Jay Honeck wrote:


For you aircraft owners who do this regularly, how slowly do you
retard the throttle to prevent shock cooling? (I know -- does shock
cooling really exist? For purposes of this discussion, I'll pretend
that it does.)


I don't believe it exists so I'll go from a low cruise power setting of
say 20-21" and 2300 rpm to throttle fully retarded in 3-5 seconds.




Given that the power reduction must be incredibly gradual, do you feel
that this exercise is realistic?


Doing it your way? No.




There really is no chance to
simulate how you must "suddenly" find best glide speed (after your
engine has presumably just crapped out), since you're gradually
reducing your speed along with your power. Or do you put the plane
into a shallow dive as you reduce power, so as not to lose airspeed?


Your just going to have to be content that you are unwilling to
realisticly practice this. Find yourself a friends private dirt strip
field and start 5-7 miles away at 3000 AGL and land on it without
touching the power after you have gone to idle. Another thing I do all
the time is pull the power to idle on the downwind and land without
touching the power.