DamonMeyer

A smidge of both, at the same time.

chuckyt1

Seems I've been hearing this argument for the last 30 years.

Like others have said both. I will say however, if you couple the approach, pitch flies the GS. I've done CAT II approaches in airplanes that didn't have auto throttles. Guess how we controlled the speed?

So to answer your questions, 727, 737, 757 and A320. Pitch to the GS.

SoCal Flyer

Lol, no way. I just thought it'd be funny to say. All the 172's here at LBFC are oldschool; late 70s/early 80s. They are pretty well maintained, though. Although there is one 1999 C-172SP at the club. The new ones are quite sophisticated though..with the glass cockpits and all.

own nav

Type of plane is very relevant in this discussion. 80 kts with a tolerance of +/- 10 kts, and a piston powered engine that responds instantly to your input, you might be more inclined to use power changes. As you get into larger faster turbine powered aircraft, I suggest you to get a feel for your power settings as a high priority in mastering your plane.

In the planes I've flown, if you start off the approach right, with the right power setting, a little pitch change might throw you off 2-5 kts, but it'll usually settle back to the right speed once you recapture glide slope.

Bear in mind, the power setting to hold glide slope at a given speed varies with different conditions. In a BE99 for example, if you have an empty podless plane with no wind, you're looking at about 400 torque to hold glide slope at 120 kts IAS. Put a pod on, you need another 100, and for every 10 kts headwind, roughly another 100. Heavily loaded, maybe a little more. So, a heavy loaded podded BE99 with a 20 kt headwind, you're looking at about 700 torque, maybe a little more to hold glide slope at the same speed.

KC10 FATboy

The USN/USMC guys, perhaps some of the figher USAF guys, are going to say power for descent rate (altitude) and pitch for airspeed. This is because they have an Angle of Attack indicator and are trying to fly the green donut, a constant angle of attack approach. The C-17 guys (correct me if I am wrong), are flying on the backside of the power curve during their approach and landings and the AP also maintains a constant angle of approach -- they control the descent with power and "flare" the aircraft by increasing power.

When you aren't trying to land on an aircraft carrier, in the box on the runway, or flying an assault landing; like most have said, you will use a little of both pitch and power -- they are related to one another.

Once you get stabilized on the approach, you will notice a certain power and certain pitch will maintain the aircraft on speed on the glideslope "hands off" all the way down until the flare.

Learn those pitch and power settings.

aviatorhi

My way may be a little different... I'll set power for approach speed going down the GS and leave it there about a mile from FAF, last dot to go I'll start pitching down to an initial VSI based on Ground Speed to capture GS, then maintain the GS and LOC with pitch and roll only, for the last mile its pitch and yaw only, works every time.