Yooper Rocketman

I was told it was dropped to satisfy the FAA on total HP for the airframe. As Erik said, a negotiation to get the STC approved. Tom

When I had my Rocket Engine OH'd they had trouble getting the max RPM set for a bit. I had 2700 RPM for a while (would have been really tempted to leave it there had I not been selling it). That IS why the H.P. was dropped to 305. I will tell you, that extra 50 RPM felt like a lot more than 5 more HP !!!!!! I was blown away how much more power it had. Could have been a new engine vs. a 500 over TBO old one too. Almost as impressive as 724 HP on my 2500 pound (empty weight) Carbon Fiber garage built experimental. Tom

Well ....... it finally happened. With less than one COVID-19 case per 1,000 people ( we are actually at 1 in every 3,000), and only 7 new cases for the month of May across our 311,000+ population, our governor considered the U.P. safe enough to open up. If we were our own state, we would likely have had the lowest state infection rate in the country. Sure hope you poor folks downstate don’t have to reach OUR numbers to be freed up. You’ll be locked down until next year. There’s a lot of happy “Yooper” red necks today. Tom

Mine is tuned for FL 280. 300 knots (give/ take 10 knots depending on temps) on 30 GPH. Not exactly real efficient but then neither was my 305 Rocket. I’m a pretty well documented “Speed Guy”. Tom

M601D, 724HP Walters (now GE). No over temps to deal with. Just manage the ITT with the fuel lever. It DOES like cold weather. Initial ROC 3,000’ to 4,000’ PM. It’s a beautiful plane to fly but the Rocket was an amazing plane to own and fly as well. I have 18 years and 1800 hours worth of “speed” stories. One of the best ones being asked to slow down going into Orlando Executive because I was running up the tail of a Boeing 7xx (can’t remember which model but my passenger still talks about that approach control instruction 15 years later). Tom

It's just a measly 100 knots faster. Minor upgrade from a Rocket! And actually, had I not bought the Rocket the new plane would have been done 12 years sooner. The Rocket was such an amazingly capable airplane it took some of the urgency out of finishing my Lancair. Tom

Try running full throttle, full RPM. Mine always ran warmer, to a point it was a problem in really hot weather, if I pulled it back to 2500, 35". Never had a problem at full power, full RPM. Ironically, when I was trained to fly my mercy flight's Bonanza after the Tornado Alley turbo install, they recommended the same as I was doing with my Rocket. Full power, full RPM. Tom (1,800 hours Rocket time)

I find it a little disheartening that a guy that’s been such a strong advocate of GA, supported the EAA Young Eagles program, and is not cocky or arrogant because of his success in show business, has some in our fold so quick to chop his legs out from under him. If he wasn’t so well known, none of the incidents he has had, besides the golf course one (which was pretty good airmanship), would have ever made news anywhere. HE’S CERTAINLY NOT TRIED TO BE IN THE SPOTLIGHT in regards to his flying. He just loves aviation like the rest of us. I don’t recall EVER hearing “continue” used in an instruction that didn’t involve moving or action with my plane. Certainly not proper phraseology for holding short. I totally agree with Paul @kortopates Tom

I won't discount or dispute your thoughts or rational. But, they are clearly getting more than 8 years on these batteries. Also, our forum moderator for the Lancair Talk forum is a dealer. We are getting them for significantly less than what you noted above. Tom

A friend from Ohio had one 90% complete, needing mostly instrument panel and wiring completed (he thought). My best friend for a long time, Steve, 27 year hangar partner, fellow Mooney owner, and the guy that did MOST of my wiring, agreed to take this project in and finish up the electrical. Once it arrived to my hangar, I found there was still a lot of other work required AND he added a full TKS de-ice system, the engine getting pulled off and checked by our engine shop (his engine had been built by another less than capable shop), and various other upgrades. About halfway complete with the electrical work, my best friend died of an unexpected heart attack. I'm sure I posted that back in November when I lost him....... it was pretty traumatic for me and his family. Fittingly, he was a NAM vet and died on Veterans Day. I'm fully capable of the wiring aspect, just hadn't planned on doing it alone. Tom

I just bought two new Concorde's for my Lancair and wish I had done more research before buying them. Although I got 7-8 years on my Concorde's in my Mooney Rocket, the dual batteries were mostly for weight / CG (mounted in the tail cone), not amperage need, so they were still sufficient as they lost capacity. On my Lancair, my batteries were 4-5 years old and and had a low voltage start attempt a couple months ago and was able to abort the start. a Low voltage start is a recipe for a "HOT START", which on a turbine will cost you A LOT OF MONEY. I got an APU start and quickly ordered replacement batteries without doing any research on the Earth X batteries. I'm completing another IVPT and this one has no room for a second battery, so we were concerned about the life and voltage drop during starts. I did EXTENSIVE research on this new technology, talking with a ton of experimental pilots using them. One particular owner from Australia told me he did extensive research for years, and found the failure rate for the old technology batteries was equal too or greater than these new Earth X batteries. The weight savings is absolutely astonishing, and the size is smaller too. We were able to increase the starting amperage beyond two of my new Concorde's, with two 24 volt units fitting in a slightly modified battery box intended for ONE CONCORDE, at less weight than ONE Concorde. Don't discount these batteries!!! If I could recoup most my investment in my new 24 volt Concorde's, I would seriously consider swapping out for the Earth X batteries with what I now have learned. Tom

ILC I must have missed, or (with this topic so detailed at times beyond my pay grade) glossed over, your support of removing the lock down in areas that no longer make sense. No need to point out the specific instances, your integrity has already been established and I believe you. Your compassion to see less cases is clearly driven by your exposure through your job. I would even give some of the most serious naysayers the benefit of the doubt their feelings towards this would be different if their view was through your eyes and your experiences. That said, I also have compassion for those frustrated about this (hell, I am) when THEY are not seeing the storm in their neighborhood. Government or political conspiracies; one need look no further than the very reference of WWII and Hitler you made, and how the Germans could have ever let the death camps happen, to see why it's not necessarily unhealthy to be concerned about the actions taken by some of the state leaders during this national event. To not be concerned would be naive. I pointed out in a very recent post the vulnerability of my local (rural) hospital. Circumstances like this are NOT being considered by my state leader. I am not just talking the lock down either. The very professionals in the same field as you, in my mind, have the ability to determine what medical procedures can be performed safely, without orders from a J.V. governor. In the end, numbers will be guesses, but I will put my money on the actions by my governor will cost us more lives than the virus in my town. And it's not lack of information. Our legislators from the U.P. (both parties) have been asking for discretion for our unique Upper Peninsula. She has arbitrarily decided we are NOT worthy of that. I'm not naive enough to think there's not a possible political reason either. She lost all but one county up here in the election. Tom

That’s been my point all along. I’ve had a tremendous respect for ILC but have been disappointed there appears to be no support for those of us under this lockdown in areas the urban communities would love to have the infection and fatality rates we are experiencing. And it’s clearly possible we could see an escalation, just later than everyone else. I fear that would mean we had 2 months of lockdown for no benefit, and then end up locked down longer than anyone else because there was no discretion applied to how, WHERE AND WHEN this was implemented. Just the one blanket fits all policy. My sister was a board certified MD (retired early due to TBI). I found her to be one of the most accomplished doctors I ever met. She was the most open minded for sure, advocating healthy and smart lifestyle over traditional treatments. As my or my wife’s physicians recommended invasive procedures, many times she gave us alternatives that we weren’t aware of. I’m still amazed the callous reaction my physician had to me dropping my PSA below “the alert level” with diet changes. I went from him recommending a biopsy to being well below the alert threshold, and he didn’t even wonder how I was able to do that. The relevance of that? As much as I respect her professionalism and knowledge, she has clear biases. Bias’s that defy her very core values because they meet HER agenda. I believe we ALL are capable of the same. Knowing that, I probably try harder to suppress those biases (not always successful) than I would absent that awareness. I supported my governor on the first lockdown. Probably the first action by her I’ve ever supported. But after the facts surfaced over time, she has been completely unwilling to “adjust”. If I ran my business this way I would never have made it 35 years. Tom

I got to fly for the first time in 3 weeks, way too long to stay current in my Lancair. I dropped my daughter off in Green Bay on Sunday, then headed to Chicago for some business. Picking up my clearance on the ground at GRB, my final altitude was 13,000'. I queried the controller and he said a LOA was in place for MSP and CHI ATC for that altitude going into CHi-town from GRB. He asked if I needed higher for some reason and I noted yes, fuel burn. He made a couple calls and got me 17,000', but I knew that would be short lived going south. Before I reached Milwaukee they had me down to 13,000', .......... and stuffed me out over Lake Michigan. Man I hate that!!! I was cleared to land at KMDW (Midway) from 5 miles out, without another plane talking to the tower. That felt weird. I departed just before sunset, and took some photos of a beautiful sunset over central Wisconsin. I had forgot to file coming home, and got a surprise when the ground controller at Midway said he had nothing in the system. I went to my Fltplan.com and submitted it (it was ready to submit, other than adjusting the departure time). I set the departure time for 3 minutes from current, and the controller called me in less than 2 minutes with my clearance (nice to know). I just avoided a Southwest push of departures (for these days anyway) of about 6 planes in sequence by 5 minutes. I was glad I didn't have to deal with the wake turbulence of those boys. WIsh I could have shot some Chicago Skyline photos along the lake. I'm not a big city fan, but that view is pretty spectacular. Sure was nice to get flying again! Tom

The current discussion in my area is what is going to happen with our hospital with our governor treating the whole state as if it's Detroit (full lock down). Our rural U.P. probably has one of the lowest COVID-19 infection and death rates in the entire country, and we are a very well defined area. 75% of our border is Lake Superior or Lake Michigan, with a 5 mile suspension bridge (the Mackinaw Bridge) separating the U.P. from the rest of Michigan. Currently we would need to increase our fatality rate 30 times to meet the published flue fatality rate. Our INFECTION rate is 6 times lower than the flue FATALITY rate. Our hospital is the only hospital within 90-100 miles. They were on the brink of bankruptcy a year ago, and not a single other hospital system that looked at us would buy us. Our only option was dig our way out. Hard work and a ton of local support has brought the hospital to within a hairs width of obtaining a 50 million dollar loan to keep them solvent. And then we got the lock down. No non-essential services or surgeries for 6 weeks now. My brother ended up there during this time with a bleeding stomach (passing out and taken by ambulance). His wife visited him during his couple day hospital stay and said the hospital was a ghost town. Almost closed down. They've had 5 admitted cases of COVID-19 in 6 weeks (two from Wisconsin). So, we contemplate the likelihood this hospital will financially make it, since they were so close to shuttering the doors prior to this event. And, if they don't make it, how many will die in the next 5-10 years as they lay in the ambulance for their 2 hour run to another hospital. Taking COVID-19 seriously, sure. Applying strategies and policies that make sense ..... should be a no-brainer., unless left to a completely incompetent politician. Tom