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RocketAviator

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RocketAviator last won the day on January 1 2015

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  • Gender
    Male
  • Location
    Texas
  • Interests
    Faith, Family, Aviation, Boating, RC Aircraft, 4 wheeling, Riding ATV,
  • Reg #
    N1016U
  • Model
    M20K 305 Rocket Conversion

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  1. Wow... good to hear! Any images or video of the flight?
  2. Great to hear another model is being built, I enjoyed building mine, it was a labor of love for sure.... I would love to see images of your progress and see images when you are complete. Good luck...
  3. Yes I am still alive and Kicking.... and still have my Rocket at least for a while... I also have a new to me experimental.
  4. The records I have with me list 858.3# UL. There was a couple minor improvements which were made that I don't have in my spreadsheet W&B, as I recall they were something like maybe 6 or 7# improvements.
  5. According to my A&P at the last time of service: Total Time 4086.3 Tach read 2704.5 TSFRM 2704.5 TSMOH 1854.7 Prop TSN: 702.4
  6. My ol bucket of bolts....   What a ride.  After owning and flying a Rocket for over 1000 hours, I am truly thankful for a having the blessings of this great dependable aircraft!

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    1. Jeffrey Keim

      Jeffrey Keim

      I have a 1980 Mooney with Conversion to 305 Rocket she is pristine - mine was the 19th out of I believe 152 Rocket engineering conversions - recent paint and tank re-seal - I plan on flying  her a long time

  7. 1983 / 1993 Rocket Conversion Mooney M20K231 / 305 Rocket. Cash Price $145,000. This is one of the best equipped Mooney Rockets I know of. I have flown this aircraft over 1000 hrs. No expense spared on maintenance and upkeep; this is a great plane. Registration No: N1016U Serial No: 25-0727 Continental TSIO-520-NB17B 1993 Rocket Conversion Garmin G500 with full synthetic vision (Alt preselect / VS preselect) GTN 750 moving map Nav Com GTN 650 moving map Nav Com GTX 335 Transponder King KT150 autopilot with G500 VS Preselect / Altitude Assignment PS 8000 audio panel 406Mhz ELT LED Landing lights High intensity Wing strobe lights Onboard O2. This Rocket is fully ADS compliant and has onboard weather and traffic both 1190 & 486 and TIS) most recent AD compliant lists at the time of last annual. TSIO-520-NB17B Continental 305 HP Engine, 305 HP (Cessna 340 Engine) 3-Blade Hot McCauley Prop GAMI injectors (factory tuned, excellent LOP operation) Gross weight increase to 3200 Lbs, 858.3# Useful load Eight-point engine mount 78.6 Gal fuel tanks At last annual: · Total Time 4086.3 · Tach read 2704.5 · TSFRM 2704.5 · TSMOH 1854.7 · Prop TSN: 702.4 Paint 8.5 out of 10, Leather upholstery, showing some wear & tear in good condition. Rated 7 out of 10. This plane has always been hangered and meticulously maintained and flown routinely throughout the United States. No expense has been spared in making this Rocket an incredible flying machine. More than $65,000 in avionics upgrades alone! Will come with fresh annual from my A&P (El Paso Tx) which could be combined with a pre-buy if elected. If you want to go fast, this is a great aircraft! All out 220 kts at 24,000 or cruise at 215 kts at 24000 on 17.5 gph! Or flying low at 10,000 cruises at 182-189 kts on <17 gph. Fly down the localizer at 150 kts, pop the speed-brakes, slow to 130 kts, drop the gear, 110 kts add the flaps, and fly the final at 90 kts! Included are a significant number of other elements that I will provide to the buyer. Full PDF of the Mooney Service Manual / Official Mooney 100-hour inspection list and other special documentation and maintenance related items. Scanned logs available for pre-view. This last annual was a major annual that included a complete Rocket Factory overhaul on the exhaust system with OEM parts from Rocket Engineering, a complete overhaul of both mags, the most thorough annual I’ve had on the Rocket since I owned it. Additional accessories for sale separately, with first option to anyone who buys the Mooney. I also have a new gasoline engine powered tug (literally which has only been started to test as I have two tugs that are identical, wanted two, one for home base and one for our lake home), I’ll include my home made Mooney adapter if interested. Possible Trade Consideration: 1st Trade for commercial or property in an or around Granbury Tx or El Paso Tx. Would possibly consider controlling equity in income producing properties in other locations. rocketman@lamphere.net
  8. Zzwcpj, Sorry it is not for sale. It is probably the last RC I will ever build and only did so as a scale model of my full scale Mooney N1016U. It is fully functional with wingtips lights and retracting gear, 060. i have not flown it. are you planning on buying or building one to fly?
  9. NicoN 1. I have only a rough hand sketch of the pedal drawings, I believe Don Muncy may have a drawing. I had planed to create a CAD drawing but have never gotten around to it. 2. I believe there are several images of ORIGINAL / or installed setup on MS. I have and have only flown Mooneys with 3" extensions, never the 1.5". To me I don't believe the pedals affect the break power in any meaningful manner save the added leverage if any and having the pedal closer to your best force position of your leg & foot etc. Good luck,
  10. Congratulations.... welcome to the go fast Mooney Rocket world.. I pray you enjoy your Rocket as much as I have mine. Your numbers sound great. I flew back from Dallas to El Paso today @ mostly 10 & a little at 8. 16.8 @ 2375 34MP 188 KTAS, mostly had 7-18kt headwind....argh Now come join us in the Texas Wing and Mooney Caravan to Oshkosh.... I won’t make Oshkosh this year but plan to next! I did fly formation this week with a group of Mooney’s and the Honor Missing Man flight for Mike Miles the Mooney test pilots who had great influence and was a great guy in keepin Mooney alive in the dark years! Stay in touch and if your ever in the El Paso or Granbury area give me a shout and we’ll try to meet up.
  11. I guess I am a gluten for punishment... I just had to reach out to Rocket one last time and inform them that it had been almost a month since I requested Darwin the owner to contact me regarding this situation and that I would be pursuing undesired actions.... Will see what occurs but I will call and dispute the charge before the day is up if I have not heard from Rocket by mid-afternoon. I just hate it when business dealings sink to this level!!
  12. My wife said the same LANCECASPER! I will call the CC company today. I don't want to be unfair and I do want to pay for what they provided at the cost the quoted and would have paid for any additional work or service they provided had they provided any!
  13. A bit off topic but since this appears to be an area of Rocket interest I thought I would take this opportunity to post a PIREP on my recent experiences with Rocket Engineering. First based on recommendations I received from this MS I elected to contact Rocket in lieu of Dawley who I have used in the past with excellent results on my first airplane. Rocket Engineering seemed to be very reasonable in their estimate (under Dawley by around $150) but that wasn't the main reason I decided to go with Rocket. Rocket stated they had the "right" fixtures for my Rocket exhaust and could get the job done in about a week. Wow sounded like a win... win. Patrick their sales/customer support guy started out with what appeared to be great customer support and answered all my questions and concerns so we shipped him the exhaust for repair. Upon receiving the parts as is often the case they wanted to see the other parts (which we specifically asked Rocket if they wanted us to send with the first shipment), I could easily accept that once they saw the parts it would be best to have the other parts to ensure the best fit... Then things went from bad to unbelievable bad and worse... initial quote $1100 to repair... I asked Patrick if Rocket would add / weld on two threaded bosses for the primary and backup TIT, he assured me they could and would if I have the parts I wanted to be shipped to Rocket ASAP... So I spent $100 overnight said parts to Rocket. I also requested ALL new gaskets and turbo flange bolts etc which Patrick assured me he would include. Then things went south.... I could not get updates on the status going weeks without responses, unanswered phone calls, texts, and emails.... Then I received a note that their welder had died then that apparently changed from their welder died to someone in the welder family died then they could not get the right material, then they were swamped and then nothing again for more than 10 days.... With over 2 months since Rocket had received my first shipment for repair, by this time I had lost all respect and patients with Patrick and asked to speak with the owner Darwin who I was promised would call me.... Darwin did not call me as promised, he called my A& P and told him "things were really rough" and assured him the exhaust would be completed and shipped by end of that week.... You guessed it did not ship and it was another 2 1/2 weeks until we received the parts with me contacting or at least attempting to contact them on a semi-daily basis... a full 3 months had transpired up to this point. During each of my contacts at first every week - 10 days, with an ending frequency of twice a week (all in writing), each time I requested an update on any charges and delivery status. I never received a single reply, not one! Then I got the magical email that the exhaust was completed and I needed to contact Rocket to make arrangements for payment and shipping.... When I got the bill of more than $3800 with NO more than what was originally estimated for repair I about had a heart attack... as it turned out the other parts were sandblasted and cleaned but only the 2 original parts were actually repaired and the bosses were NOT welded on as promised. I was flatly told that was the bill and if I wanted my exhaust that is what I would have to pay, I again asked to talk to Darwin but he oddly was not available. I inquired again if that included all the bolts and gaskets and everything that was promised and was assured it did.... I wrote a very detailed note explaining all the promises and the number of times I had requested an update on charges that had never been responded to as well as the extream delays thereby outlining Rockets failure to keep their commitments in both, quoted price, time and work promised to end by withholding my parts for what I felt was ransom at a price more than triple of that quoted with no more done than originally quoted. I called once again and Patrick said: "he understood and had asked Darwin why they even messed with Rocket support and hoped he would just get rid of all the Rocket stuff"... but he had talked to Darwin the fees would have to be paid if I wanted my exhaust... effectively holding my parts hostage, I succumbed paid the bill with recorded protest. The parts arrived well should I say some of the parts arrived yep, no bolts, no gaskets all of which we had to source externally.... All in all the most disappointing and unbelievable experience I have ever had with any Aviation company. I will never do business with Rocket again. I have never pursued any company for non-performance nor ever even threatened to but this may be an exception.. I have never outright publicly posted any direct recommendation to NOT DO BUSINESS with any company, but I felt it important to note my experience. I welcome Rocket Engineerings response should they have the integrity to do so, however, I suspect this is not the appropriate forum for such. I apologize for being so long winded but this short overview does not even come close to properly explaining the frustration I had with what I truly believe was very inappropriate business practices. The good news is after we sourced the gaskets and special turbo flange bolts elsewhere the system went together very well and I have now made two fights with over 10 hrs and all seems well. So for an $11000 annual (with over $4000 going to Rocket Engineering), I have my ol bucket of bolts in the air again....
  14. I have more than 1200hrs on my Rocket and have flown it basically in two general configurations. Cruise at 40-60 with as high as 80 LOP at full MP 37" @ 16.1 - 17.1 GPH which is what I ran for more than 700 hrs. Then I changed based on some testing to 34" MP @ 2375 RPM @ 16.1 - 16.7 GPH @ 190-195 TAS @ 12. I have a highly tuned GAMI set of injectors that I spent an inordinate amount of time with GAMI working out over several months. I also have extra GAMI injectors that I sometimes change at annuals when the fuel flow per cylinder is not as desired. I always cruise with a CHT of less than 380 and TIT of 1600 to 1625, I have found my limiting factor is TIT. Although my flying has slowed considerably over the last two years with only around 140 hrs last year. In just over 1200 hrs I have only recently (this month) had one cylinder which needed to have 1 valve lapped other than that my compressions and all cylinders have done remarkably well. I borescope them at every annual and change the oil every 50 hrs. Which coincides with the 50 hr exhaust AD.... On a couple of occasions I have test flown at the Rocket recommended power and FF settings and there is no question the speed improves but not the other overall elements I consider important #1 is CHT, # 2 TIT and #3 is fuel management/cost #4 overall wear and tear on the engine itself... Again this is just what has worked for me and I am comfortable with it and so far has proven to be an effective approach for my missions and desires.
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