Slow Flight/Use of Rudder
Interesting thread which developed out of the too fast approach speed post. Agree with just about everything said too
See a lot of the '2 - on - the - floor' syndrome here in my corner of Oz. Mostly Piper trained pilots too. Also, most PPL's seem to think that Vfe is the lowest end of the white arc you should dwell in until over the threshold. I don't think this is just a UK problem. It's very impressive watching them try to get a Cub on the deck at 60 kts approach!!
The slow flight training is IMHO essential to so many maneouvres, including precautionaries, low flying, bad weather flying, go rounds, orbiting etc, that there should be much more emphasis on it. Due our greater amount of rough air flying out here - hotter wx - it's useful to teach S&L using a rudder 'lead', which saves the pilot a lot of arm wrestling with aileronswhen they could be navving.
One of the other safety aspects of teaching slow flight is to teach them to 'lead' into the turns with power and rudder, and to look to make slow flight turns as minimum radius turns - not steep turns per se. Too much emphasis on high wing loading / steep turns at cruise speed,(which most pilots will never do in their lifetime). Not enough emphasis on the subtle skills of low wing loading, balanced, minimum radius turns at slow speeds.
For info, we specialise in low flying and tailwheel work in a C170 and a Supercub.
cheers,