Ah. Thats where im going wrong.
You see I thought I was instructing real world students about real world aviation in the real world
Obviously I misunderstood....
Seriously, 'approach' and 'threshold' speed are two different things - for instance you dont fly 63kts full flap on the 'initial approach' do you? no.
Now its not surprising that folks over in private flying have lapsed into shall we call it 'colloquial' language and thus get VERY VERY confused in the process.
As an instructor I will tell my student to set up 75kts as the approach speed for a visual circuit....turn base, carb ht hot, pwr 1500-1700, hold att - then as speed reaches 75kts set the descent attitude.
Thus when an instructor tells his student 'use 75kts as an approach speed' he means precisely that. Now if you ask him what speed should be used over the threshold youll get a different answer....for a pa28 typically 65kts for normal/glide and 70kts for flapless.....
Obviously I need to take off my rose tinted specs!
On a genuine note - is there perhaps a difference in terminology used by instructors in the UK and those in the states regarding the terms 'approach speed' and 'threshold speed' - maybe this is where some of the confusion lies?
