Why fly fast approaches?

EDR wrote in message . ..
When we were on the ground, I asked him why he wanted the faster speeds.
His answer was that this was not a new airplane, so the book values
needed to be increased to allow for age related things that could
affect the noted V-speeds.

I'll be interested in what others say, but my take on this is:

As far as I know, all the V-speeds you're talking about are a direct
function of stall speed.

It is possible for age-related items to affect stall speed.

But if that's the case, I think the correct course of action is to
go stall the plane at gross weight and lower weights, and see how well
the actual stall speed corresponds to the "book" stall speed at gross
weight and the stall speed calculated at lower weights.

I also think if the plane is known to stall at higher than "book"
speeds, it's something the instructor should discuss with pilots
he's checking out, on the ground.

I can understand the reasoning for a student pilot

I can't, actually. Adding "5 kts for gust factor (ok), 5 kts
for Grandma, 5 kts because I'm not so sure where this plane really
stalls" leads to a lot of accidents IMO -- overrun accidents when
the pilot lands on a "short" 2000 ft runway instead of the 4000+
beheamoths where extra speed doesn't matter, and directional control
accidents because IMHO the trickiest phase of landing is transitioning
from flight to taxi, and the longer one "floats", the longer one
spends in this phase with extra time for a strong gust of wind
to cause trouble. The temptation to "force it on" also increases
as the plane floats and floats and the pilot starts seeing the end
of the runway approaching.

Airspeed control is one of the most critical aspects of flight --
why not demand it of student pilots from the start, and train
pilots who are capable of operating safely at high DA and short
fields?

JMO,
Sydney