Originally Posted by
Ascend Charlie
Attitude = airspeed
Power = Rate of descent.
Applies to all phases of flight. With enough power, the ROD becomes ROC.
I think there's more to it than that. All phases of flight are a combination of pitch AND power. You can have full climb power, but if you're pointing down you will still go down. If you set constant power for level flight you can still climb and descend just using the cyclic. If you want to do it at a constant airspeed then you'll have to adjust the power as well. Which control is 'controlling'? That's for us to argue about for the rest of time...
I think the Attitude=Airspeed/power=ROD simplification stems from the fact that we can operate on both sides of the power curve, but it sure is a whole lot easier to level-off with cyclic, then set the speed with collective!
Interestingly in a Jet, speed is throttle and pitch maintains altitude, but climbing or descending speed is pitch and throttle is ROC. Unless you select V/S when speed is throttle again, and ROC is pitch!