After 13 years of regular powered approaches, throttle for altitude/ pitch for airspeed, I came accross the subject off non-powered approaches being safer as you don't have to worry about a power failure when on an approach. Currently been practicing this by just coming in fast, using gear, flaps and sideslipping to controll my desceleration. Is there more to this, or is it simply all about placing the runway in your windscreen in the right spot when you power down/idle.How would a CFI tech this method of approach.TY.Paul. ...looking for something to work on today.

In my RW experience as a CFI we always teach a power on approach. Especially for windy conditions. However during a commercial pilot-single engine license, the Power off 180 approach to landing is introduced. We normally conduct this manouver by beginning just like a normal approach, halfway down the downwind leg the landing gear is lowered(always). Abeam the designated landing point(normally the thousand foot markers on the runway-the white boxes-) the power is reduced to idle, simulating complete engine failure. in most aircraft the first notch of flaps creates more life than drag so normally the first step would be to drop in the first degree of flaps-the gear should already be down as you lower the landing gear abeam midfield. Pitch for best glide speed i.e C172 68KTS. tThis is where a little piloting skill begins to show, according to the wind conditions and outside elements the pilot must judge when it is time for a base turn then final turn. In a perfect world, no wind and at pattern altitude, the base leg should not be to drastically different from a power on base leg (distance wise) however this is all based on what the pilot sees outside the aircraft and how the aircrafts sink rate is corresponding. After turning base, it may be determined by the pilot to use the second notch of flaps. Remeber it is better to be high then low of course. try to judge the distances and make the landing as if you would only use 2 notches of flaps. If you are high and fast, raise the nose, slow down ,add full flaps and slip the aircraft down(in that order). If you feel you are going to come up short, pitch DOWN gain as much airspeed as possible and just before flying into the ground pull the nose up drop in full flaps and attempt to float in ground effect. hope this helps! let me know how it turns out

first let me say i thought the above answer was a very good answer, but i wanted to ask to make sure i understand the OP question. When you are referring to a non powered approach, are you saying an approach with the throttle to idle or no power at all? Obviously there is a big difference there. I was not sure because you mention the fact that with a non powered approach, there is no need to worry about a power failure but later you mention about powering down to idle.When i was training student pilots i generally used the power on for approaches, and based on the wind and runway condition, would adjust those power settings as needed. I was never one to teach a student to land a place with the stall horn wailing in the background. Landing a few knots above stall speed was in my mind a safer bet for the student, it generally gave them a bit more control of the aircraft, especially in windier or crosswind conditions.when teaching non powered approaches, yes to a degree it was more about getting to the runway as quickly and as safely as possible but there are again factors to take into account. If we were training on a 5000' runway, you had the ability to maybe come in a little high or fast and slip the plane to loose the speed or altitude. if you are using a 1800' runway with tress on the approach end, power off requires a whole new set of techniques. and of course no power may mean no flaps if you lost your electrical power in the mix. If you have flaps, i would recommend not using those until you are assured that you can make the runway, you can always dump the flaps to 30 degrees when on short final, you may not need them if you have sufficient runway length anyway.

Google 'power off approach' and you will find plenty of info, heres one link.....http://www.pilotoutlook.com/airplane_flying/180_power_off_approachContrary to the other CFI's, when I leared to fly and subsequently instructed, back in the 70's, a power off approach was the standard to teach for basic training. There is a huge difference between a single engine fixed gear trainer and a high performance plane. A 172/152 type plane is perfectly fine doing a 'idle' approach, but you wouldn't want to try that in a Lear 45 :-)Congrats of wanting to expand your knowledge, I think most now have never considered the power off approach, and it's a great technique that could save your butt one day.

When you are glider towing or para dropping you almost always land with idle power as this saves a lot of time and as mentioned before, if the engine fails, you still make the runway :)It's good training to visualize and anticipate your glide path as well.As PIC007 mentioned, that's a nice idea and valuable training!

As an experienced glider pilot, i was well used to doing powerless approaches, but when I was obtaining my PPL in the 152, powerless approaches were trained.My recollection was how much lower the Cessna's glide angle was and in early practice, I tended to add flaps too early.However, you soon learn the performance of the a/c you are flying, which is good, because if you ake a mistake, you can always add power whereas one day you may need to do it with a failed engine.I've done a lot of engine failures in all sorts of a/c in flight simulator including a 35,000 feet double engine failure in the 737 from where I needed to find an airport in glide range and land at it. I got that one right first time by setting up an apporach that was much too high and using sideslip, flaps, s-turns and inducing extra drag by increasing speed to get it down in the right place.Always pays to be too high in these situations, you can lose hight in a variety of ways but without power, if you are too low, you've had it.IAN

Much appreciate this info. This CFII that mentioned this to me was old school, yes. He sai he always would teach the powered approach first, but made his students perform non powered, of course for forced landings. That way it's more natural when you are under the stress of an engine failure. So basicaly start the descent abeam the 1000 ft mark (landing position). Distance on turns, and having more flaps available if needed. Will be trying this at 1000ft agl first, then like 1200 and as low as 800. No neglecting the powered approach as will still need to be comfy with the 3% slope for ILS approaches. Thanks. Paul

Grant, another .02... to practice this effectively, you should start from the pattern altitude, consistancy is what you are striving for.

Grant, another .02... to practice this effectively, you should start from the pattern altitude, consistancy is what you are striving for.

Will do 07. I just mentioned doing it high and low in order to correct being at the wrong altitude. Will have to throw in some winds too. I wish FSX miltiplayers had more interest in propped GA. I allways log in on sunday afternoon. Grant06 is my log in. I think this shared aircraft option has potential. I'm always game for GA flying, VFR, IFR, I use Sky Vector for charts and plates. I still don't have a place to find flights. Never had any luck with FSHost. Have SP1 Thanks again.