ORIGINAL: Mode One
Would you guys agree; landing on a smaller field is beneficial to precision? I even think it is beneficial to emergancy (dead stick) landings. With the small field, I had specific locations and altitudes I felt the plane needed to be at, in the pattern. If I couldn't make one of these locations, I adjusted the flight path to try and make the next one, etc...
I would say yes, but a good landing in different conditions is distinct from just getting it down in reuseable form. Same with any field.
A former club I belonged to with a field atop a mountain and unreachable in snow used to ski-fly in the winter at a small town park with a minimal softball/baseball diamond beside a river. Totally surrounded by large trees. It was a steep approach, and from the river side the downdraft was fierce. That little field was a tough one for the larger/faster moders, but a blast none the less. For a long time I carried a "lucky twig" in my flightbox that the model brought me after passing through one of those trees. I landed it with a section of branch passing completely through one wing panel after getting "a little close" to one of the tree tops.
Now if you take a foamie or SPAD that can be hand launched or landed in 15 feet after a hover it's kind of a poor comparison to a Kaos or a WWII warbird that need a longer approach and roll-out.