If you want to descend and slow down in a hurry, besides full flaps at allowed speed, is it wrong to  un-feather the prop of an idling engine? Not sure if un-feather is the proper term but put the prop blades flat side forward against the wind so slow the plane down.

 

Also, is turning solely with the rudder much of the time considered a no no?

I love sideslips in real life! Most aircraft do have 30sec limit for sideslips so it's not something you can use for a long descent. Always used cross-control on short-final because I'm not big fan of kicking out just above the pavement.

 

It's not a good idea (in real world flying) to go from cruise power to idle as it will cause shock cooling.

 

Here is a discussion on this:

http://www.pprune.org/archive/index.php/t-284545.html

 

 

In the Duchess, emergency descents were done with gear down, flaps down, no cross-controls req and a MAX IAS of 140kts.... Never have I experienced a more thrilling thing to practice!!

 

On the way down, pitch felt like almost vertical, a windshield full of vegetation, and a VSI needle maxed out, yet the IAS never reached 140kts!

 

Don't quote me on the numbers - I haven't touched a Duchess for a good 6/7 years...

 

 

Using rudder only to turn... I don't see an issue, but you will have to pitch up to counter the roll effect anyways, so why not just use aileron?

 

Diego

Here is a short article on use of rudder.

http://www.empire-aviation.com/flight-instructors/john-e-mclain/understanding-the-use-of-rudder.html

 

To be honest, I have never used rudder alone to adjust my heading on approach as per the article....

 

Diego