Which of these is cheating?

Thomas Borchert writes:

Frankly, I have never quite understood the distinction, same as with
"forward" and "side" slips.

My reasoning is that all lift in the aircraft is the result of it
moving through air, which in turn is caused by thrust from the
powerplant. Therefore there should be a strong relationship between
thrust (power) and altitude, if the aircraft is not specifically
trimmed to change it. And if the aircraft is trimmed to change it,
then lift will be traded for forward airspeed. Thus, setting the
throttles high will produce more lift and raise the airplane to a
higher altitude. If the aircraft is trimmed to maintain level flight
with that power, it will accelerate forward, trading lift for forward
momentum.

In contrast, if the pitch is changed alone, it simply shifts any
existing momentum from one dimension to another. If you pitch
downward, lift is traded for forward speed. If you pitch upward,
speed is traded for lift. But the sum of both has to remain the same;
the only way to change the overall sum is with adjustments to power.

This also means that, if pitch is trimmed to hold it constant, more
power means more speed, and less power means less speed.

Taking this further, most control movements convert kinetic dimension
in one dimension into kinetic energy in another dimension, but total
kinetic energy must remain constant. An exception is control
movements that create only drag, which convert kinetic energy to heat
and reduce total energy remaining in the aircraft. To add energy, you
have to use the powerplant.

In the case of gliders, they are limited to whatever kinetic energy
they start with. However, since they are light, if they can find
rising columns of air, they can extract energy from these columns and
convert it to lift and/or airspeed. As long as they can find rising
air, they can remain aloft indefinitely. The same is true for
vultures.

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