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Short stuff: the last time you had to make a true short-field landing, did you remember planning, airspeed control and flying a stabilized approach?

Article Excerpt
The short-field approach and landing is something we all learned as student pilots. Commercial students get to show some additional expertise. However, both the private and even commercial requirements are a bit relaxed and don't really prepare us for that maximum performance, white-knuckle experience of putting the airplane down on that postage stamp some joker sadistically calls a runway.

When we say "short-field approach and landing," we're really talking about two entirely different situations with different techniques. Obstacles at the approach end of the runway determine how we will make the approach--whether we can "drag it in" a few feet off the ground, or if we have to make a steep descent to clear the FAA's standard-issue 50-foot tree right at the runway threshold.

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BACK TO BASICS

Perhaps over the years since you last had to demonstrate your precision landing skills, you've gotten a bit complacent, adding a few knots here and there to your approach speed. Or perhaps you've transitioned to a higher performance airplane and you just feel more comfortable coming in a bit faster. Or maybe your home 'drome's shortest runway is so long you could do a couple touch-and-goes...

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