Dan Luke wrote:
"Dudley Henriques" wrote:
better yet an unloaded tight descending turn if some altitude and some
radius need to be scrubbed off,(I don't recommend doing these BTW :-)

Why not, Dudley? This is a maneuver I use quite often because I like to
make power-off landings.

Am I on the verge of augering in without realizing it?

Good question. Let me explain.

In posting on the forums where student pilots might be involved, when
discussing things like unloaded descending turns from base to final, I
try not to post comments without a "warning" of some kind. The reason I
do this is that although well trained pilots can and indeed make turnds
like this all day long in perfect safety, they are still in the category
of a tight turn made at low altitude and I don't want anyone getting
hurt trying to something based on what I have said on a forum.
Becoming capable to make a turn like we are discussing is part of a
pilot's training that should be accomplished in the airplane with a
competent instructor there on the job to make sure the pilot learns how
to make such a turn properly. Once this is accomplished, most pilots
won't even think about making that turn. They will know from where they
are in the pattern, how tight the turn has to be, and whether or not the
conditions are within safe parameters or outside safe parameters.
In other words, it's safe enough if done properly as I'm sure you are
aware, but only after a thorough examination of the factors involved.

Just as an aside; I always covered late base to final turns with my own
students before solo!

--
Dudley Henriques