Hi Crow,

The answer to your first question, about using throttle on landing is "it depends." All planes will fly a little differently, and it doesn't really matter whether you are talking about a taildragger or tricycle gear. You say that you are flying a Cub. Cubs are serious floaters, and it doesn't surprise me at all that you land at idle. If you were to fly something heavy (like a warbird) or draggy (like a bipe), then you'd probably end up doing the approach with more power.

Dead stick landings are pretty different between planes, too. With your Cub, you would probably land it dead stick using the same approach that you always do. It might actually be easier to land dead stick, since it won't float as far. The warbird or bipe, on the other hand, is lots more exciting to land dead stick. As soon as you see that the engine has quit, you've got to get the nose down right away and head straight for the runway. The descent would tend to be steep until you're right over the runway.

The main thing is just to understand that planes are all different, and it's not right or wrong.

As to your second question, about the wind. For a 40 size plane, I would consider a 10 knot wind to be pretty insignificant, no matter which way it's blowing or even if it's swirling and gusty. Mostly, it's just a matter of your flying skills (and how well you use the rudder). Ground handling is actually a much bigger issue than flying. Sometimes a stiff wind will flip the airplane over on the ground before you can get it into the air. Once you've taken off, wind is no big deal (within reason of course - the plane must be fast enough to be able to cover ground flying up wind, 10 knots would probably be unreasonable for a park flyer, for example.)

Thanks,
-Wade