Joe Zuffoletto

This small expo is making its way around the region; I attended the first installment yesterday at my home field. It's at KSLC today. http://rockymountainaircraftexpo.com/default.htm Not a big expo, but some nice hardware. Every model of Cirrus was there, along with the Cessna TTx, but sadly no Mooney. I was tempted to don my Mooney Ambassadors shirt and taxi my Acclaim over there to be an expo imposter. The Eclipse 550 was there, and it's a huge improvement over the 500. Cessna's M2 is a real beauty. The Expo ads said TBM would be there, but sadly there was no TBM 900 to be found. But I toured a King Air 350i and it was nothing short of glorious!

Scott Utz at Arapahoe Aero walked me through the AD and SB and the biggest $$$ risk is how much repainting will need to be done afterwards. Mooney covers pretty much everything else. If we can simply touch up the rivets then it will cost very little. If we need to repaint the affected body panel then for my plane it will be about $500. I'm exchanging emails with Mooney Chino, trying to get more info about the lease.

Before I was able to afford airplanes I bought and fell in love with Porsches and BMW's. I sold a nearly new 911 Cabriolet that I was totally in lust with to finance the purchase of my first aircraft, a 1980 Piper Archer II. Seemed like a downgrade in some respects at the time. But it was actually a major turning point in my life. Ever since that time I've been able to sell any car without a second thought. My true loves now fly. And I've been fortunate that I've been able to trade all my airplanes so far for... other airplanes.

Mine has the G1000/GFC700 combo. Parts are covered and Arapahoe Aero tells me that the labor is minimal.

Yep, my plane goes in this week for the tail section remediation. Arapahoe Aero has already confirmed that it's affected. PM or email me and let me know what they say. My email address is jj at zzmail dot me.

Got an interesting letter in the mail today from Mooney International in Chino, CA. I didn't know Mooney had any facilities outside of Kerrville, but according to LinkedIn, this facility has at least a dozen employees. Anyway, they're offering to lease my Acclaim for 6 months, with options to renew in 6 month increments. The letter says, "The airplane would be used for sales demonstrations, air shows, and company flying." The letter says they tracked me down through the FAA registry, so I'm guessing that other Acclaim owners will receive this letter as well. I'm not interested in leasing to them, but I thought it was an interesting letter.

@David: Can you ground loop a tricycle gear plane?

Here is the link to my YouTube video: In this case I lined up on the centerline and you can see that I touched down downwind of it. Hence my advice to line up upwind of the centerline if you're crabbing. Everyone here has given good advice. Both crabs and slips will work with the right airframe. I'm just not comfortable slipping a long-body Mooney for a number of reasons. I used to slip my K all the time, but I've only slipped the TN once and I didn't like the result. One thing I love about MooneySpace is that you can post an honest question and not be excoriated by other posters. I love the fellowship on this board.

Here's what works for me: Fly the approach in a crab. Line up on the upwind side of centerline. Fly your normal approach speeds; maybe add up to 5 knots if it's gusty. Initiate your flare as low as possible, still in the crab. And then, quickly and simultaneously, lower the upwind wing and kick enough opposite rudder to point yourself straight down the runway. If you've flared low enough and you're not going too fast, the upwind main should touch down, followed in rapid succession by everything else. If you're carrying enough excess energy to float, go around. I recently posted a video on YouTube of a challenging xwind landing I did back in May. I'll send you the link if you'd like. Don't get discouraged. It takes practice and eventually the muscle memory will come.

Just got The Call today from Arapahoe Aero. They measured the fittings on my plane and sure enough the one on the left needs replacing. The right one is fine. They tell me that's been the case with every plane that needs the work. Interesting. The fittings are supposed to be at least 190/1000ths thick; my bad one is 150/1000ths. The good news is that Mooney is covering the parts and labor. The bad news is that some rivets need to be drilled out of a skin panel to remove it and access the work area... Mooney will cover touch-up paint on the rivet heads but they won't cover the cost of repainting the entire skin panel (about $500 or so for my plane). So we'll start with the touch-up paint and see how it looks.

I buy your story because I've experienced the same thing flying NA aircraft up high like that. It's simple: you're just running out of power and the airframe is starting to tread water. The Acclaim can make 100% power up to 25,000' and has never felt twitchy in climbs at any altitude. Same with the Encore, which is closer in shape to the J. When you're NA at those altitudes, there just aren't enough horses to pull the wagon.

My vote regarding 650 vs. 430W/530W/iPad: Put the power in the panel if you can afford it. The human interface of the 530/430 is atrocious compared to the current units, iPad or not, and Garmin will stop supporting them sooner.

The Acclaim Type S represents this kind of tweaking of the "regular" Acclaim. It got tighter-closing and flatter gear doors, a new prop, flap and elevator gaps were tightened, etc. I don't think the powerplant was changed at all. The result was a top speed increase of about 5 knots, I believe. I'm no expert in this area but I don't know what more they can squeeze out of this airframe.

I wish my home field was like that... KAPA does over 800 operations a day. Sigh.

I just remembered a pretty funny Vegas story. Years ago I met my parents out there for a long weekend. It was Father's Day, so I took my dad up in my Encore. After touring the surrounding area I headed back to KLAS; ATIS "papa" was current. I called in: "Las Vegas tower, Mooney 20293 10 miles east, inbound for landing with papa." My dad said, "Why do they care who's with you?"

A Mooney will fit you just fine. I'm 5'8" and I don't have to pull my seat all the way forward to reach the rudder pedals.

Looks pretty straightforward, aside from dodging the various MOAs, restricted areas, etc. I've not flown this particular route but I've flown a LOT of long X/C trips, so if you have any specific questions I'll jump in when I can. Just south of Las Vegas along interstate 15 is the Ivanpah Solar Array. Check it out if you can. It's quite a sight from the air. Here's a photo I took earlier this summer from overhead at 16,500'. Note the size of each array relative to the 18-hole golf course at the bottom of the image.

I haven't been to this thread in a long time. Very glad to hear Mike is back on his feet, and Sven's post was extraordinary.

M20TN: Hull value: $475K $1 million smooth $4,600/year RV-8: Hull value: $110K $1 million smooth $2,800/year Me: 1,400 hours total time, 900 hours in Mooneys, 25 hours tailwheel time, instrument-rated, no incidents.

I spent 2 hours one recent Sunday afternoon figuring out how to position my Mooney and RV-8 in my hangar so I could pull either one out without moving the other. APP.

What he said. I for one had an absolute blast in an Xtreme Decathlon yesterday!

Here's a voice in the wilderness for Kennon. I've had two of their covers and both looked and fit great. They use straps fore and aft. The cover for my Encore had a protrusion for the hand grip above the luggage compartment which the cover for my Acclaim lacks; I would ask for that if I had to do it over again, but it's a minor issue.

Good question. The G1000 in my Acclaim has the same white box in the same location, but my EGT's run much higher than that. Also, mine doesn't have the red bar on top. I checked my G1000 manual... it shows the white bar and the red bar for the M20TN but doesn't explain what they are. Not a dumb question at all!

I've never thought to calculate an abort point at any airport. Interesting thought. At my home airport the main runway is practically long enough to abort three takeoffs in succession. I had a door pop open right after liftoff from Telluride many years ago. Like the OP, I left it to the passenger to close and lock the door. Aborting was not an option because there was very little runway left. Had to circle and land without being able to hear the tower because my passenger's mic was picking up all the wind noise and overpowering the intercom. I transmitted my intentions to the tower in the blind and told them I couldn't hear them. It all worked out fine and they were cool about it. Two lessons learned: 1. Always secure and check the door yourself. 2. Unplug all pax headsets if a door pops open, or switch to pilot isolation mode on the intercom.

@bonal: There was a piece of thread tape flapping around in the line, plus a dirty sensor.