shortstripper
Yes sorry I meant an abrupt stall; a PA38 usually drops a wing pretty quickly.
Re forced landings or short strips: I actually use the POH figures and config; I am not adding 10kt or whatever for good measure. With a Vs of 59kt, 70-75kt on final when starting the flare is fine. I know some people say that a landing should be a full stall, with the horn going off, nose way up etc but I don't go for that; for a start you don't get much rudder authority.
It is easy to land in a distance which one can never takeoff from later. Isn't that true for any aircraft? It certainly is for mine.
RogerF
I do know about the back of the curve, believe me. All I have to do to get there is fly at 18"/2300 (the normal approach config) and drop the gear while forgetting to put some power back on (20"+) right away. Another way to get a nice suprise (especially nice if in IMC) it is to descend on autopilot in VS hold mode with less than 18" MP (very tempting if gear isn't down) and not put power back on when the AP reaches the preset ALT and levels off
Recovery from the above, if needed while maintaining altitude, needs a lot of power applied right away. But I wouldn't choose to fly on the back of the curve deliberately... there isn't any point. Engine cooling is one reason.
M14P
I do learn something on every flight. The 45-hr PPL is indeed a "license to learn". I suppose I got into this thread because someone seemed to be doing a lot of this.
It is a pet subject of mine; the way the PPL includes a lot of this sort of thing while leaving out the stuff which is just as essential if somebody wants to actually fly anywhere afterwards. This situation is understandable given that nearly all PPLs chuck it in shortly afterwards (maybe this is one reason why they do?) so there is no pressure on schools to turn out pilots who can confidently go places. But I won't say any more on this.