Joe Zuffoletto

I'm attending a group orientation for Angel Flight West tomorrow morning at my home airport. Should be good to go for missions after this. Can't wait!

I bought an RV-8 last year because I wanted something fun to fly around the patch on weekends that was also the complete opposite of my Acclaim: Steam gauges Normally aspirated Tail dragger Tandem seating with a bubble canopy Stick and rudder Day VFR only; no autopilot That little bird is a blast! It's been my first experience with taildraggers in nearly 30 years of flying and I wish I would have learned tailwheel when I started! I'm very happy with my two planes, although I'd trade the Acclaim for a TBM900 if I could.

Way to go, Seth!

I had this modification made to my Acclaim shortly after I bought it in 2011, and it indeed fixed the problem. During my last annual my cylinders checked out A-OK and I should never need the premature top overhaul that some suffered.

Bwahahaha!! I don't care who you are, that's pretty dang funny right there!

Work started on my Acclaim today to comply with the AD for the tail attach points. This configuration will make for long takeoff rolls but incredible stability in pitch: Here's the rest: Carefully drilling out the rivets so we only have to touch up instead of repaint: Painful to see, but should be finished by the end of this week.

When I bought my Encore many years ago I had not flown Mooneys in years, so I hired a CFII to fly with me on the ferry trip from Minneapolis to the SF Bay Area. We flew three legs in two days and encountered conditions that allowed me to experience and learn about EVERY system on the aircraft, including the TKS. Having that knowledgeable fellow in the right seat made me feel much more confident once I put him on his airline flight at KOAK and flew back to my home field. And +1 for Don Kaye. He did my BFRs and IPCs for years when I lived in NorCal.

The Snowbirds are cool because there are so many of them!

39N and N87 were my college airports! Carusoam, I love you more with each passing day. USA Today would find me boring. I use the simulator to prep for Angel Flights more than anything else. Here's runway 28 at 39N:

As promised, some pics of the Acclaim in my basement... Ready to launch into the clouds on runway 17L at my home airport, KAPA: The G1000: It's an amazing simulator. When I get a chance I'll post another pic of it flying an approach. Any requests?

FAR 61.57.c does not require the presence of an instructor to log time for IFR currency in a simulator. Believe me, I checked and double-checked about this before plunking down several AMU's for this device! Having said that, I still go up with my CFII, who is also a G1000 guru, once a year to practice reversionary mode, emergencies, etc. in the aircraft.

That is one hell of a journey, but I seriously doubt the G1000 in Piloto's post belongs to that 1990 K model!

Of course! Let me know what I can do to help.

CFII: A worthy project and I think you definitely chose the right platform. I purchased the TouchTrainer a little over a year ago and use their G1000 C-182T to approximate my Acclaim. It's awesome. The Acclaim is obviously much faster in cruise, but when flying holds and approaches the speeds are the same, and the Turbo lets me practice in the high country, where I normally operate. FTS offered to model my Acclaim, but the cost wasn't worth it. I have no regrets... the 182T works just fine. It really keeps me sharp on IFR G1000 ops and translates very well to the aircraft. Plus I can log it for currency. Eric Paton and his team at FTS are awesome. When I found a couple minor bugs in their G1000 software they fixed them right away and even remotely installed the fixes on my computer. I'll post a picture of my sim when I get home tonight. It's pretty cool and a lot of fun. I even take it up VFR from time to time because the displays are so amazing!

These boys have ice in their veins. I never get sick of it!

90% of the time I fly my Acclaim between 13,000' and FL220. Prefer not to go above FL220 unless absolutely necessary. I've been up to FL240 twice to top weather. It's cold up there. My wife isn't bothered by anything but the cold. At FL180 and above we wear our pulse oximeters full time; down lower we take readings every time I switch fuel tanks. The best part of flying in that band of altitudes is the nearly complete lack of traffic. I can't remember ever getting a traffic call enroute while on flight following between Denver and NorCal/SoCal/Cabo, and the only planes I see are the jets far above me. My groundspeed records are 266KTS in the Encore and 278KTS in the Acclaim.

I do own an Acclaim S and I agree with you 100%, although I'm not afraid to shoot daytime approaches to minimums through stratus if I'm familiar with the area (most CA coastal airports) or if it's flat terrain (eastern CO and the Midwest).

ETE: 7:30. And that's a fourth of the way into it. More than my bladder can handle!

One will be mine... I'm almost always in the mid to high teens!

Stumbled across this today and thought it was awesome. I love the look on her face as the glider starts going over!

Waiting for an SR-71 pilot to weigh in....

Alright, Dave... you forced me to dig into the archives. Here's an oldie but goodie from my Encore!

Tears falling into my coffee....