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Old 8th Dec 2013, 01:04
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envoy
 
Join Date: May 2002
Location: Asia
Age: 57
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We used to land the Caribou on a similar upslope/length strip in PNG (Kagi, near Kokoda).

The landing technique required you to anticipate and ignore the visual cues that messed with your finals perception - and in such a high tech aircraft as the 'Bou, you went for power/airspeed/rate of descent to verify glide path - no HUD with a velocity vector and GPA!

The flare required an over rotation to prevent excessive closure rate with the rising runway. Power was re-applied once the flare was established, to assure you had forward speed later in the landing roll. The teaching at the time was that you should not come to a halt on the runway, otherwise you might not have adequate power to taxi upslope to the flat 'tarmac' at the end for the turnaround in preparation for departure. Remembering to chop the power once you hit the flat bit at the end was a gotcha!

Density altitude due to elevation/high ambient temperature was also a factor to be considered for the flare judgement/power application. In a piston engined prop we had no issues with spool up time like a jet engine would have.

Takeoff was just as mentioned below - brakes release was your go/no go point. If you lost an engine going down the hill, you went off the end of the runway and descended into the valley to make single engine flying speed. There was another runway nearby, across the other side of the valley (the name escapes me) where you could subsequently land.

All good sport! But I have to admit, I wouldn't want to do it with a swept wing and jet engines. Call me chicken!
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