Infact in a glide approach with the throttel closed you wouldnt know that you had an engine problem until you needed the power?
This to me is the crux of the disscussion, glide aproaches have their uses for practice (i do em, and they are fun), but do it all the time as your landing technique and one day on short final you may find some sink (on my airfeild we cross a river on short final and this often happens) you need to use that throttle, cold engine? (are you using carb heat on these glides)
what happens if it fails? you'll land short and won't feel so clever.
Considering this guy is a student i'm surprised you instructors aren't all over this as a potentially dangerous practice.
