Joe Zuffoletto

To the OP: As you might imagine, fully enclosed hangars at KAPA are hard to come by. I can't speak for KBJC. KAPA has a number of shade hangars that sit on land owned by the Denver Jet Center. Not ideal, but better than nothing. The keeper of the shade hangars is Mr. Fran Shupe. He's an employee of DJC. I suggest you call DJC at (303) 790-4321 and ask for Fran. See what he has to offer. In the past, friends of mine who have mentioned my name have been able to stay in shade hangars for up to a week for little or no charge. It's not because I'm great shakes; it's because I've always been very kind to Fran over the years. I hope you enjoy your stay! I'll be out of town that week, so unfortunately we won't be able to meet. Cheers, JZ

A pilot friend of mine and I jumped into the Acclaim this morning and flew to two remote Colorado airports that neither one of us had ever visited: La Junta and Las Animas. Once we arrived it was apparent that we haven't been missing much, but the flight and the landings were fun!

What a classless pig. Reminds me of the saying: "Poor planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part."

Like Dave, I have the Mooney for serious travel and then I bought an RV for weekend fun near home. Here it is:

Wow, some beautiful airplanes out there!

My guess is medical emergency. There was plenty of open space to land safely but it looks like he cratered in.

Darn! I could have made the meeting Thursday at 1pm but I hadn't checked into MS so I didn't know about it. I rode in the TriMotor at about 2:30pm, then it was back with my group to Appleton for our flight home. Had a great time in the two short days I was there! The Acclaim Ultra looks great. Probably shouldn't have sat in it, but I did. Nice job, Mooney!

Add me if it's lunch or early afternoon!

Looks like Atlanta.

My Acclaim flying LOP in the flight levels with no wind gets... 15.1 nautical miles per gallon.

I take off and land full rich in the Acclaim and I'd probably do the same in the Ovation, unless the density altitude was really high. This time of year, high density altitudes on hot days are your biggest concern with a NA engine. Denver Centennial has a field elevation of 5,800'. A few days ago it got up to 98F and the density altitude was 9,600'. You can lean for best power before takeoff, which is what I do in my NA RV-8, but then you'll need to watch your CHT's like a hawk in the climb. In my RV on hot days they actually get too hot, so now I lean for best power for takeoff, climb to 1,000'AGL, then richen the mixture a bit to keep the cylinders happy until I'm in level cruise. With regards to mountain flying courses/refreshers, all the flight schools at KAPA and KBJC offer excellent training for that. I'm a Colorado native and I've never been to Pueblo, except for the airport. Give me a PIREP! One thing I've heard that you must do in Pueblo is go to Gray's Coors Tavern and order a slopper, which is a hamburger patty floating in a bowl of green chili. I'm going to fly down there with my wife pretty soon to do just that. Have a great trip!

Best post of the year!

Where do you go to get the groceries?

Sure wish I could attend but I don't arrive until Wednesday.

I've never thought about who's a $$$ supporter or not. All I know is that MS is by far the highest quality online community in which I participate. For that reason I send $50/year because I know what it takes to keep a website running and I want to help keep the lights on. Folks like Clarence add tremendous value in their own way and I appreciate their contributions.

Probably won't see any non-supporters responding to this thread!

What a great trip and excellent piloting experience for you! Long XC trips are definitely excellent vehicles for learning and sharpening skills. Hoping to make a similar trip in the fall, but we're heading to the South. Nashville will be our first stop. Can't wait!

I'll be there but I'm going in my friend's Pilatus.

Before posting my story I will admit that I did not read the posts prior, and I still haven't. I just thought that my experience would be instructive. For the record, I don't blame JPI, my avionics shop or anyone else but me for my close call. I parked my common sense that day but was lucky enough to live to tell the tale. I learned a valuable lesson that day and have not come close to being bitten since as a result.

I've told my low fuel horror story before but I'll tell it again... it bears repeating. Back in August of 2011, about a year after I put a glass panel, engine monitor and fuel totalizer in my M20K Encore, I flew from Denver to Orange County, CA. My avionics shop and I had spent months calibrating and recalibrating all the new systems and sensors, and we felt we had everything pretty dialed in. With the new JPI engine monitor installed I was finally able to attempt LOP operations, and did so for the first time on this flight. I was amazed at the results, burning just over 12gph in the flight levels, trued out at 170kts. According to my fuel totalizer, I was going to be able to make this trip nonstop with ease, which would have been a first. I was on an IFR clearance in VFR conditions as I approached KSNA, #3 to land on 20R behind two 737s. Just then, about 12 miles out, my left tank ran dry. I became very nervous very fast because I knew the right tank wouldn't be far behind... I kept them very carefully balanced throughout the flight. My fuel totalizer said I had 16 gallons of fuel on board. My watch told me I had been aloft for 5.5 hours. As I learned that day, fuel totalizers lie, but timepieces don't. I told the tower I was fuel critical and requested direct numbers to 20R, which they denied. So I canceled IFR and requested direct numbers to 20L, the GA runway, which they granted. Otherwise I would have declared an emergency. I kept the plane up high until I knew I had the runway made, then landed and taxied to the FBO. Luckily the engine never stopped running until I shut it down. Found out the next morning that the airplane required 73 gallons of 100LL to top off. Fuel capacity was 75 gallons. My usable fuel was basically gone; we taxied in on fumes. Why was the totalizer so far off? My theory is that we did all of our testing and calibrating on tanks that were between half full and full; we never made any calibration runs with the tanks half full or less. But we'll never know for sure; I sold the plane before we could do further testing. This experience haunts me to this day. Off-field landings in the LA Basin usually don't end well. I very well could have killed my wife and myself that day, and it's a terrifying and humbling thought.

I think your strobe is creating horizontal white artifacts in your video. Shelter Cove is beautiful, and that was a beautiful video!

Can't resist:

In 31 years of flying, I find it ironic that as I get older and am able to afford more capable airplanes, I'm less inclined to use their capabilities because my personal minimums keep going up as well. I'm with the OP: I'll fly IMC in coastal or Midwestern stratus all day, but IMC over the Rockies in bumpy, icy clouds is not at all my cup of tea and I avoid it if at all possible. I stopped flying at night when I moved to CO from CA 10 years ago.

Do you already have the kit for the STC? I flew mine stock for two years before installing the kit and I was blown away by the difference in takeoff and climb performance. I've climbed out of airports like Aspen and Leadville at between 1,500 - 2,000fpm in the summer with myself, my wife and half tanks on board. Last month I climbed from Petaluma airport (O69, sea level) to FL190 in 17 minutes. I was solo with full fuel and a fair amount of cargo on board. You won't be spending too much time in the hot Texas air down low! I saw your plane on Controller and it's a beauty. Congratulations!

I do have the 310hp STC and the G1000s got updated with the new red line. This is accomplished by making the G1000 think it's sitting in an Ovation 3, so now I have the Ovation 3 startup screen. This bothered me at first but the climb performance with the STC is so outrageous that I don't think about it any more. I heard that Mooney now owns the STC now but I don't know if they have any plans for it. Putting it into the Acclaim Ultra would have made a lot of sense. What's your serial number? Do you have a Type S?