I remember being taught short field landings by RAAF instructors and as the slats clacked in and out you knew not to reduce airspeed any further.
Slight thread drift but here goes. When I learned to fly in the early 1950's, short field landings (sometimes called Precautionary landings) were usually conducted at much lower airspeeds than normal landings. For example normal landings in a Tiger Moth were a fixed IAS of 58 knots to the flare. Short field landings were flown hanging on to the prop (powered approach) at 48 knots.
Short field landings in other types were conducted almost universally by knocking off 10 knots from normal over the fence speeds and the Devil take the hindmost.
Todays flying schools syllabus includes short field landings but the airspeed is never reduced below Vref or 1.3VS which is normal landing speed. That being so, why is it called "short field landing" when clearly it isn't ? Is it illegal to deliberately approach at a speed less than Vref or 1.3Vs? Does that risk CASA legal action if caught in the act? Just wondering..