Of course, if it's in the POH is must be gospel.... always driven by the
goals of long engine life, low fuel burn, minimum maintenance, and least
money
expended... never by marketing, performance numbers, or band-aid
workaround covering
other problems. Nope... never. ;-)

One thing I've learned over a few years of aircraft ownership is that many
of these "rules" are made to fit the most common situation, and must take
into account the lowest common denominator pilot. Because of this, I think
most of the manufacturers are overly cautious about leaning, simply because
they don't want some ham-fisted pilot yanking the mixture back to an
over-lean condition at full power. Thus, the hard and fast "no leaning
below x000 feet rules."

Careful leaning is possible -- indeed desirable -- at any power setting and
altitude. For example, when it's hot (or high, or both), you want to lean
to best power for take-off, and that's at maximum power.

Just don't over-do it. (This is where, IMHO, an engine analyzer pays for
itself. When you have a graphic read-out of EGTs and CHTs for each
cylinder right in front of you, it's much easier not to over-lean.)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"