Originally Posted by sunfish
As has been said before, they are light and don't penetrate much. I was warned that you can generate very high rates of decent with full flap and not enough power, and thus arrive ten feet high with no speed and no ideas. I haven't done that yet. On the other hand, if you have practised your short field landings, it is possible to stop before you reach the piano keys on 17L at YMMB
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Hey, you can do that in the alpha too
In all honesty, the level bit isn't such an issue - although closer to the ground, they're also smaller (shorter/narrower), which yields not dissimilar available pitch and roll attitudes. But we do seem to be identifying a common theme.. "oops, too slow, crunch".
Realistically, they just require a bit more attention, and a switched on pilot - that might just take more time!
Another factor is the throttle systems: The sportstar has this vernier screw fine adjust, push-the-button-on-the-end-and-slide coarse. The result - screwing takes forever, and pushing the button yields a very free running and coarse adjustment. You either get nothing, or a bootfull - that makes controling the speed doubly difficult. The CT has a lever in the console back by your trouser pocket - better, but still a little clumsy.
Originally Posted by sunfish
My view is that it makes you a better pilot for it, and when you return to a Cessna or Piper, you will find that you are automatically reacting to a set of subtle queues of aircraft behaviour that you didn't even notice before, well at least I didn't notice anyway.
Couldn't agree more!