Ground speed control with leaning

In article , Michael wrote:
"Roger Long" wrote
I had an idea today which worked well and I wonder if anyone sees a
downside. I always operate our 172 N on the ground leaned to the max.
Instead of using the brakes this morning, I just leaned some more until the
engine sagged and controlled my speed that way. Turning the vernier knob
didn't seem much more work than pushing the throttle in and out. Running
super lean like that must be good for the plugs.

There is no downside whatsoever to your idea. You can't possibly hurt
your engine by overleaning at these power settings.

Not only that, you'll prevent yourself from trying to take off after
forgetting to push the mixture control back in because the engine will
probably quit if you try.

--
Dylan Smith, Castletown, Isle of Man
Flying: http://www.dylansmith.net
Frontier Elite Universe: http://www.alioth.net
"Maintain thine airspeed, lest the ground come up and smite thee"