Oh I think my Tiger would get in and out of some pretty short fields (I
wasn't comfortable say going in and out of Ken Blackmans 1600' grass
strip...but he did all the time). It was more my comfort in my abilities.
In a high DA situation, you're right it was not a great performer at all.
Cliff did tell me that he thought the Bonanza was stout as all get out and
faster on nearly the same fuel as the Tiger.

The Cirrus, with only 35 hours in her, is an awesome climber in just about
everything I've hit so far. Highest DA for takeoff so far was around 5500'
in Helena. 2 aboard and full fuel we climbed out at well more than 1000'
per minute. Typically around here on anything approaching standard days to
say 1000' DA I'll sometimes hit close to 2000' fpm.

Gear's pretty stout and I believe built like the Tiger's...with the same
nose wheel pluses and minuses. Slow flight was surprising in that you've
got aileron authority so deep into the stall. I'm comfortable with 2000'
feet as a minimum strip depending on load, DA, etc etc. But that'll get me
out in 1/2 or less. The only thing I'd be real concerned about on a back
country strip are the wheel pants. The come down so low on the wheels that
I'd worry about cracking 'em.

All in all the transition for a Tiger driver is very easy. Sight lines are
similar, same care with landing speeds, same don't spin 'em....oh wait, that
started this monster thread didn't it? Heavier bird in feel but that
also smooths out the bumps.

Lots o'fun.

"Snowbird" wrote in message
om...
"Flynn" wrote in message
news:jZetb.3278$Dw6.24546@attbi_s02...
I wasn't ready/willing to risk my $75,000 Tiger on Idaho back country
strips
either! For that, give me a Cessna 182...

Hi Flynn,

Well, I don't know what performance you felt you could get
from your Tiger (yours evidently differed from mine in several
respects), but my reason for not taking on back country strips
in my Tiger isn't the price of the machine.

It's the fact that the Tiger just isn't (IMO) a good back
country plane. It'll land short enough, but with normal
aspiration and a fixed prop typically pitched for cruise,
it just isn't a good climber at high DA. I love my Tigger-plane,
but I try to be honest about his weaknesses as well as his
strengths.

So, Flynn, now that you're a Cirrus owner, tell us what the
gear is like and about the climb performance at high DA? How
does it handle at low speeds? What would you consider a
comfortable, consistantly achieveable landing distance? If
you wanted to hit some back country strips, would it do the
job?

Cheers,
Sydney