"m pautz" wrote in message
news:7yEzc.44640$0y.5757@attbi_s03...
[...]
So, the question I have for the group is why are power planes taught to
have these wide patterns with low angled turns? Why are the patterns
outside the glide angle of a powerless airplane?

Have you used Google Groups to review past threads on this contentious
issue? It's come up in the past, and there are always the folks who believe
there's only one right way, and anyone doing it some other way is a fool.

Bottom line: in a perfect world, a powered airplane would always be within
gliding distance of an airport, and when it came time to land, whether by
design or by accident, it would be a simple matter of just gliding to the
runway. But the world's not perfect and powered airplanes spend most of
their time not within gliding distance of an airport. As it happens, in the
traffic pattern there are, as with other times, issues other than simply
being able to land without any power, and at those times, a pattern not
within gliding distance to the runway is advised or even necessary.

Gliders don't have a choice. If you're going to land on the runway, you
need to be within gliding distance, by definition. Of course, gliding
distance for a glider is quite a bit farther too. Powered airplanes have a
choice, and sometimes that involves choosing not to be within gliding
distance of the runway.

I had a friend who
died because of engine failure. The pilot was within gliding distance
of the airport, but he didn’t know how to fly a power-out pattern. They
crashed short of the runway on final.

Proof that flying within gliding distance of the runway is no panacea. It's
much more important that one be able to make a gliding power-off approach
and landing to *somewhere* than that they are theoretically within the
proper distance to do so on a runway.

Pete