Oh my Gowd I can hardly believe some of the comments in this thread! Mickey Mouse school of flying comes to mind
Just imagine a bike sitting on a pivoted straight construction! Wind the construction forward and the bike will roll forward, wind it back and lo and behold the bake will roll backwards keep it horizontal and you are not going anywhere.
What is controlling speed? Now add an engine to the bike and the bike can move under power when the construction is horizontal it can even climb if you wind a slope uphill into the equation! Wind in too much and the poor little engine will not cope.
Wind the slope forward engine, bike and your weight and you will accelerate like mad.
Conventional peddle bike you are the engine. You peddle like mad uphill you sit there doing nothing downhill.
Aircraft! No rule in isolation is correct! Low powered draggy aircraft with novice pilot and pitch becomes more relevant for speed but pitch is purely the throttle which allows you to tap into the potential energy in the airframe!
Its that energy which gives the speed, The Elevator is just the throttle!
High powered aircraft power can become more relevant but you are regardless managing the energy available to you from the engine and airframe to achieve a desired effect.
So think two throttles two energy sources and both are available to you to use!
The glider on a no lift calm day only has one energy source and that is from the airframe by trading altitude for energy which gives enough speed for the wing to fly. The elevator is the throttle to that energy source! push forward and the speed will increase pull back and it will decrease! pull back too far and that energy will climb the aircraft.
In a typical low powered draggy trainer the biggest danger with novice students is keeping them away from stalling the aircraft. In these aircraft pitching for speed becomes more relevant as with little engine power available there is a danger of the student gettting into a high drag high AOA situation with minimal power which is a lethal combination so teaching them to pitch for speed is vital although only part of the true picture and principal.
For more advanced experienced pilots they will use a combination of both energy sources sometimes more from one source sometimes more from the other sometimes some of both, sometimes none from one all from the other and visa versa hence why I prefer the description of energy management.
Its energy which always gives you speed its the throttle AND elevator which controls that speed as well of course as drag that is available to you
Pace