Traffic Patterns, Instrument Approaches, and lessons learned

I remember way back as part of the private training, good old CFII J
O'B would insist on a power reduction and flaps passing the numbers
downwind, he'd reserve the right to chop the power at any time and
often did somewhere around the turn to base to see if I had enough
energy to make the numbers.

He insisted it should take an exceptional set of circumstances for a
superior pilot to have to increase throttle once past the numbers.
Steady settings, or reductions, were OK. Pushing it in was an
admission of having done something stupid earlier. NOT pushing it in
when it was required was an admission of being an egomanic stupid
pilot (there was no winning with good old CFII J O'B).

I smile at that memory often when passing the numbers downwind -- some
lessons really stick -- and very rarely do I have to add power.

J O'B was my CFII for the IR as well. He insisted on the same kind of
thing for ILS approaches. From the time he intercepted the localizer,
most often in level flight, the 'superior' pilot, he insisted, would
be planning ahead and only be reducing throttle, not increasing it,
until the miss.

I still fly that way. I doubt old J O'B is active anymore, but it
would be interesting to do a BFI with him. I haven't been called
'stupid' by someone I respect for a long time, and I have it coming!

Those are joyful memories. Add one or two of your own, if you like.