Houman

Kevin, this is a very good write-up, I have to admit that at the beginnig, with my Rocket, I was either descending too late, too fast or got to my patern altitude too fast and had to use my speed brakes alot..... this amazing plane takes much more planning than less efficient ones to slow down. I'm not IFR yet, but doing it and hopefully will be within 2 or 3 months max. I now calculate my descent rate while in cruise and determine how many NM before destination I need to start my descent, then work backwords to start reducing power from the normal 31 MP that I cruise in to 25, I do that at the rate of 1 MP per 2 minutes, just to be easier on the engine for the temp changes, even though Rocket says 1 MP per minute, if you plan in advance, why not be baby the engine... It seems work well, my descent are easier now going to 25 MP over 22 RPM and my speed stays within the green arc, near yellow but still within the green... Bill, the Rocket is alot of plane, so make sure to get good transition training depending on your level of experience and as you said, MooneySpace is amazing source to seek good advice on everything...

As a Rocket owner, I say it is an amazing plane performance wise, but it is very costly. If you were still interested in that plane, as I understand it is no longer the case, you would have to do a good pre-purchase view before you do even an inspection in it. The TBO for rocket is 1600, but you have to consider that 1h in a rocket equals maybe 1h20m in a J... It is faster so takes you shorter time to get there so less engine used. Also consider that in a Turbo engine, it is more complexe and Turbo overhaul can run you 2 to 4 AMU and needs to be done at every 800h according to my information, anyway, I bought a Rocket last year and I do not regret it one second, my accountant has another view of it, but hell, he dos'nt fly it or work to earn it...

I use Phillips 66 X/C 20W-50 Multi-Viscosity oil as it was recommended to me by Bruce Jaeger who used to have an MSC for a long time and did an amazing job with my interiror redo. After doing some reading arround, I have found that most would say that Single viscosity is fine if you are not going very high, but if you are going up to flight levels, general opinion or somewhat conscensus is that multi-viscosity behaves better.

Erik, I have tried all 4 brands ( bose, Lightspeed, David Clark and halo ) for several flights each and I would have to say that LightSpeed is my favorite, the fact how it covers your ear and quality of the product, specially in our Rockets that are quite loud with that bigbore engine in front. I used the Halo for alomst a year in C172 and Sundowner, they are great for non ANR, but they are a pain in winter... I kind of regret that I got 1 Bose A20 in exchange at Osh, I should have gotten 2 Lightspeed Zullu PFX, they are top quality...I now use the PFX as my primary and Zulu 2 as my secondary, the bose A20 for passengers....

yeah, I have not done that since my mechanic is always very eager to open it up and see what is in it....

I will take the last option, with a nice paint job please !!!

Have we seen your lovely bride's picture posted here before ???

Well I don't see much need to run the cooler much longer after liftoff, I mean usually I get very decent cooling by the vents, so it is mostly for pre-flight, taxi and after landing... So I think the 90 min battery that comes with the Icebox kit should be good enough, or if I can run a wire and plug it into the cigarette lighter, that would be ok, as long as there is no permanent wiring.

I had 2 Bose A10 that came with the plane, they were old and one had a nasty hissing in one ear. Aircraft Spruce online would only give me about 200$ for each of them for an upgrade to a new headset, since I'm an inspiring CB member, I tought that was too much to spend and get 2 new ones. I brought both to Osh and at my great surprise, Aircraft Spruce at OSH gave me 450$ for each on the purchase of new headset, they did'nt mind the one hissing. I bought a LightSpeed Zulu PFX and a Bose A20. I already have a Zulu as my primary headset and think they are great, I am now even more amazed by the Zulu PFX, the Bose A20 are ok, but not the same fit as the Zulu's... Still paying half price for 2 new headsets is not too bad.

I'm about to buy an Icebox portable AC for my plane and was wondering if the electrical installation to the plane's batteries are really required or easy. I personally rather not connect anything not needed to the plane's electric system, and speciallly in the Rocket, the batteries are at the very back of the plane just before the rudder. It was part of the Rocket mod to balance the Aircraft because of heavier engine. So wondering what have people done with their IceBox and is it even worth the price for a kit... It runs into more than 1/2 Amu for the kit. Thanks for sharing any real experience with the Icebox, I have read trough some posts about it here, but nothing that much on the actual electrical connection.

I saw the huge explosion from the Mooney tent instantly as it happened, obviously we were too far and too many planes in the field of view to see what really happend. Not wanting to second guess the pilot, but I think the tone and directives of the controllers on FISC arrivals make it more difficult and intimidating for a pilot to declare unable and go around. From reading the report, he was given a much closer landing point after seeing the twin on the runway, so he had too much energy and not enough room to loose it... The only great thing about this story was that there were no fatalities.

Just wondering, I tried on my last flight to use Garmin Pilot while my ForeFlight was connected to the Stratus 2s Wifi network, Garmin Pilot was telling me that it could'nt find my location or something like that about no gps position. As I understand it, if I have my iPad's wifi network connected to my Stratus, then it will receive GPS positions from the Stratus and disables the internal 3g ipad GPS, but can the same iPad have a bluetooth connection trough FlightStream to my GTN at the same time ? since Garmin Pilot can't talk to my Stratus. I'm looking into having a Garmin FlightStream added to my Rocket so that I can exchange flight plans trough my iPad, worst case scenario I already have 2 Ipad and will use one with Garmin Pilot only until ForeFlight comes out with 2 way transfers between it and my GTN. Just wondering before I go and spend the 2 AMU's for the FlightStream purchase and installation. Thanks !

well, I will call them on Monday to inquire, they are in Texas and according to their site, here is their contact info : Century Flight Systems, Inc. | Municipal Airport | P.O. Box 610 | Mineral Wells, Texas, USA 76068

Hi, does anyone have an extra Century rocker switch shaft part number : 47A297 ? I had the UP/DN rocker switch from my Century 41 autopilot fall into my hand during a flight, it seems that the shaft holding it in place broke or came off. I belive it is a very small round metal shaft with springs at one or both end. The autopilot UP/DN works fine if I put my finger trough the hole and push the proper switch in the back. The rocker switch is fine and not broken, but the shaft is no where to be found even after extensive search in the plane. Calling Century, they told me that it is 20$, but that I have to buy up to 50$ for them to ship it to me and not sure how long it takes for Canada ! I'm sure it is a .50c shaft, but kind of important... Thanks !!!

I hear you, I have a K and love it as well, although my K is rocket converted, goes faster and drinks much more of gas aka my credit card, We had a flight of less than 5h coming back from Oshkosh to Montreal without going over any water... My Oshkosh co-pilot that owns an amazing RV6 was equally amazed at the 220 kts GS ( about 190 ktas ) at 12.5 K, and burning 18g/h...

in Montreal/Canada...

I agree, unless I win the lottery and get a LearJet, there is no reason for me to go to something bigger than the Rocket, at least not for the next 10 to 15 years, so I don't mind spending a bit on upgrades. We did put a GTN 650 and then redid the interior, so it is pretty nice now...

C'mon Ned, I personally like the bang out of my 2 extra cylinders !!!

Responded via pm...

I sent you an offer by PM, let me know if it is good for you !!!