Joe Zuffoletto Posted August 27, 2015 Report Share Posted August 27, 2015 This Saturday, August 29th, I will celebrate the 30th anniversary of earning my PPL. I passed my checkride at about 2pm on Thursday, August 29th, 1985 at Montgomery Field, San Diego (KMYF). I was 21 years old. Here's a photo of me right after the checkride with a family friend. You can see I still had my game face on! And here I am now, 30 years and 1,500 hours later: Aviation and the aviation community have been among the greatest joys of my life! 14 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mooneymite Posted August 27, 2015 Report Share Posted August 27, 2015 Congratulations! Thanks for sharing this. (Any war stories? ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danb Posted August 27, 2015 Report Share Posted August 27, 2015 Joe I got you by 15 days Also in a Cherokee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carusoam Posted August 27, 2015 Report Share Posted August 27, 2015 Congratulations, to both Dan and Joe! Three decades. How many Mooney years? Mooney years go by faster than those other ones.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rbridges Posted August 27, 2015 Report Share Posted August 27, 2015 awesome. My only regret is that I waited until my 30's to get a PPL. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marauder Posted August 27, 2015 Report Share Posted August 27, 2015 Almost didn't recognize you without your age 21 stylish glasses. I fixed that for you. Congrats! Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MooneyBob Posted August 27, 2015 Report Share Posted August 27, 2015 This Saturday, August 29th, I will celebrate the 30th anniversary of earning my PPL. I passed my checkride at about 2pm on Thursday, August 29th, 1985 at Montgomery Field, San Diego (KMYF). I was 21 years old. Here's a photo of me right after the checkride with a family friend. You can see I still had my game face on! And here I am now, 30 years and 1,500 hours later: Aviation and the aviation community have been among the greatest joys of my life! Is that BMW emblem on your plane? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MHemperly Posted August 27, 2015 Report Share Posted August 27, 2015 Congrats! I hope my upgrade is Similar to your acclaim in 27years! Haha! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hank Posted August 27, 2015 Report Share Posted August 27, 2015 Almost didn't recognize you without your age 21 stylish glasses. Weren't the 80s something else? I'm just glad I survived them and they are behind me now. I still remember standing in the free corner seats, shaking my fists and yelling "GO BO GO!!" til I was completely hoarse. But like many, aviation was outside of my budget at the time, but I did start in the 90sand finished up in the 00s, moving rapidly into "the Mooney years" which do, indeed, go by pretty fast. I'm now at 8 years 1 month since purchase, and next weekend will be 8 years since getting my Complex and finishing required insurance dual. Who'd have thunk it? Congrats, Joe! Best wishes for many more happy, speedy years! I understand that they go by really fast in a TN . . . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Zuffoletto Posted August 27, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 27, 2015 Almost didn't recognize you without your age 21 stylish glasses. I fixed that for you. Congrats! Thanks, Marauder! I'm glad you fixed the glasses and not the girth of my lady friend! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Zuffoletto Posted August 27, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 27, 2015 Is that BMW emblem on your plane? Yes. The paint job and interior were designed by BMW... Mooney partnered with them on some of the Acclaim Type S's. The badge, however, was bootlegged onto the plane by a prior owner. BMW only badges their vehicles, and the badge sticks out into the slipstream so you know it wasn't blessed by Mooney! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Zuffoletto Posted August 27, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 27, 2015 How many Mooney years? 90 hours as an M20J renter; 11 years/800 hours as an M20K owner; 4 years/200 hours as a TN owner. I'm definitely a Mooney guy. My first plane was an Archer II but I didn't even have it a year before I upgraded to the K. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N33GG Posted August 27, 2015 Report Share Posted August 27, 2015 Congrats, and may you have many more years of flying! I have over 40 years of flying behind me, and it is one of only a few things in life I have never gotten tired of or bored with. I enjoy every minute in the air today as much as I did when I was a private student. And it doesn't matter what the aircraft is, as long as I am in the air. But for traveling, Mooneys have always been one of my favorites! Again, congrats! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyboy0681 Posted August 27, 2015 Report Share Posted August 27, 2015 Here's a photo of me right after the checkride with a family friend. You can see I still had my game face on! And here I am now, 30 years and 1,500 hours later: What happened to the chick? And your hair? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Zuffoletto Posted August 28, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 28, 2015 The chick was my dad's girlfriend at the time (go, Dad!). They broke up a couple years later. As for the hair, well, .... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MyNameIsNobody Posted August 28, 2015 Report Share Posted August 28, 2015 Congrats. You were a wise guy then and now with your great ride Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MyNameIsNobody Posted August 28, 2015 Report Share Posted August 28, 2015 Hair is over-rated. That is useful load gained...If you shave. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Zuffoletto Posted August 28, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 28, 2015 Congratulations! Thanks for sharing this. (Any war stories? ) War stories? Not many, but there were some. 1988: Lost all electrical at night on a flight from Boca Raton, FL., to Key West, in a rented Trinidad. Turned back to Boca and ATC helped me get back without incident. 2001: Didn't quite beat a thunderstorm and microburst when landing at Farmington, NM. Was in my M20K and landed vertical on the numbers, like a helicopter. Had to accelerate on the ground to the first runway exit. It was hailing like hell. Came out of nowhere. 2002: Alternator shook loose in my M20K and all the oil went overboard. Dead sticked into Palm Springs. Wasn't a big deal. Again, ATC was very helpful. 2009: Flew into the teeth of the jetstream over the Rockies in Colorado. Clear air turbulence. Major rotors and bumps. My wife and I experienced +3 and -2 G's that flight. Our luggage was everywhere. We turned around and went home. It sucked. Most terrifying flight of my life. Other than that it's all been good. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bravoman Posted August 28, 2015 Report Share Posted August 28, 2015 Got my PPL in 1988 when I was 27. The mid to late 80s was probably the tail end of GA's heyday, and there wasn't a Cirrus to be seen anywhere! Cheers to another 30 years! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aviatoreb Posted August 28, 2015 Report Share Posted August 28, 2015 Hair is over-rated. That is useful load gained...If you shave. Plus more aerodyanmic with no hair 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kortopates Posted August 28, 2015 Report Share Posted August 28, 2015 Joe, I see we both got our PPL at MYF and at the same club, Plus One. Mine came 5 yrs after yours but I boy do I wish I could afford the hobby at 21 - that's great! I think I recognize the Archer and I am sure I have time in it. I forget the owners name but I recall that was one of a half dozen or so archers that he owned at the time and kept in the club for many years. He was also a popular instructor at the local community college. Any maybe you too took one or both of your ppl ground school classes from him like so many of did (it was free after all!) - which at the time was at Mesa College. He has since passed away. The club is still going strong, still growing and probably America's largest aircraft club with arguably the best rental rates anywhere. I am still a member since I instruct with them, but I have lost count of the membership size, but has to be north of 600 members. What's scary is I also recognize the watch on your arm - looks just like the Seiko LaSalle watch I wore in the same time period. Just wish the I recognized the cute young woman smiling on your behalf What a different time it was then, long before the fences went up and all the rules increased by a ten fold! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Zuffoletto Posted August 28, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 28, 2015 Paul: I received my training from Chris Lange at Western Sun Aviation. They were a Piper dealer and had a great fleet of relatively new Warriors and Archers. It was a very active club; I think there were about 10 of us working on our PPL's that summer. I was Chris's first student; he's now flying 777s for United. I think Western Sun went belly up in the early 90's and was acquired by Gibbs Flying Service. I went to visit the old place a couple weeks ago and in spite of the ownership changes, the building where I had my ground school and took my written has barely changed. But yes, there are now fences everywhere. Too bad. Yep, that was a Seiko LaSalle! They were pretty popular back then. Good catch! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kortopates Posted August 28, 2015 Report Share Posted August 28, 2015 Joe, I can't say for sure about Western Sun because I don't recall it (I do recall a business by that name in Yuma a decade later), but that was always Gibbs since I began my student pilot flying the summer of '90 so I suspect the Western Sun had already been bought up by them by then. I'll have to inquire now, but it would make a lot of sense if their fleet was bought up locally with several placed in the club. Back when I joined, there was over half dozen clubs run out of the Gibbs office you are pictured in, but Plus One was by far the largest with about 30 aircraft at that time. There was also a Mooney dealership on the Coast Aircraft side of the field, (by CrownAir, where the Mooney maintenance people eventually moved to when the Mooney dealership went out of business) but only a couple Mooney's in the club. Sadly because of our Mooney's propensity to porpoise coming into fast and too many low time pilots subconsciously pushing down to recover rather than going around or holding it off, the club doesn't want Mooneys on their insurance anymore. A Club 231 that got me excited about Mooneys years ago, went through 3 prop strikes in 18 months before it left the club - that was the last high performance Mooney in the club and the incentive for me to become a Mooney owner. Interestingly the lighter M20C Ranger (with electric gear) in the club never suffered a prop strike. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N33GG Posted August 28, 2015 Report Share Posted August 28, 2015 The chick was my dad's girlfriend at the time (go, Dad!). They broke up a couple years later. As for the hair, well, .... It's not a bald head, it's a solar panel for a sex machine! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyFromCB Posted August 29, 2015 Report Share Posted August 29, 2015 War stories? Not many, but there were some. 1988: Lost all electrical at night on a flight from Boca Raton, FL., to Key West, in a rented Trinidad. Turned back to Boca and ATC helped me get back without incident. 2001: Didn't quite beat a thunderstorm and microburst when landing at Farmington, NM. Was in my M20K and landed vertical on the numbers, like a helicopter. Had to accelerate on the ground to the first runway exit. It was hailing like hell. Came out of nowhere. 2002: Alternator shook loose in my M20K and all the oil went overboard. Dead sticked into Palm Springs. Wasn't a big deal. Again, ATC was very helpful. 2009: Flew into the teeth of the jetstream over the Rockies in Colorado. Clear air turbulence. Major rotors and bumps. My wife and I experienced +3 and -2 G's that flight. Our luggage was everywhere. We turned around and went home. It sucked. Most terrifying flight of my life. Other than that it's all been good. Congratulations Joe, This is a great time to be alive, isn't it: life is good. Wishing you many more years of flying. Hope to catch you one day at KAPA. Go there all the time. Maybe breakfast or lunch at the cafe? Andy P.S. My worst war story is at KAPA. Three go arounds before landing. Seemed like 0 gusting to 30…My 3 engine failures seemed like a cake vs that day. Turbulence over and in front of the mountains is something else. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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