Joe Zuffoletto

Looks like a blast. How far we have come, from Nokia cell phone rubber band mounts to fancy iPad yoke mounts!

I just checked out the video from my aborted trip to San Luis Obispo earlier this summer... some of you might recall I had to return to base with a zero oil pressure indication... and look what was waiting for me at the hold short line as I approached to land. Pretty cool!

Breaking out of a low overcast on a gloomy day and seeing the REIL all lit up right in front of me!

The name of that place is almost as long as the runway.

You're absolutely right and that's pretty much how I do it. Add throttle, work the trim, establish a positive climb rate. Then I raise the gear and the flaps when things settle down a bit!

Done deal, Craig! My Paypal donation is under the name "SmartCompany."

I bounced a landing at John Wayne airport (KSNA) last month and had to go around. This was my second go-around in the Acclaim since I bought it. It's no joke because the landing trim is set nearly full aft while takeoff trim is about two-thirds forward. Once you apply full throttle the plane wants to go straight up. It's unnerving. You've got to push HARD and work that trim wheel like hell... the electric trim isn't nearly fast enough. Just my experience. I have no idea why the subject plane crashed. A terrible shame.

Can't believe that this moron did this (apparently more than once) and I'm doubly shocked that his certs were reinstated by the FAA: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2014/08/04/pilot-buzzed-mall-faa-investigation/13569651/

The posts from Carusoam and Marauder about lake effect weather vs. coastal weather, etc. made me realize what I should have said in the beginning: If you'll be flying in a region where freezing stratus layers are prevalent during any time of the year, TKS is an excellent option that will dramatically increase your dispatch rate. Northern CA gets their freezing stratus layers from the Gulf of Alaska; I guess much of the Northeast gets theirs from the Great Lakes. No matter; both areas are great places to have TKS. If nothing else I learned a lot of interesting new tidbits about weather in the Northeast from this thread. BTW, there was another Joe Zuffoletto on the doomed Colgan flight... he was my cousin, just two years out of Embry-Riddle. He was the dead-heading pilot in the back. There aren't many Joe Zuffoletto's in the world, and even fewer who fly. You should have seen how my Facebook, email and iPhone lit up that day. In fact, that's how I found out about it. Such a tragic event for all involved.

@carusoam: The Great Lakes have coasts too!

I carry one of these bad boys in each of my planes... for cutting seatbelts, busting canopies, and then as part of the survival kit:

@Showmethemooney: Excellent additional information, and all true. BTW, I flew my 1998 Encore with TKS for 11 years and never saw any corrosion. I've also experienced the left wing root drip but it's never lasted for days. Interesting.

My current and previous Mooneys both have TKS and I love it. If you live in a coastal climate, as you do, and if you want to fly IFR in the winter then it's very much worth it. I used to live in Northern CA and flew to Southern CA once or twice a month. In the winter I would occasionally find myself climbing or descending through freezing layers and the TKS always saved the day. It gave me great peace of mind. Having said that, if I found myself in icing conditions I would still try to get out, even with the TKS, because you never know how much worse it might get. I'm sure there are severe icing situations where TKS won't be able to keep up, though I've never encountered anything like that. Care is easy: Use a scrub brush (natural or plastic bristles) with mild soap to clean the bugs off. Do not use steelwool or anything abrasive, or anything stronger than dish soap. You also need to exercise the system once a month or so in flight to keep the membranes moist. This involves running it in flight for 10 minutes or so until all protected surfaces are completely covered. Be sure to stay in the air long enough afterwards to allow it to dry off before landing, which takes about 20-30 minutes at cruise speeds.

My most recent flight was actually in an Xtreme Decathlon on Monday morning. I'm getting some additional tailwheel dual to prepare me for flying my RV-8. Shot 8 touch-and-goes, practicing wheel landings. Good ol' stick-and-rudder flying... no glass, no autopilot, head out the window on a fresh summer morning. It felt great. I can't wait for my next session tomorrow morning.

I used to make that flight all the time in my K model. It can be done at 9500' going down and 8500' going back if you go GPS direct to VNY and the winds aren't too high around Gorman.

Yep, happens in my plane all the time. I should probably buy O2 masks for my passengers.

Very good points. I almost always fly in the mid to high teens; rarely in the twenties.

The ones I use in my Acclaim are similar to these. I prefer fixed flow over having to dial in your altitude. The rebreather compensates for the additional oxygen use. You have to lift the max to use your mic, but up high on long XC flights you talk to ATC very little, so it never bothered me. http://aerox.com/product/mska-fixed-flow-system-assembly-wpb-1-style-fitting-rev-a

+1. I've been very lucky with my 4 (pre-owned) airplane purchases over the years and it's about 95% because I was dealing with great sellers. About two years ago I decided to add a Vans RV-8 to my hangar. Buying certificated aircraft is one thing, but buying homebuilts is a whole other animal. I'm not a builder or a gearhead, so I figured it would be smart to take my time and look at as many RV-8's as I could before I pulled the trigger (or not). I also thought it would be smart to buy from a builder if possible so I would get firsthand info about the plane and possibly technical support later on. It took a year before I found an aircraft and a builder/seller that I felt comfortable with. The builder shared my passion for bespoke machinery and built an RV-8 that the folks at the Mooney factory would have been proud of. He cut no corners, had flawless logs and documentation, and was very upfront about the plusses and minuses his aircraft. It also helped that I had met about 12-15 other builders along the way that put this guy and his airplane into perspective. I was a bit apprehensive about buying a homebuilt but I can say one year later that I have no regrets because I found a great seller who had a great aircraft.

Nice! Enjoy and congratulations!

Very. Well. Played!

The K and TN both have the T-pull.

525 hours. Rented for 15 years before I could afford to buy a plane.

Never even thought of that, but then again, I don't muck around with my airplanes very much.

Lots of cool stuff being done with wraps these days... maybe that's a possibility?