Oh man, that's rough! I totally feel for you, dealing with a torn curtain is the worst (especially if it's a rental, double the headache). @jamesmason that's really good to know about Vermont Tethers, I've heard their customer service is pretty solid for stuff like that. I had a similar issue with a shower curtain liner once and the company basically told me to kick rocks, so hearing about a place that actually backs up their stuff is refreshing. I hope you get it sorted without too much hassle.

Oh I actually see it a little different @olivia_chen35. In something like a Cessna 172 with a fixed pitch prop, yeah you want the carb heat on before you pull power back for the pattern. But in a Piper Archer with a constant speed prop, the way Ivan did it is pretty standard. The key is knowing your specific airplane's POH. I've done it both ways in different planes and never had an issue as long as you're not yanking power off suddenly at full throttle. Carb heat is anticing protection mostly, not a magic switch that saves you from everything. If you're doing a gentle descent with power up it's really not the same as that abrupt power off landing flare thing.

My inspector caught a dying unit that saved me $4k in July a couple years ago.

Right! Always peek through the window first before even touching that knob. Did the same thing last week and saved myself from walking right into a delivery guy trying to stash a box.

Full throttle gives you the cutting power you need when things get tough. Dropping speed just means you're not chewing through the material, you're just wasting time and fuel on a pass that doesn't really get the job done right the first time.