A couple minor issues with the demonstrations: first, there were no trees on any of that terrain. That allowed him to drag it in low and slow. Second, landing up hill is actually cheating because it shortens the roll without needing to apply brakes.
It isn't the penalty for failure that I have an issue with, but the relevance of the demonstrations to (IMHO) more common terrain where you want to land and takeoff in a clearing in forested areas. E.g. steeper approaches and departures. It does no good to be able to land and take off at slow speed if you can't climb at steep angles to get out of some tight "deep" landing spot.
I didn't see any tall obstacles he had to pass over to reach a target landing point. I couldn't always tell what his target was, so couldn't tell if he was making it. I didn't see any tall obstacles he had to climb over on takeoff. Why should I be impressed by a steep downhill takeoff?
All that complaining aside, it is no doubt a great STOL airplane. The video itself obviously was another matter since it didn't meet my personal expectations. That is why I said the issues I had were minor.
