Joe Zuffoletto

I learned to fly the J with only 80 hours of flight time and never had any problem with it. Prior to that I had only flown Cherokees and C-172's. 5 hours of dual with an experienced Mooney instructor did the trick for me.

Don't know about the SLC area but I agree with cliffy about San Diego Montgomery (KMYF).

Locked hangar at home, lock the door and throw the cover on it when away in the U.S. When I go to Cabo the FBO there adds a prop lock, and I add a throttle lock. I've been very fortunate... in 15 years of aircraft ownership I haven't suffered any losses.

15G20 no problem. Pretty typical at KAPA. 140KTAS on short final would not work in a Mooney. I was forced to "chop and drop" coming into El Paso from Cabo last year. El Paso tower cleared me to land 5 miles out and 5000' AGL. I was showing 159KIAS when I was cleared to land. I pulled the power, raised the nose and slowed to 130KIAS to drop the gear, and then I deployed the speed brakes to get down to 105KIAS, which was flap operating speed, then I dumped the flaps and stowed the speed brakes. Descended at a very steep angle, flared, and executed a perfect landing at 75KIAS. That can be done. But if I was cleared to land on short final (inside 3 miles) and I was showing 140KTAS, I'd go around.

This time of year turbulence over the Sierras is caused mostly by the prevailing westerly/northwesterly winds off the Pacific tumbling over the terrain. My experience is that if you get high enough you can escape it and enjoy a smooth ride. 15K probably would have been the ticket and that's what I would have tried, although with a J model (no turbo) I think you made the right choice because if was still bumpy at 15K you probably couldn't have climbed any more.

Sounds great but I can't make it after all... I have a long list of things to do, including my taxes, before I head off on vacation tomorrow. Good luck on your checkout!

Maybe I'll head up to FTG in the morning too if you're going to be around. What time?

My dad grew up in Buffalo... he told me it's ALWAYS winter in upstate NY.

Taildragon, thanks for that generous offer... I'll take you up on that, and we'll go buzz around in my Mooney, too!

I bought my RV-8 last summer and sometimes I wonder what the hell I was thinking. I'm still trying to figure out how to land it... haven't had a good one yet. Like you I feel like I'll need about 200 landings before I'll take anyone up in it.

Hi Taildragon! I'm based in Denver too (KAPA). I have a Mooney Acclaim and a Vans RV-8. There are definitely breezy days out here when the RV-8 stays in the hangar but I have no problem launching with the Mooney. I've approached Centennial in some pretty gusty conditions over the past 8 years and I've always been able to set down except for one time, when a microburst crashed down on the airport when I was on 5-mile final and I decided to go hold for a while 20 miles southeast until things settled down. As far as transition time goes, my first Mooney was a 1998 Encore (K model) that I bought in 2000 from a dealer in Minneapolis. One of their pilots flew back with me to Oakland, CA (I was living in the Bay Area at that time). We did 3 legs in 10 hours... half VFR, half hard IFR, and by the time we got to Oakland I felt very comfortable with the Mooney. Where are you based? Maybe we can meet sometime.

Gorgeous upgrade. Congratulations!

I've been electronic only for 3-4 years. I don't miss the weight and clutter of paper charts in the cockpit at all and would never go back.

We have so many Canadian geese here in Denver I'm surprised I've not even had a near miss yet. A few weeks ago, the morning of the AFC Championship, there were tons of jet arrivals at KAPA for the game. As I was leaving the airport I saw a giant flock of geese flying right into the approach path of a Falcon jet. Thankfully they saw the jet at the last minute and the geese diverted. But that could have been real ugly.

I got my PPL in 1985 and I'm so blown away by the technology we have at our disposal today. I have synthetic vision on my G1000 but seeing Garmin introduce that on the iPad really blows my mind. A great bargain for iPad users; synthetic vision was only a $14K upgrade for the G1000.

Be careful, sometimes the pooch will knock your headset off.

Some states suck more than others. California assesses personal property tax on airplanes; Colorado does not. My move to Colorado 8 years ago has saved me well into the six figures in taxes.

My hat's off to these pilots. A very impressive feat in a part of the sky that is normally quite dangerous this time of year. Edit: The wind gods decided to prove my point!

It really is impressive. I think O2 and a blanket would be the most important equipment to have onboard for this flight. Riverton or Casper... that's like trying to decide if you want your leg amputated just above or below the knee.

So glider pilots, how does this work with ATC? How do you legally fly in IFR airspace above FL180 with a glider when it's not IFR-equipped, you don't really know where you're going, how long it will take, or what your altitudes will be?

That's awesome! I've only flown a glider once. Back in 2002 all the oil went overboard in my Encore 25 miles south of Barstow-Dagget airport. Starting at 17,000' I made it all the way to Palm Springs!

I'd be down for a trip to Kansas or NW Arkansas (my mom and brother live there).

I saw Jolie's trailer for "Boots on the Ground" at the factory and it looks like the first one off the line won't have TKS. Deal breaker.

That and improved climb rates... I've been told 200 to 400fpm depending on load and ambient conditions. The Acclaim already climbs like a homesick angel so that would really be something. I'll bust the Class B above KAPA before I get the gear up!