Joe Zuffoletto

Can't resist... I taxi at 50 LOP.

I posted a pic of my model from Factory Direct Models a while back: http://mooneyspace.com/topic/4927-mooney-model/ It looks even more impressive in person... they did a great job. About $450.

Not an engine failure per se, but one day I had all the oil go overboard in my Encore so I killed the engine before it had a chance to kill itself. Fortunately I was at 17,500' on a beautiful, clear desert day, and within easy glide distance of 4 or 5 airports. Dead-sticked it into Palm Springs (KPSP) without incident. It's the only forced landing I've had in 28 years and 1,400 hours of flying.

That was fun!

About a year ago I requested written permission from Mooney to have my POH scanned to a PDF file for use on my computer and iPad. Permission was granted within a week. My printer, who is an ethical person, wouldn't do the work without the release.

Fitting that the most prolific filmmaker on Mooneyspace is named "Oscar." Keep 'em coming!

If I ever found myself factoring those kinds of temps into my go/no-go decision, I'd move to a warmer climate. http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-super-bowl-commercials/09000d5d81e2ab01/Acura-MDX That's some serious cold. I've done my share of flying in the low to mid 20's (as in thousands of feet) year round and have never seen an OAT less than -20F. But if it ever got that cold here in Denver I'd definitely go commercial.

This is a neat website I found a couple years ago that, among other things, allows you to plot the path between two airports and display it in Google Earth. http://www.gpsvisualizer.com/calculators Enjoy!

Norcal approach is very easy to work with, either VFR or IFR, as long as you're well briefed on the airspace. Bennett is an excellent ambassador for San Carlos (KSQL) and I'm sure he knows much more than I do about IFR ops there. Haven't done that myself since I got my instrument ticket 20 years ago. If you want to do SF and the Wine Country, I'd opt for Napa. You can fly in VFR with no airspace hassles. They also have a lot of IFR options, in terms of approaches. You can rent a car there. Just do the Wine Country first (Napa and Sonoma Valleys), then head down through Marin County and across the Golden Gate Bridge into SF. Concord is also very easy from an airspace perspective, but it's not that close to either Napa or SF once you get in the car.

Hi Mark, I was based in the Bay Area for 20 years (Napa) so I'm very familiar with the airports there, having flown into all of them several times apiece. Half Moon Bay is good for a day trip but not a good base of operations, in my opinion. Too far from everything and I don't know if you can even get a rental car there. It's also subject to a lot of coastal fog. Napa is an excellent airport but it's also remote, unless you plan on hanging out in the Napa Valley. If you're planning on visiting San Francisco, I would recommend either San Carlos (KSQL), Concord (KCCR) or Oakland (KOAK). These are the closest GA airports to the city. Oakland is surprisingly GA-friendly; they actually have separate runways for GA vs. commercial traffic. Having made these recommendations, understand that I've been away from the Bay Area for 6 years now, so I'm not up to speed on fees, fuel prices, etc. But you know how to find all that. Have a great trip! Joe

JimR: Didn't know that, but you're right. Corliss was Weston's wing man: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Gorge_Bridge Nasty.

I have a spreadsheet that I created to figure this out and I feel it's pretty accurate. Didn't know about the AOPA calculator so I tried it out. I fly about 80 hours per year. My spreadsheet spits out $310/hour and AOPA says $315/hour. Pretty darn close.

Thanks, everyone, for your responses. Right now I'm flying with prescription, polarized sunglasses and I can see the PFD and MFD of the G1000 just fine, although they're a little dim. I just tilt my glasses up a bit if something's hard to read. I could also turn up the brightness on the G1000 but I don't want to cook the displays. Don't use the iPad much but I do carry it in the cockpit for looking at STARs and DPs. Can't read the iPad in portrait mode so I just tilt my glasses up.

I have a pair of light-adaptive, polarized lenses on order from the optician. He told me they won't work in the car because the windshield and other glass block the UV rays needed to activate the darkening mechanism in the lenses. He didn't know if the same was true for a small airplane with plastic windows. Does anyone have any experience with this? It doesn't matter one way or the other - I still have my sunglasses - but I won't be able to find out for myself for a few weeks because of my work schedule and I'm curious to know. Thanks!

Long story short, I had the cabin door and the baggage door pop open shortly after takeoff (separate flights) after trusting passengers to operate them. So for the past 10 years I have not allowed passengers to lock, unlock, latch, unlatch or otherwise operate the doors in any way. Haven't had a problem since.

These guys are nuts but I sure like their GoPro videos! Back in 2003, one of the best jumpers of the era, Dwain Weston, misjudged his approach to the Royal Gorge Bridge here in CO and passed through the hand railing with fatal results. You can Google it. Corliss was lucky to survive his brush with death.

When I was a student, and then a renter for years, I tried probably 50 types of singles. Then I found a sweet rental deal on a Trinidad and flew that for about 8 years. I memory serves I think it cruised at about 160KTAS burning 16GPH or so. During the prebuy on my 1998 Encore back in 2000, we clocked 170KTAS at 11.5GPH. Wow! Not to mention it was better looking and better equipped than the Trinidad. I bought that plane and thought I was set for life. 12 years later I found myself back home in Denver, wanting more speed and range because we're so far from where we go the most, which is Northern and Southern CA. I didn't hesitate to stick with Mooney, and I only "settled" on the Acclaim Type S because I was about $3 million short of what I needed for a TBM 850.

I've not crossed any of the Great Lakes but I have crossed the Sea of Cortez from Los Mochis to La Paz in Mexico, which is about 105NM. Did it at 18,000' with a moderate headwind in VFR conditions. I wore a life jacket but had no raft or survival gear. The crossing took about 35 minutes each way and I figured the odds of having any trouble with my 300-hour engine were negligible. Frankly, crossing the Sierra Madre in mainland Mexico was scarier as there are no airports, few towns, and lots of incredibly hostile terrain. My biggest concern is water temperature. Hypothermia is the most likely killer in the event of a ditching. The Sea of Cortez was about 80 degrees when I crossed and there are lots of fishing boats to be found, so I felt comfortable with just the life jacket. Sounds like Lake Michigan is chilly year round, so I'd probably bring a raft as well.

Nice work. Love the hula girl!

I started flying 201's in my flying club when I had about 90 hours total time. Loved the looks and speed, and they were more available to rent on a moment's notice than the 172's. I never found it difficult to fly or land Mooneys, as long as you get good instruction and fly by the numbers.

Hear, hear! Great observation, Dave!

Good job reaching out to the press and getting a positive outcome! Glad that everyone got out with no major injuries.

Just curious, Oscar... what will you be teaching?

Love your vids, Oscar, especially the belly cam. It's neat to see how the landing gear operate. Keep them coming!

Hear, hear! The IFR arrival you mention into KAPA is absolutely ridiculous and terrifying to passengers. If conditions permit I simply cancel IFR over the foothills and descend gradually over the plains, then come back and land runway 28.