Buck,

It's been way too long for me, but if I remember correctly the slats deployed as a function of AOA. You COULD use their position on approach to judge your AOA/airspeed if you lost either; half travel of the slats was on-speed. The Blues bolted the slats shut to prevent the uncertainties and gyrations associated with slat deployment, especially assymetrical slat deployment.

I have to agree that lighter weight/wing loading will help. Keep the power on in the turns and smooth control inputs. I got a few minutes on one of Tam's before I bought my kit and I thought it flew very well.

Tom