No question about it, there are some runways that were not designed for 170's. A local grass strip (Deer Pasture, see the pic at http://www.airnav.com/airport/69TE ) owned by a kind old gentleman named John Bowden was visited by me just yesterday in the hot afternoon. The pic doesn't show it very well, but at each end there are trees that rise 30-50'. This means there is only 2,000' between the trees.
Since I was alone, (I had just filled with fuel at Lampasas a couple miles away, and had 100# of baggage), and since I knew John flys in/out of his own strip with his planes (a '60 182, an old Aeronca Champ, and a 1920's Curtis Robin) I wasn't too concerned. But I'll give it a little thought before I do that again on a 100-degree day!
When I left, I went to the end and applied power briskly and went rolling down the smooth, short-grass runway. I lifted off about mid-field and made the amatuerish mistake of raising flaps before clearing the obstacles. That prolonged my time spent in ground-effect and I had to slide a bit sideways to pass a treetop and clamber through and between the crowns of trees to avoid a collision with them, with the stall warning occasionally beeping all the time in the afternoon turbulence!
Checking the performance figures in the Owner's Manual, and rounding up to the next field elevation of 2,000, I see it claims a necessary distance for gross wt. of 2450' flaps 20, and 2500' flaps up, for takeoff over a 50' obstacle. Since I was weighing approx 1900 lbs, it was certainly a validity-test of the performance figures.
I don't expect to fly into his strip much in the future unless I weigh a bit less and/or the temp is a bit cooler. It's a less expensive option to a 180 with ugly tailfeathers.
