Luck of the draw, I guess.
I guess. With several landings in the tall brush, high grass, and a couple of flip-over crashes, I've only had to go back to the shop for repairs just once. I've had to replace a prop at the field, but that was about it. Around 6 inches of rain throughout May hasn't hurt the cushion factor of Terra Firma either.
"BTW I'm curious as to how you managed to stall the Avistar on final, especially as you indicate that you are experienced enough to know better. I suspect its due to a high stall speed cause by heavy construction and the semi-symmetrical wing profile."
"...all I need to do is line the plane up on final and she'll glide in on idle at a slightly nose down attitude. As I approach the runway threshold then all I need to do is to raise the nose just above level and she'll settle in as pretty as you please."
(It's a Superstar 40) You're exactly right on your description of the approach and landing, and my plane did that before I got bored. I adjusted the control horns to give the plane more play, so it didn't fly exactly like the trainer it once was. After the adjustment, I made about 15 or so landings with a straight in approach with no problems. I then tried a short approach from the side and banked it around to the runway. At about 12' up and just over the runway, and just before I straightened her out on final, it dropped quickly and nailed the ground. I think I pulled up a little too much, with the slower airspeed combined with the bank, and stalled her out. I was 'behind the plane' and didn't recover with full throttle. It was on the ground too fast. I may be wrong about this, so feel free to disagree.