On Sep 8, 2:03 pm, Ol Shy & Bashful wrote:
There is little doubt in my mind that the ability to do slow flight at
the very edge of stall speed will do more to prevent accidents than
1000 hours of cruise speed flight. Is there anyone here who is
proficient that lands their aircraft more than 10kts above stall
speed?
...

In my opinion, the pilot who is comfortable throughout the entire
speed range of their aircraft is a properly trained pilot and one who
will not get into an inadvertant stall, or spin.
What are your thoughts?

Other then the obvious objections (expressed here by many others)
regarding navigation skills ,and calm, ordered responses to
emergencies, as well as interpreting and dealing with weather both
before and during flight, I think you have identified a skill that
needs to be driven home and repeated again and again with ab initio
students until they are comfortable handling the aircraft in any
configuration in the slow-flight regime, and, indeed, transitioning
between different configurations while in slow flight, as well as
handling turns, climbs descents, and simulated "approaches" while in
slow flight. (They should get to enjoy it so much that they get in
the habit of practicing it themselves as often as possible after
certification!)

It is such an important concept (the backside of the power curve and
what it really means ... try explaining this only once or twice to a
typical driver of a car ... I usually only get confused looks even
after sketching it out on paper) that no student (no doubt most used
to driving a car where one power equals one speed on a flat driving
surface) should be considered proficient at slow flight until they can
not only DO it but also sketch their aircrafts power curve and explain
it to their instructor, identifying all the important point, as well
as explaining how it is that a range of power settings correspond to
more than one airspeed on the curve.

Anyway ... one small thing that relates to slow flight that I found
improved my approaches in early training immediately and considerably
was the realization that for a given power setting and rate of descent
(in feet per minute ), the airspeed would be the same every single
time. This allowed me to have a stable approach set up very quickly
after turning base and resulted in instantly noticeably better
approaches and landings on the next lesson after I learned this (my
instructor at the time noticed the improvement immediately,
unfortunately it wasn't him that taught me this fact ... I found it on
a website produced by another flight instructor ... it was a great
site, can't remember its URL now). The airspeed that I aimed for was
usually a few knots above slow flight (I aimed for approach speed for
short field landing, plus a few knots if it was a little windy or
gusty) and of course there was descent involved (about 500 fpm in the
172SP was typical).

Long story short ... slow flight training made me comfortable with
reducing the power considerably, accurately, and consistently and
confidently (to about 1000 - 1300 RPM initially depending on the
headwind, again 172SP) when turning base (not just slowly stepping the
power and speed down, which consumed too much time on base), quickly
and confidently aiming for an approach speed close to a "performance"
landing approach speed every time, and with the speed (172 SP - about
61 - 65 KIAS) and descent rate (initially aiming for 500 fpm) stable
and trimmed out, all that was required to attend to was the drift, any
shear on descent, and staying on a good approach slope visually, while
occasionally glancing at the airspeed to ensure it wasn't bleeding
off. This usually only required small power adjustments to keep on a
proper the approach slope, and of course with more headwind, more
power on final.

While many other skills (especially navigation, emergency procedures,
and weather assessment) are required to become (and remain) a safe,
confident but circumspect pilot, with respect to consistent and
confident aircraft control, there's nothing like slow flight to hone
one's skills and feel like you are flying the aircraft, and not the
other way around.

JAI PPL-A(SEL)
Canada