle. And that's how
every airplane out to be flown regularly (on the edges of the envelope) to
keep your skills sharp and so you'll know what to do if everything goes to a
ball of chalk.

In the vein, some of the most fun I've had flying has been the hours I've
spent in a Cub or Tcraft under 300 feet and within the airfield fence.
Fantastic!!!

Shawn
wrote in message
oups.com...
Woooahhh...that test was done 35 years ago and yet the conclusion holds
true today!
Therein lies/lays the problem in todays flying! What has happened to
those skills?
I can vividly recall my primary instructor reducing power and saying,
"show me what ya got.." Then he said you can reduce it, but not
increase it. Hae used that same scenario ever since. So many times that
I ran into difficulties when I could not get more power and had to do
with what I had.
My whole thing is to fly the edges of the aircraft envelope at both
ends of the spectrum. Generally though, the lower speeds are where most
pilots run into problems and have the serious accidents.when they do
the silly stall/spin thing.
Silly because it should never happen. Serious of course when people get
hurt or killed. Stupid when the pilot fails to get the proper training.
arrggghhh Ol SOB