Joe Zuffoletto

Enjoy your Acclaim! They rock! If you have any Acclaim questions let me know.

Learn to fly gliders Fly an open cockpit biplane Get type rated in the L-39 at Jetwarbird Training Center Fly my Mooney to the East Coast

If you open them in Illustrator you can see that they are vector graphics. I was able to resize them nicely in that app.

Update: Got Petaluma to Denver done! 3.5 hours of blissful smooth flying followed by 45 minutes of bumpy, rainy, icy IMC over the Colorado Rockies. But the Mooney, TKS and pitot heat did their jobs beautifully, allowing me to focus on navigating and the rodeo ride I was "enjoying." http://flightaware.com/live/flight/N3833T Pix and vids to follow.

I launch in about an hour from Petaluma to Denver!

Napa to Minneapolis to trade my Cherokee in for my Encore back in 2000 Napa to Gaston's to go fishing Denver to Cabo (5x).

That was very cool. I've never seen a flight filmed from that perspective. Where was your camera mounted? On the horizontal stab?

That's true. But I usually plan on 700-800fpm at 135KIAS. The TKS is more effective at lower angles of attack.

When I lived in NorCal I made several trips to SoCal in these conditions with my FIKI Encore. As long as tops were no higher than FL220 I would go and plan to cruise in bright sunshine on top. In the winter I would pick up light to moderate rime for maybe 1000' in the climb/descent, but I would always notify ATC when this was the case and request an expedited climb/descent, which they always granted. In the meantime the TKS kept the control surfaces clear. Haven't done it yet in my FIKI Acclaim, but I certainly wouldn't hesitate. I'm in Orange County right now and am heading to Petaluma tomorrow (Monday). But I absolutely would have flown to Petaluma this morning as long as minimums were high enough to shoot an approach. FIKI Mooneys are awesome for flying up and down the West Coast in almost all weather.

Not familiar with Fly Bay Area but the deck of my house in Sausalito overlooks Seaplane Adventures' seaplane base. I'd go with them because of the seaplane aspect... very hard to find in CA (only 10 bases in the whole state, and this is the only saltwater base besides Catalina). Not to mention they fly a DeHavilland Beaver with a booming, badass radial engine. I've never flown with them but I would in a heartbeat if I didn't have my own plane. BTW, their website is http://www.seaplane.com/

I plan to fly my Mooney to the SF Bay Area for two weeks next month. I'd like to get some air-to-air shots around San Francisco and southern Marin county while I'm there. Can anyone recommend a good outfit for this? Googling brought up a lot of aerial photography outfits, but none that I saw had any air-to-air portfolios. Thanks.

No flying in Colorado this weekend. 4" of snow since last night with 8 more predicted before Monday. Aaaaarrrrrgggghhhhh. Springtime in the Rockies sucks.

My tail hook is still my own. A couple months ago I hung a GoPro off it, reducing my tail clearance to 10", and I got a friendly ration of s**t for doing a three-point landing that was documented by the video. Now you all know why.

Yes. That's what I'm doing.

Its a horrendous paint scheme, but I like the improvements, especially the second door and keypad FMS. Still mystified as to why they didn't bump it to 310hp, though.

Tom, what a coincidence! I just booked my tour this morning with Lori for Thursday, May 26th. I'll be flying my Mooney down to McAllen, TX for a business trip earlier that week and plan to hit the factory on the way home.

Brad, nice Acclaim. You plunged into aircraft ownership in style!

I took a couple youngsters who work at my country club up in the Mooney today. One is 21 and finished his PPL late last year. He's working on his instrument right now. The other is an avid skydiver and she wanted me to fly inverted the whole time. Love her spirit! Here I am with the pilot: Buttes south of Denver: Downtown Denver: As you can see, it was a perfect day to fly!

Since I last posted in 2012, I've flown the Acclaim on some pretty amazing trips from my home base in Denver, including Northern and Southern CA and Cabo San Lucas, Mexico (multiple times). I continue to be astonished by the amazing efficiency and capability of this airplane. Next month my wife and I are spending 2 or 3 weeks at our second home near San Francisco and will be bringing the Acclaim along for some day trips. Can't wait! In 2013 I added a Vans RV-8 to my hangar. It's a simple day-VFR bird that's a real joy to fly. Efficient and well-engineered like a Mooney, too. I use it for day trips within about 200NM on weekends.

I'm sad to report that the owl was euthanized by Wildlife Rescue. Its injuries were too severe to save it. Another flyer gone west.

+1 for Bruce Jaeger. I've flown with him in both of my Mooneys and he definitely knows them very well.

Here's something you never see. It's an owl that somehow impaled itself on a Cherokee's antenna in a shade hangar across from my hangar. I discovered it today when I went flying. The owl was alive and alert, so it probably happened last night. Its left wing was completely impaled by the antenna. I called wildlife rescue and they came and removed it from the antenna. They told me that it will probably survive but will lose its left wing, so it will probably end up in a zoo somewhere.

Yooper, congrats on your anniversary! You'll never get tired of Mooneys.

I miss flying in CA so much. KSBP is one of my favorite airports out there. What a beautiful day you enjoyed, Bonal. We were grounded here in Denver by snowstorms today.

It's tough to stay current in Colorado because we don't often have IFR conditions and when we do you don't want to be flying in them. I'm not IFR current as we speak. I use a simulator to stay sharp with the G1000, but I'll be getting an IPC before my next trip. I commonly do this and I've got a great CFII who knows how to put me through the wringer when I do.