This for me. If I’m already trimmed for the proper airspeed, there isn’t a whole lot of pitching that needs to be done. Mostly just minor power changes to hold the glide slope.
But then your airspeed won’t be very constant. Trim for proper airspeed and then use power to climb or descend on the glide path. Seems to work well, though I agree that it takes a mixture of both rules of thumb, which is why it ultimately boils down to just doing whatever it takes.
How constant does your speed need to be? If you’re getting 5 knots of change because you’re pitching to the glide slope, you’re doing a really crappy job of flying the glide slope.
As constant and precise as you can reasonably keep it. If you’re trimmed to hold a certain airspeed, it shouldn’t take a whole lot of control change to hold it, unless you’re playing throttle jockey and chasing the glide path with power. Everything should remain fairly constant, if it doesn’t, then I’d argue that you’re doing a crappy job of flying the glide slope and aren’t very stable.
Unless your student is never going to use an autopilot, don’t tell them to maintain glide slope with power.
So the bottom line is, as long as you don’t do a crappy job of flying, it doesn’t matter.
In the end yes, which was why I said it ultimately takes whatever it takes.
Does it appear to the casual observer that you think a jet engine has an accelerator pump?
You must use all of the controls to fly a successful approach. Pitch for airspeed or pitch for glideslope are techniques that help you decide what inputs to make. Both techniques work.
Your instructor is an idiot.
Then go by the Instrument Flying Handbook, the section on Primary and Supporting instruments. In that section you will find that the primary reference instrument is a moving target, depending on what you want to accomplish. Sounds complicated, but it's intuitive. Think of it this way (my thinking): The wing has the largest surface area available for deflecting air, so whether you want to make the fastest turn or the quickest change in altitude, pitch toward the direction you want to go. Same as when you're distracted for a minute by a passenger and look back to see your altitude is about to set off ATC's alarm bells—you pitch quickly to correct, i.e., screw passenger comfort it's their fault anyway.
Here ya go, my treat: It's Not Your Flying (avclicks.com)Don’t go by either what your instructor says, or what you “feel”… references are what you need as an instructor and what your instructor should have provided. Andas you saw, @dtuuri provided that.
When I mentioned to my instrument instructor that my instructor for the private taught it differently than he did, he mentioned the "region of reversed command" as possibly being relevant. I just found an article on that:
No more or less than any other airplane. Adding power while maintaining angle of attack does not change your L/D, it changes excess power which equates to rate of climb/descent if airspeed is held constant by maintaining AOA. Some carrier airplanes approach on the frontside, some on the backside. The 'traditional' Navy approach used the 'backside technique' in either case, although things like DLC ('Magic Carpet') becoming more prevalent are changing that somewhat.
Assuming that airspeed is where you want it...
