Originally Posted by
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.
KC10Fatboy -
One correction to your post above that I just caught this morning. USN/USMC type guys are trying to maintain the AMBER DOUGHNUT. The red and green are chevrons - red being too little AoA (fast) and green being the dreaded too much AoA (slow). Everything else you said is right on
Here is a clip to illustrate. You can hear a guy standing by the runway saying power on, more power on, etc.... and you can see a little bit of smoke coming from the engines. That is the pilot maintaining the centered ball (glideslope) with power while holding the proper AoA (8.1).
http://www.flickr.com/photo_embed.gne?id=4211495887
Note - this is a particular way of landing and does not fit every situation. In other words - in general - there are other ways to skin a cat (though not in carrier naval aviation
)
USMCFLYR