I’d have thought the climb gradient in the air would be affected by the wing section and loading. ??
In the mid 1990s I had a Courchevel rating and I went there every winter. After one landing with my Mooney TLS Bravo (M20M) I twisted the Vernier throttle control
not quick enough – should have pushed the whole throttle in instead of the Vernier – and the aircraft came to a stop mid-runway – almost full power was too late then.
Arlette who was running Courchevel tower was obviously familiar with that situation. She shouted over the radio to stop, not to move. Then she sent two men from the fire brigade to us and with them as “wingwalkers” on both sides at the wingtips holding the aircraft straight we could increase to take-off power again and we made it to the top.
Funny I just flown a Mooney with one of those throttles today, it has been a long time since I touched an airplane but I need to get used to the difference between the vernier turns and press-push full forward on a go-around or I will kill myself one day 
nobbi wrote:
almost full power was too late then.
That is very interesting, I was always wondering what would happen if you stop. Did the plane try to fall over backwards? Did you reduce to idle or kept the power up to prevent it from falling over?
@ Sebastian_G :
When the tower called us to stop (they did not want us to continue without the 2 men guidance) we had already come to a stop and power was at idle with brakes on. Before that with high power I noticed a strong tendency of the aircraft to turn sidewards.
Therefore they sent us the two guys who then prevented the aircraft from turning when again under high power. At idle with feet on the brakes there was no backward
movement. We were two persons in the front seats.
The Mooney AOM recommends to use the vernier system for power changes in order to avoid high acceleration loads on the crankshaft counterbalance weights of the Lycoming TIO-540 – IIRC. As my experience shows this was not appropriate for a rollout after landing in Courchevel and as Ibra says it is important to differentiate between the vernier turns and press-push full forward (throttle) on e.g. a go-around when timely reaction is a factor.
This thread reminded me of a very memorable airfield that seemed to have all the attributes and gradient of a ski jump. It was Condat sur Vezere (LFDZ), about 15nm SE of Periguex, which I think is sadly now long closed.
It was a one way in, other way out hard runway with a very significant slope at the North end where there was a turning circle; one then had to taxi back down the slope to the turn off to the parking area. The main attraction of Condat was the superb restaurant run by the owners of the airfield which attracted visitors from all over France, many of them fooled by the slope of the runway, much to the amusement of on looking diners and aviators.
My first visit there, in August 1982, was in my Cosmic Wind “Ballerina” after a F! air race at Saintes. The Cosmic Wind was not blessed with great forward visibilty at landing speed and all I remember was touching down on the numbers with an unusual view of the rapidly ascending runway ahead of me which made it unacustomably easy to keep on the centre line. But as I still had a very coarse racing prop fitted I remember needing near full throttle to climb the last 200m of runway to the turning circle and then had to cut the engine on the way down to the ramp turn off, shut down, jump out and pull Ballerina to a parking slot..
It was such a good lunch, with great people, I had to stay there for the night.After a late start I did manage to get back home to Redhill the following day, slightly jaded; those were the days of real VFR flying….no radio, navaids or GPS… there were no electrics in the aeroplane anyway.
You have done some truly amazing things, @Marchettiman, which I will never even dream of
It would be great to hear some of your stories from many years ago. I think we had some threads on that…
Marchettiman, great to hear that you know this airfield Condat-sur-Vezere. I had been there some day in the late 1980s. A friend wanted to pick me up by car after I gave him a call from the local aeroclub. But when I landed nobody was present – sign at the aeroclub door said “fermé” and mobiles did not yet exist. So I left my baggage in the plane and started walking towards Montignac hoping that I could reach my friend by phone from a house en route. After three kilometers in 33°C midday’s heat he showed up in his car. I had given him a rough estimate for my arrival. We both returned to LFDZ to get my bags. At the plane a man about 55yo approached us and said not too pleasant : " You cannot stay here with your plane. The airfield is closed. I am the new owner. I just bought it. " What a pitty, such a nice place, a beautiful kind of art deco hangar … all gone.
We transfered the plane to the adjacent airport Brive-La-Gaillarde.
During the following years I learned that they now had an ultralight / microlight base there. But when I checked today after reading your post I found that most probably
they (perhaps a new owner) also admit again airplanes PPR. I found the information on Sky Demon – when clicking on the airport symbol on the French map.
nobbi wrote:
Condat-sur-Vezere
Some nice pictures of the runway here:
https://forgottenairfields.com/airfield-condat-sur-veezeere-1166.html
But I think it does not come close to Courchevel. Building an apron at the bottom of courchevel would be asking for disaster. I guess once a month a plane would fall of the end with broken brakes.
Not sure if it counts as taxi, but this chap claims his landing spot is about 50%
