(Avbug? You've flown enough different aircraft; certainly far more than me. With my limited experience, I have never come across a single that didn't approximate best glide by simply putting it into a cruise level pitch attitude. Have you?)
I don't honestly know. I've never thought about the pitch attitude during an engine failure.
Unless I'm on intruments, most of the time it's strictly a feel issue, and I probably am not looking inside the cockpit. One airplane I regularly fly, a single, has a flight manual which is placarded on the cover "Nothing in this manual is to be believed." It's a foriegn airplane with a foriegn flight manual, and none of the numbers or speeds are close to the book, even if it were believable, due to numerous mods. I have no idea what the "best glide" speed is, and don't really care. I know where it feels right, and that's where I'll fly it, eyes outside.
The airplane has no checklist, and attempting to use one would be a really bad idea, especially in an emergency. It's a very "hands-on" airplane that you really don't want to let go of, especially when things aren't going well.
From a practical point of view, however, one intuitively knows that if one is trimmed for a speed higher than best glide, one is going to have to hold back pressure at best glide...until it's trimmed off. I can't see any value in pitching up to obtain best glide speed...doing as you say and holding the present attitude until the speed bleeds down to best glide is probably a much more preferable choice, but it needs to be temperated with consideration for obstacles, terrain, etc. When I've experienced engine failures before, much of the time they've been within a few feet of the surface, up to a couple hundred feet, because that's where the airplane is operated much of the time. It's operated often in very cut up mountainous terrain, and therefore a prime consideration isn't how far I can glide, but avoiding trees, powerlines, rocks, etc.
I think too much emphasis is put on best glide speed, too. How often are you going to need to stretch the glide in a single, vs. always keeping the airplane over a decent landing spot? Perhaps more important, especially if one is going to execute checklists, attempt restarts or relights, and so on, is minimum sink speed...which is not the same as best glide speed, and is often not taught.
Best glide provides the greatest possible distance, but minimum sink provides the greatest possible time to impact. Distance isn't always the critical issue, but often as not, time is. It may afford more time to relight, more time to communicate, etc. Minimum sink is also the preferable speed in white-out forced landings, water landings, etc. Especially glassy water landings.
But back to your question...I have no idea what the pitch attitude is of any airplane I fly, respective of best glide. I'd say it depends a lot on the center of gravity and loading, etc. I can tell you what it sounds like and feels like, though.
