Must thank Lister Noble for starting this thread. Some very interesting replies after sorting the wheat from the chaff
I'm heading towards first solo (next week or the following once I've completed the Air Law exam) and noticed on Tuesday while doing circuits with my instructor how quickly the airspeed can bleed off in the approach configuration especially when turning final if you don't keep the nose down in the turn (I was unconsciously pulling back on the yoke slightly as I banked to line up with the centreline).
I bled off 10kts in the turn (from 70 to 60) but corrected the error before getting too close to the stalling speed. I didn't repeat it on my final circuit and performed the best landing so far in my training apparently
I didn't consider the increased stall speed at that angle of attack at the time (15-20 degrees). I will do more in future after reading this thread.
Denham has quite a tight LH circuit on 06 so there isn't much time to do everything - then again I chose Denham for that reason - its quite a challenging circuit for students with a very "short" final.
Thanks again for all your posts. Reading and remembering.
Andy