Yooper Rocketman

If I am slow getting back to anyone, please email or text me directly. I am all elbows and nose into my Lancair IVPT rebuild, working crazy hours on it. I don't get on this site very often. Thanks Tom Sullivan Cell; nine zero six - 458 - six nine eight nine email; tom (at) uptruckcenter (dot) com

Sorry about the engine monitor and probes being sold by my staff last week while I was in Florida. It has been busy as heck for both my guys and me since I got back, and I wasn't notified.

Prices dropped on most of the items for sale

KG 102A Directional Gyro P/N 060-0015. Good Working condition when removed. 60 Day Warranty and free shipping $250

KS 270A Trim Servo, P/N 065-0059-04. Removed in good working condition. 60 Day warranty and free shipping. Price dropped 4/15/24 $400

KS 271A Trim Servo, P/N 065-0060. 60 Day Warranty & Free Shipping $400

KS-272 Trim Servo. P/N 065-0029. 60 Day Warranty and free shipping. $400

KC_295 Flight Computer, Part # 065-0034-15, 14 volt or 28 volt. 60 Day Warranty and free shipping. $750

Aerosonic Digitizer Altimeter. Was routinely flown up to FL240 and accurate. 12/23/2019 OH by Central Texas Avionics. 60 Day Warranty and free shipping. $200 Price dropped 4/18/24 to $150

No, it sold and I removed it when I was paid.

At the risk of posting BEFORE the new owner of one of the most amazing M20E’s purchase confirmation, I will state I gave him a lead on my best friend of 15 years or longer’s plane, being sold by the fortunate and amazingly appreciative buyer several years ago,after making a MAJOR life career change, congratulations on a truly AMAZING M20E purchase!!! I will digress to HIS POSTS on his acquisition going forward, but feel an immense satisfaction knowing my best friends airplane will go to a trusted new owner!! And thanks, to the many supporters from this forum, for the trust and support you’ve provided me as I’ve tried to truly represent what my best friend had for an airplane!!!!! Tom

My primary Mooney parts suppliers are Don Maxwell and Laser. They ARE above average on service. I do almost all my own service work so rare I need an MSC for anything other than parts. Your case shows a bad experience in the parts department can cost the service department future revenue. If that customer experience was ever brought to my attention, in my dealership, my parts tech would be having a closed door discussion with me. One thing I AM CAREFUL WITH though, is I never burn bridges with ANY customers or suppliers. I never know when I may need them down the road, in spite of a bad experience. Tom

THIS ^^^^^ I couldn't have said it better!! My Truck dealership carries $2M in parts inventory. With Western Star being one of the lowest volume OEM's, we are comparable to the aviation market. I can't even guess how often (the labor cost) of time required for us to research, find, and order parts for a customer far exceeds the gross profit on the part. We do it because we desire future (larger) parts sales AND sales of new trucks to these customers (something MSC's do not have as a possible future revenue source). @Ragsf15e had it right. Calling after research and finding part numbers will demonstrate that the owner has dedicated some time himself before asking the MSC to look into a part he has no assurance his time will result in a sale (if the part is not available from Mooney or the owner elects to find it someplace else based on price). That said, I wonder what happened to my mechanical tach cable removed this fall from my Rocket for the glass panel install? Maybe that would have worked for you. I will check on it. Tom

D1-112-5223 Mechanical Recording Tachometer. 60 Day Warranty & Free Shipping Price; $200 Price dropped to $150 on 2/7/24 Price dropped to $125 on 4/15/24

Airtech Manifold Pressure Gauge for Turbocharged Mooney’s Price; $65

KA-285 Annunciator Panel. Two bulbs recently replaced. 60 day warranty and free shipping. PRICE $75

I am listing a bunch of serviceable avionics removed from my Rocket for the new Garmin Glass panel recently completed. I will upgrade the list as I get time. First item is a GNS-530 WAAS with fresh 8130 (overhauled by Garmin this spring) and still in the closed packaging from Garmin. It comes with a 6 month warranty and the mounting tray, two data cards and wire connecting back plate. Free shipping. Price dropped $1k 1/09/24 Price dropped $1k 2/7/24 Price dropped $500 PRICE $6,500 PRICE DROPPED ANOTHER $500 4/23/2024 Price $6,000

Nope. 406 but antenna broke off.

You going to Sun River next week? Tom

I scheduled with MT in Deland for a repaint, hoping to get it done in October when I go down for a cruise. I will be in Florida about a week.. MT said they need "TWO" weeks to paint the prop, and they will NOT do it if the prop is past 72 months since overhaul (without overhauling it too). Luckily for me, it is only 50 months old. They remove the blades to paint, said it takes 3 days just for the painting, and then a balance before reassembling the prop. I scheduled for late January because my winter trips are usually 2 full weeks or more anyway. Now the prior owner that bought that prop (the guy I bought my Rocket back from) is asking me what the warranty is on the repaint, since they wouldn't do anything for him when the paint started peeling in under a year. And my wife is asking what it's going to cost (I guess I should ask that question). MT did say the paint process is very specific and detailed. I hope that means the paint will stay on. I don't mind "paying" for a prop that looks as good as the rest of the plane. I appreciate the feedback on those having props without paint issues. I like the prop with the exception of that. Maybe the U.S. shop paints them better the the factory. In conversation with the last owner, he did acknowledge a drop in cruise speed with the MT. I've noticed my speeds with the prop are definitely down 3-4 knots from what what they were with the 3 blade the conversion came with. That said, the better CG and lighter nose is well worth a bit of speed loss. Tom

I have and Evo owner friend in McCall that has asked to host us. He's going to the same convention a day later than us. It looks like I get to add a new airport to my list. Thanks everyone. Tom

If you guys desire, I may be able to get his presentation. It's been 2.5 years. I'm not sure I got all the details correct. My intent with the post was the value of having stand alone equipment, not dependent on ANY system of the airplane, be it power, static, avionics or otherwise, still part of your back up plan. Until I heard the presentation, my Stratus became a bench ornament in my hangar. A last note, with the engine and batteries torn off the Lancair Turbine, on Christmas morning (2021) with my wife sitting on the wing freezing with a foot of snow on the ground, S&R couldn't find us. I looked in the cockpit and saw my Stratus still blinking on the glare shield so I grabbed my Ipad, put my finger on the "blinking airplane" and gave the 911 dispatcher my long and lat's. Twenty minutes later S&R were loading us up and hauling us out of the north country woods. Nine months prior to that day was when I learned I should have my Stratus and Ipad as part of my flight kit. I just thought if one other pilot found my advise useful (and applied it), it was worth posting and having a few "question my foggy details". Tom

A 2.5 years ago, at our LOBO (Lancair Owners & Builders Organization) Convention in Henderson NV, one of our board members did a slide show presentation about a recent event that had happened after coming out of maintenance in Idaho. He departed Idaho on a flight to Phoenix and about an hour and a half into the flight the Evolution starting having A/P control issues. Other symptoms surfaced (it's been a couple years, I don't remember all the smaller details) so he decided to head back to Boise, hoping to make it there before dark (he didn't). As he was trying to figure out what was going on he noticed upon reaching 14k, descending into Boise, that the altimeter was indicating he was staying level at 14K. Boise Approach asked him to continue his descent for his arrival and although he felt he was descending, he was still showing 14K. It was dark and another call came from Approach to descend. At one point he was straining to see out the window and he spotted a farm with their lights on; he was within 1k' to 2k' of the ground. He climbed back to what he estimated was near 5k' and once he had the lights of Boise in sight, he managed a compete VFR arrival. All this time the controller insistently telling him he was too high!. The pilot took a picture of the panel showing him at 14k sitting on the ramp of Boise Airport. They found a static line had been routed to close to hot turbine engine components and had melted after 1.5 hours in flight. He completed his flight in daylight the next day. His take away was he will never fly again without his Stratus and Ipad running as back up. It will always give you ground speed (something better than nothing) and altitude, uncorrected for Barometric Pressure, but will never have you off far enough that the info is not valuable. Had he been using his Ipad and Stratus during that flight, he would have never been that close to the ground in the dark. My Stratus and Ipad are go / no-go items for any flight for me, even when requiring charging in flight on long trips, after hearing this story. Tom

You have two main TKS pumps as well. I would say I agree on the two alternators. I had my main one fail flying from the Lower Peninsula of Michigan to the Upper Peninsula (Sawyer KSAW) in the winter, in the dark, in a snow storm, and broke out at minimums. I'm not sure I would have had the juice to get the gear down without that second alternator. I'll share why I always fly with my Stratus and Ipad on, in another thread. A pretty hairy situation that was shared with our LOBO Group at a convention concerning an Evolution (Prop Jet).

I’ve flown out there a fair amount with a 231 Rocket with TKS (non-FIKI). If you are already going to be restrictive on flying in icing, the non-FIKI, IMHO, is every bit as effective as the FIKI models. In my experience, flying 3 Non-FIKI and one FIKI single engine airplanes, the only plane that left me with no de-ice in icing conditions was the FIKI airplane. Bad luck, but demonstrates “officially FIKI” gives you no guarantee you will be safer! Your decision to launch should have more basis on the weather than the “FIKI” certification Tom