On Nov 23, 4:19*pm, " wrote:
On Nov 23, 11:43*am, a wrote:

The thing you may be missing is you are used to flying a certain glide
slope, probably defined by the VASI. On a short field for me at least
the final approach over the obstruction to flare is MUCH steeper. I'm
trading off comfort and some margin for a very short roll-out.

I bet you are right on what I am used to for glide. *Instrument world
does make a mess of visual approaches and it's nuances.

Generally I don't miss the VASI or PAPI, as that is how I learned )
keeping the bug spot on the numbers), but what I haven't had much
practice "for real reasons" is that 50 foot obtacle clearance.

Imaginary trees not quite as "intimidating" when the real deal trees
tend to block the lights at approach end of the runway on a low glide
path. :-) and I really didn't feel that low coming into M23 as I would
have made the runway (without the trees) *had the fan quit. *The last
short field airport I went to was 2700 foot and it was much easier
since there were no obstacles.

So in a nutshell, short fields I can hang with, it's that extra
variable having trees :-) that give it a little extra slam dunking
challenge for me.

I can pretty much assure you if you get slow with a steep approach
angle the trees will be less a mind games problem. Come in at a
steeper approach angle, aim for touchdown 1200 feet short of the
turnoff -- you'll be surprised at how easy the short field technique
is. 2700 feet is simply not a short field, I'd be aiming to touch down
1500 feet from the turn off in a routine landing. If you go slower in
effect you'll be flying an approach angle a 172 with some flaps
deployed flies, and if it feels dicey the first couple of times
there's plenty of room for pitching down a bit. Try it at 2000 feet
agl, get a bit slower, then watch airspeed and rate of descent. You're
apt to be surprised at how comfortable you'd be at something a lot
more than 3 degrees.

A final not-in-the-book technique is to carry a bit of a slip down the
center line -- much easier if there's a cross wind -- but the Mooney,
normally a very clean airplane, turns into a pig when flown a bit
sideways.

All of this, of course, assumes one is very familiar with the
airplane. I am very comfortable closer to the edge in my airplane than
I would be in something like a 172, which is a much more forgiving
airplane, unless I had a bunch of recent hours in it. I would not do
any of the things I mentioned with a non pilot aboard, and even with
one who's not a CFI I'd be doing a lot of talking to avoid having the
right hand seat badly stained. After all, I have to get out of the
airplane over that seat.

Had a thought -- be fun to do some of those things with some of the
pseudo pilots who post here aboard. My pre flight check list would
include the challenge "Depends?" with the required response "On".