CON-pilot.....
The world is really big outside the FAR's....Would the world be ran by the FAR's we couldn't land in Nepal, operate in the middle of Africa in the desert and such.
However, let be assured, that even if you did not experience these operations personally, some people did, and legally.
Balancing the field is a norm not a mantra, it s a published data in order to make things easier, but you can go around it; like the 3°/4° glideslope or the 2% runway slope. These are the "normal ops", the certification exercise.
However, derived data are available, and any reputable part 21 has them, and Cessna does.
This flight was perfectly legal, in all its aspect. All the documentation was given to the appropriate authorities, a special , temporary runway was drawn in the sim for this particular purpose, you name it...
The real issue in Courchevel, is the decision point when coming in for landing and the aiming point. It is very disturbing to fight against this horizon that goes up on the "non flare" platform, as well as the "full power" about 2/3 up the runway to make it to the "other side"...Take off, is very limited, due to the delayed VR which is more a V2 + at the time of rotation, the field is unbalanced, meaning that your accelerate/stop and acc/go are not equal..so you have 3 decision points on this runway...
Did I operate there on a Citation ? Yes, 20 years ago, what is legal ? you bet it was ! Did we continue to operate there ? NO !!! It was doable, but not adequate.
Do I continued these exercises ? not for the time being. Am I going to resume these activities ? Yes probably; but then i will not be able to write on Pprune about it. ;-)
Aviation has endless possibilities, operate ONCE with russian regulations in winter, and you are immunize for life...