Sloping strips
One of my biggest frights on a strip was in Somalia. Uphill slope to land then downhill for take-off with unload area and village at end of landing run. On this particular day there had been a lot of rain and strip was now very muddy with a new stream running across it near the landing point.
Landed over it, unloaded then lined up for take-off. Copilot, another Captain, and I weren't happy so taxied down to have a look. Surface had dried a bit but the stream and sea of mud beyond didn't look good if we had to abort. Quick check of numbers to allow for the slope and I took off uphill.
We had been doing strip limiting take-offs on various strips around Somalia for weeks and did just that!!! Rotate then see that the end of the strip and ground beyond is above the aircraft! Squeeze nose gently up to get somewhere towards 2/3 1/3 rule of thumb, don't even look at speed! Crawl up over the terrain.
Yes, it was in the book that a sloping strip could become an obstacle (we remembered that later), yes we were two experienced Captains. Yes an obstacle limiting take-off would have been perfect.Yes we were both instructors!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!