Short field training

I’m a neophyte here still working on my ppl,and I’m just learning short field landings.For myself I’m glad to do initial training at a 4,000’ asphalt to get spot landings figured out then I’d imagine we’ll go to several local grass strips between 1,800 and 2,000 which isn’t short but I’m flying a yankee so it is for me at gross.Getting in is no problem but getting out with stubby wings and 108 hp can be interesting
 
MauleSkinner said:
Unfortunately that is seldom the case.

I’ve flown with “professional” pilots for whom the first 3000 feet of runway wasn’t usable in strong crosswinds. 1/3 of accidents for at least the last decade have been runway excursions. The biggest loss of airframes of the type I work with is runway excursions on landing. The most frequent checkride busts I see are landing 3000-4000 feet down the runway. It all boils down to poor potty training.
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Not a professional pilot but I was once flying towards an oncoming front with a 10k feet runway, gusty winds and deteriorating conditions in front of me. I think I rode that about 2k feet while 10 feet above the runway waiting for the plane to settle down.
 
woodchucker said:
Not a professional pilot but I was once flying towards an oncoming front with a 10k feet runway, gusty winds and deteriorating conditions in front of me. I think I rode that about 2k feet while 10 feet above the runway waiting for my excess speed to bleed off.
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FIFY.
 
The length of the field must be considered along with the approach/departure corridors. There are 1700’ strips that are “long,” i.e. have empty corridors and are near sea level. Likewise, there are 2800’ strips that are “short” with tall trees or other obstacles in one or both corridors. Real trees, which are often 75-100’ tall, not the mythical 50’ ones in the books!

Then you have to factor in density altitude and whether or not the aircraft has a turbo. Orthographic considerations that could affect initial climb should not be excluded. Condition of the runway should be considered - in spring some have tall grass and may be wet, decreasing initial acceleration.

Don’t discount the design of the airfoil when nibbling at the edges - Bonanzas and Cessna SELs seem to pop off the ground quickly, Grumman and Mooney SELs less so. And keep the nose pointed at the trees until the appropriate V speed is achieved.

There’s no one-size-fits-all answer to what is a short field. But for the average spam can, somewhere under 2000’ seems to be considered “short” and just about all would say that ≤ 1500’ is short.
 
MauleSkinner said:
The category was “most typical GA planes”. You questioned the statement because it excluded Citations.

How do you know whether they’re GA or Air Carrier?
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Many Citations are both.

"GA" aka General Aviation includes all aviation that is not airline or military. There are no airline Citations that I know of, and only a few military. 99+% of Citations are GA, AND probably somewhere between 20-80% are *also* "Air Carrier" under Part 135.

However, in the midst of all this pedantry we've accomplished nothing toward the original discussion. In addition to the actual definition of GA, many pilots misuse it to mean "piston single aviation" or some other subset of GA that's relevant to them. It seems pretty clear to me that was the meaning behind @Domenick's statement 29 posts ago, so can we go back to having some actual useful discussion? Nobody's complaining about Citations at 1700-foot runways. :rolleyes:
 
Not to pile on, and not to get into any personal anything, but flying down the runway in gusty conditions doesn't sound like a plan I'd execute unless I had to.

Again, I'm not a CFI, and I agree that you don't need a short field to practice short field techniques. BUT..if you are a CFI, and you're selecting very long runways to practice student landing on because it's safer, I'd suggest you're doing something wrong*. Teaching students to know how to go around when they're no setup correctly is part of training, IMHO. Teaching them how to compensate by floating down the field sets them up for bad habits, as I see it.

*Not counting things like wanting something long for practicing simulated engine failure on climbout, for example.
 
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