Balloon

I'm partial to some of the older airplanes with a 180 conversion and a STOL kit (straight tailed 172, Stinson, 170B), but day in and day out, 700' is a little too short for them.

The 85-100hp J-3 or 150-180 hp PA-18 or PA-12 would be your best bet.

I've also seen some pretty impressive short field work using a Rallye Socata although I have never flow one and don't know much about them.

Charles,
very important, what's the airport elevation ? if it's under 2000msl then a j3 w/90 hp, pa11 or pa18-95 will do you nicely on 750' of grass runway and stay in your 50k budget. you will not find a descent pa18-150 for under 70-75k that wouldn't be a maintenance hog. my pa18-95 takes 350' max on a hot day(1000msl) with just me and 36g of fuel.
good searching.

gary

A friend of mine with a 600' strip and a mission very similar to yours is building a Zenith STOL CH 701. Light-sport and do-your-own maintenance if you build it. Excellent plans, kit quality and factory support. I'll give a pilot report later this year (or next) when he completes the project. It is a little odd looking, but then most special purpose machines are.

What are the approaches and departures like? Hoe much room to clear 50'?

Lots of Tripes around.
Many mountain strips were conquered with mine.
MC

ISA +10-20 at 250 msl.

I used to fly a 135hp Super Cub (former LC-21) quite a bit and its short field characteristics were pretty amazing. I was 240lb in that time frame and could easily get off in 200 ft and land in the same with no particular effort required. I generally flew in the evenings, but it was still pretty warm and humid with a field elevation of 822ft.

You could probably find one for under your $50K mark, but I don't see many listed often. I would shy away from a 170B (as stated earlier), though its my favorite airplane of all time, I would not want to do that mission day in and day out. Our 170B was a pretty lightweight example of a stock B model with a C-145-2 and climbed like a bat out of hell, but I would not like to do that on a regular basis. I was decidedly unimpressed with the Maule MX-7 180C that I flew. For a STOL airplane, it certainly didn't leap off of the ground or get stopped in a distance that I thought appropriate.

Scott N takes off in a Bonanza in about 120 feet.

Or, so it appears...

My home field is getting a new runway. As the old runway intersects the new one, they shortened the old one to 1100ft during the construction. One end is an uphill overrun made from the milled and compacted runway surface, the other end is a cliff Airport is closed to transients, some of the locals still operate 172s and PA28s in and out of this extended driveway.

Wilga! Ugly as sin, but it would do the trick.

What are people flying from the strip now?

Robert

I built and flew a Zenith 701. A 750 foot strip is no problem for this airplane. You can buy them all day long for $40k or less. Just make sure you get a well built one. The construction is simple so it is pretty easy to tell if they are built well or not. Most have a 100 hp Rotax, and that is the engine to have. You can buy a bigger version if you want more room, the Zenith 750. They can be had just barely for $50k. These planes are perfect for short/off field STOL operations and low and slow sightseeing. There are lots of people who are builders rather than flyers. They put $55,000 into a 701, fly it for 50 hours, and then sell it for $35,000 so they can start building their next project. These are the ones to look for. Also you can work on them and modify them because they are experimental.

[youtube]http://youtu.be/l5Xp4ggd9NA[/youtube]

or, if you need 4 seats:

[youtube]http://youtu.be/_C0__i7wvLc[/youtube]

or for a bit of low $ super-STOL:
http://www.barnstormers.com/classified_ ... +KING.html

or this:
http://www.barnstormers.com/classified_ ... 1B+++.html

My home strip is 800' if you stretch it. I checked out lots of different options before settling on my super cub. It's pretty much the only certified airplane that will do that with enough safety margin for me - the average pilot.

Mine has 150hp (which burns autogas) and lots of bush-mods. Cost me 78 AMU's.

If you can find a PA12 super cruiser with flaps and 150 hp it can do it too.

Does anyone remember the "WREN"?
I think it was a modified 182 with a canard.