This thread was awkward to me, because when writing my dribble about lading power on / off, I distinctly remembered a thread long ago about a pilot that 'landed out' while in the pattern at GEU due to an engine failure.
In that thread I remarked something to the nature of ... if he had more dead stick landing time he probably wouldn't have had to tear up an airplane landing in a parking lot while in the pattern

This did not sit well with many of the seasoned, old salts of the then BCP, who have
mostly all moved on now.
It was also awkward to me because virtually every young pilot who has sought advice from me (don't know why anyone would think that was a good idea?) about flying ag, I have advised to first pursue a commercial glider rating, and possibly a few hundred hours towing banners next. These two are on virtually opposite ends of the spectrum in power management, but both need the wing to keep flying.
So the notion of being proficient at manipulating things when it all goes quiet is not foreign to me.
Since the days of that thread (which was old enough to be when BCP was on a different platform), I have come to realize, that if you compartmentalize your flying too much, you short change yourself in the long run, maybe even set yourself up for failure at some point.
When you boil it all down, since we don't flap our wings and bend their shapes instantly like a bird, (regardless of their orientation) we rely on airspeed across them. To get that airspeed requires energy. In Contact's case, that energy may be in the form of zoom reserve, in Maple's case it may be in the form of that thermal parked under that cloud or a wave rolling along.
Sure I recognize that in different regimes, flight controls, including the throttle start to change or even reverse rolls, but as long as you are in flight, the wing still needs fed energy.
I believe that pilots who fly the wing rather than the procedure, (these things are not space shuttles) generally don't have a hard time deciding where they're going to extract that energy from.
I also believe that pilots who spend an inordinate amount of time stuck in one corner of the box, focused whether on ea. landing should be a 3pt. or wheelie, power on or power off, which hand the throttle or yoke is in, or which way to pull/push goes up and when, tend to be the guys that at some point will pull past the breaking point, force a poor landing technique, or flame out their new Air Tractor because they're used to a Thrush, (fuel condition lever, and prop control are in reversed positions)...
I believe the three best things we can do for ourselves to maximize or flying longevity is learn to fly the wing (What a seasoned fellow like JP is practicing landing engine out), learning as broad of a spectrum of flying machines as possible. Because they all seem to have preferences on how they like their wings to be fed, and learn to never say never or always, never full flap/slip a 170 abcxyz? Phooey... maybe not as a normal procedure, but you can bet your ass if I am flamed out, and need to park it on a 150' island that's zipping under me because I was too low on the river to make it to the shore, I am going to hit that island. flaps, slip and all....
Take care, Rob