The power-off 180
Engine at idle abeam the landing spot: energy management, glide angle control, and a touchdown at or beyond a chosen point.
13 min read · The commercial maneuvers
After this lesson you can
- Explain why pitch, not throttle, controls both airspeed and glide angle once power is fixed at idle.
- State the downwind key position and the recommended glide speed used to reach it.
- List at least four techniques available to stretch or shorten the remaining glide without changing airspeed.
- Name the named common errors that most often cause an accuracy approach to fall short or overshoot.
The power-off 180 is the accuracy-landing descendant of the 90-degree and 180-degree power-off approaches the Airplane Flying Handbook describes for every certificate level. The commercial version asks for the full 180-degree pattern: throttle to idle, abeam a chosen landing spot, all the way to a touchdown on that spot or within 200 feet beyond it, with no power used at any point after the throttle closes.
The AFH frames the purpose in one sentence worth remembering exactly: the ability to estimate the distance an airplane glides to a landing is the real basis of all power-off accuracy approaches and landings. Every technique in this lesson exists to serve that one judgment.
The rest of this lesson
- 1.What changes when power is fixed at idle
- 2.The downwind key position
- 3.The turn to base and the base key position
- 4.Tools for adjusting the glide without changing airspeed
- 5.ACS considerations and named common errors
- 6.Wind, the surface, and choosing where to land
- 7.The rest of the risk list: go-around, traffic, low altitude, distraction, and the slip
These 7 sections, their figures, the checks along the way and the end-of-lesson quiz come with the CPL track. Paid once, yours for good.
Key terms
Try to recall each definition before turning the card.