Send Clowns
A good reply but I'd make a couple of points.
Why would you say slipping is less safe option to lose height? I use the technique just about avery time I fly jumpers.
There's nothing dangerous about it and it gives you the option of correcting for a glideslope that's too shallow. Every landing in a glider is a forced landing and they use speed brakes to allow an adjustment either side of the current glideslope. Perhaps a contrived analogy, but if all they could do was aim for the field and then shorten things up, there'd be plenty of undershoot accidents every year. Instead, they can ease off the speedbrakes and extend the glideslope. The same capabilities are available with a slip. Also speed control is a lot easier in a slip.
Talking about which, I read an interesting article once that suggested a min sink speed would be better until you found someplace to go to. At that point a best glide speed would probably be more usefull. I though this was a good point.
As for long base, short final: perhaps, perhaps not. It could be possible to misread the wind on base, make your turn and realise it was a lot stronger than you had imagined. Maybe a longer final would yield a more stable approach.
Obviously I'm not suggesting downwinding it on a 20kt day, but, there are definately times when a downwind landing is appropriate. I sometimes do it in regular operations because the cargo ramp is at the end of a very long runway and it'll get me there more quickly, likewise a downwind takeoff. Another airport I used had a significant slope (in Texas too), so we always landed uphill and took off downhill. The power lines at the end were an added incentive for this.
Again glider operations, but the sylabus calls for a downwind landing in the event of rope break on take off (I think it's between 500' agl and tpa).
What if you had a rough field into wind, or a 10,000 concrete strip pointing downwind? Which would you take?
Teaching a set routine to a low time student makes sense as it probably will be rote learning that'll save them when it counts, but I think at some point, it behooves a pilot to think about their flying and not just do it because it was taught a certain way.
Anyway this isn't meant to be critical and I'd be interested in your responses.