"kontiki" wrote in message news
Blueskies wrote:


Why are you beating up the plane?

I was taught and used to teach that any landing without full flaps was an 'emergency' landing. The airplane has a
landing configuration and the performance in the book is based on that configuration...

It is good to practice emergency landings every so often.

Beating up my plane? Have you ever flown a Comanche? All you
need is 20 degrees for smooth and graceful landings in a PA24.
If I'm going into a really short field (2000 feet?) then I'll
use full flaps.

All the 182's I've ever flown only need 20 degrees of flap
for nice landings too. Go full flaps and its like an anvil
with a parachute. The 182 is a great short field airplane.

So, what is the expected landing performance for the Comanche, landing with 20° flaps?

Tires and brakes at least are taking more than they need to. Wheel bearings too. Struts and oleos thumping over the
expansion joints, etc...

Always landed the PA32-300 with full flaps, nice and slow. And that was in HI with screwy cross winds pretty much always
blowing 15-20 knots.