On Sun, 09 Sep 2007 11:56:14 -0000, wrote:

BUT why would you ever want to _fly_ so
close to stall?

You actually don't. Flying the airplane over the entire performance
range allows you to have "been there before" in case you NEED to
recover from or fly in those ranges.

It's really dangerous to be just 10k above stall speed
in any part of the circuit

It can be, so this is practiced at altitude, not in the traffic
pattern.

So
what's the point? Do you not worry about wind gusts/lulls at that
speed?

That's one of the goals. G

You're mushing the plane along, moving the controls to full
deflection, and the wind makes the plane fly in different manners as
the wind changes. My instructor had me flying square patterns and
figure 8's near stall speed in Warriors and my Sundowner. If the
plane stalls, and sometimes it will, you're the pilot and you recover
it!

Sometimes, you leave slow flight by reducing the power and purposely
stalling. Other times, you recover by going full power and gradually
cleaning up the airplane, (Hint - think "go around at the last
moment")

I'd put this general idea in the fuel cut pull at takeoff bin

THAT'S dangerous, and really dumb. Personally, I put proficiency over
the entire flight envelope in the bin with upset recovery training in
a properly certified aerobatic craft.

Perhaps a pilot who likes to fly at 10k above stall is an accident
waiting to happen?

I had an instructor that not only had me do LOTS of slow flight
(including under the hood), but he also had me do emergency spiral
decents near the top of the yellow arc, during PP training. Both are
actually in the Jeppesen PP-ASEL syllabus. He instructs because he
likes to teach, not to build time for another job.

During instrument training, the same guy had me doing tons of slow
flight under the hood, but added a full and imminent stall series with
no external reference. We also did instrument cross countries and
holding patterns in actual IFR.