Joe Zuffoletto

AcclaimML, you might have a rigging problem. After I level off in my Acclaim, I let the plane accelerate to cruise speed, then I dial in my cruise power and mixture, then I adjust the rudder trim to the left until the TC on the G1000 shows I'm coordinated. Regardless of the crosswind component, the rudder trim is always at dead center or very close in coordinated flight. Just last week I flew from Albuquerque to Denver in the flight levels with a 65-knot crosswind from the left. Rudder trim was dead center in coordinated flight. In fact, when I was first getting checked out in the plane, one time my flight instructor and I were cruising along on autopilot and couldn't figure out why we were consistently flying right of course. Turned out I forgot to neutralize the rudder trim once I leveled off. The autopilot was fighting the full right rudder deflection and losing.

As a Denver-based Mooney driver I'm fairly constrained... 16,500' minimum westbound, 11,500' minimum eastbound. I usually shoot for the flight levels, though, if the winds are favorable.

You might also consider Henderson, a short distance south of Las Vegas. Good airport and services, and GA-friendly.

Yes, it's a shame Mexico has become so GA-unfriendly. The Baja Peninsula is a fantastic place to fly with perfect weather almost year round and lots of neat airstrips and attractions.

I think "How-To Videos" is a poor name for that forum. I suggest renaming it to "Aviation-Related Videos" or something similar instead. Cheers!

I don't think your posting is out of line at all. I found it quite interesting. I think "How-To Videos" is a poor name for this forum. I think it should be "Aviation-Related Videos" instead. I'm going to suggest this to the owner.

No knowledgeable drug runner would steal my Mooney. As equipped it won't carry even one bale of ganja!

I think it would have been funny if they would have feigned stealing the plane (flying off with it) before turning around and returning it!

Obviously varies... back in April I paid about $7/gallon. Cabo's not cheap for GA and Mexico is getting ready to implement their version of eAPIS that will make it next to impossible to fly anywhere in Mexico GA because they're looking to impose 5-figure penalties (in USD) for even minor mistakes, like crossing the border 5 minutes later than you said you would, etc.

See if someone from Willmar Air Service is willing to come down. Those guys are as good with Mooneys as they come. www.willmarairservice.com

NFlightcam+ Glad you all enjoyed the video!

From my trip to Cabo last April (2012). Enjoy!

Found the Rio Dulce airport on Google Earth. When its picture was taken by the satellite, the runway you landed on was 30. Guatemala looks like a fun place to fly!

It's a very doable flight, but that's too much water for me in a piston single. I'd do it in a heartbeat in a turbine-powered bird, though. Also, I know from my flight from El Paso, TX to Cabo San Lucas last spring that Mexican radar and ATC are very sketchy in spots, even over the mainland. I was IFR at FL180 and they lost radar contact with me for about 30 minutes while I was over the Sierra Madre mountains. No big deal as conditions were VFR, but the clench factor would have gone way up had I been out in the middle of the Gulf.

Pretty cool! At which airport did you land?

The question to ask the GoPro folks is whether the camera employs a rolling shutter or not: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolling_shutter

Oscar, you're right about the PowerShot. Apparently once the movie file reaches 4GB in size the camera stops recording. I found a website where they talk about hacking the camera to get around this, but that's way too much trouble.

Wow, that plane's bouncing around like a pinball these days. Where did you see it up for sale? Is it online somewhere?

I shot this video from my Acclaim Type S on a recent flight from Denver Centennial (KAPA) to Albuquerque Sunport (KABQ). I used an NFlightcam+ with a USB power adapter plugged into the plane's accessory socket. I have a love-hate relationship with the NFlightcam. The video quality is great, the camera mounting options are vast... but it's just not reliable on long flights. I've never been able to get more than about 2 hours of video before something goes wrong. In this case, the final third of the video was lost to file corruption in the camera. I tried several recovery programs, to no avail. This video would have been great if I could have captured the flight start to finish, but like a few flights before this one, it just didn't happen. I have a Canon Powershot S95 that takes terrific video, so I'm going to find a way to rig it up in my plane to capture long flights.

Right you are. I love my Mooney way too much. Here's the FlightAware track of yesterday's flight: http://flightaware.com/live/flight/N3833T This plane never ceases to amaze me. Have a great weekend, everyone!

IFR and IMC in the clouds from Albuquerque to Denver today. FL190. 50LOP. 13.5gph. No CHT above 320. 195KTAS. I love my Mooney!

I'm Joe and I'm based at Denver Centennial (KAPA). I'm 48 and a business owner. I got my PPL in August, 1985 at Montgomery Field in San Diego. Later that year I flew my first Mooney, a 201. I've been hooked on Mooneys ever since. Bought my first airplane in July, 1999. It was a 1980 Piper Archer II in pristine condition. Traded it less than a year later for a 1998 M20K Encore. I loved the Encore and put 1,000 hours on it over the next 11 years before glassing the panel and trading it for my current ride, a fully loaded 2008 Acclaim Type S. The Acclaim is a spectacular airplane and perfect for my mission. I've been married for almost 11 years but neither my wife nor my stepson share my passion for flying. No problem, I have a lot of friends at the field who do! Cheers to all.

You might be right... I'm actually still doing my due diligence with them and haven't parted with any $$$ yet. We'll see.

I just became a founding member of JumpJet (www.jumpjet.com). For $2350 a month I can fly up to 10 trips a year in a private jet, pretty much anywhere I need to go in the US. As a founding member, I get to bring one guest free on every flight for as long as I'm a member. This is actually palatable when compared to flying first class, and it will be a lot nicer to be able to launch out of Denver Centennial with none of the TSA BS.