Yet, ask the same instructors to cut the mixture of a single engine aircraft after take off at 500 feet to test the students judgement on selection of a suitable forced landing area straight ahead and the answer would be "you must be bloody joking"
Not necessarily - it was the
only way I reduced power on piston singles (PA 28 and C150) over three years instructing.
When asked why the shocked response the instructor would doubtless say because the engine might not restart when the mixture is reset to Rich.
Twaddle - I'm firmly with Clinton on this one.
and some pitiful form of combustion to be going on in each and every cylinder. The fire can then hopefully restored by the traverse of a butterfly valve through about Eighty degrees of rotation.
The fire goes out in every cylinder for three quarters of the time, even when the engine is running at full throttle.
IMHO people are "afraid" of the mixture in the same way they are "afraid" of turning the master switch off in flight - because they don't understand the system.