Yooper Rocketman

I'll try to make it this year. My better half as well (Beth). Tom

My local FBO is awesome, with the bodywork guy on contract AND a fellow Mooney owner AND a CFII! If we can be of assistance let me know!! Tom

You're about 35 minutes from me in Lancair time. If need be and weather ok, I'd be glad to get you and/or your partner home. Trying to get hours on the Lancair so I can send it off to paint. If needed, call me on my cell at nine zero six, four five eight, 6989 Tom

Hey!!!! You gave me crap a month ago because I couldn't spell Comanche. I don't even own one! Tom

I believe that is where we did the pre-purchase inspection on my Rocket back in 2000. Flew down there from Boeing Field in Seattle. Tom

Same here. My search in 1999-2000 was for a 252 with TKS. Finding few planes and the ones I did were quite a bit higher priced than Rockets, I ended up with the Rocket. If I was doing the same today, I would likely look for 252's first, and then at Rockets. 252's because I think they hold their value better than Rockets. Rockets over 231's because I love 305 HP and 1,000 feet per minute climb to FL240. Tom

Every electrical wire connection we (Steve and I) made on the Lancair were soldered. We had several vendor supplied items too. Thus far the only failed connections (there have been several) were non-soldered terminals. Tom

There was a magazine article on Scheme Designers and Craig within the last year. He talked a lot about people copying his work and how he understood some were intentional violations of his copyright and many were done without the knowledge the particular design was copyright protected. If I recall, he had pursued few, if any, infringements and accepted that there were always going to be copy's of his work. He mentioned he was pleased when a few called him after the fact admitting they were not aware of the copyright. Can't remember how he handled it but I seem to recall any fee at that point was voluntary. Clearly he can't persue every possible infringement, especially if they are not EXACT copies. If parts of a design, when it's not an exact copy, are considered an infringement then even Craig's work could be considered infringing on prior work. My fee is double what's been posted here so I've got as much of a horse in this race as anyone. Chill everybody. There was no malice intended here. Tom

I am a Scheme Designers customer, having my Lancair design (not painted yet) done by them. So.....I think I have a vested interest in people not copying a design that I paid for without asking for my, or Scheme Designers, permission. I know they have allowed past designs to be used with the approval of the original owner, and I believe they were approved for less cost as well. That said, the design you displayed was very similar to a factory paint scheme and older Mooney owners have been copying newer factory paint schemes since forever. I personally have no issue with the design you proposed as I think all examples shown thus far in this thread are basically outright copies or spin-offs of the FACTORY design. Tom

OHG Peter, leverage him to not post anymore of his girl photos for the use of your paint design. We'll all donate to you for holding those pictures off line. You will probably get more that way than if you SOLD him the design!! Tom

Finished the cylinder work and the Annual today. The cylinder repair was well under my previous estimate so pretty happy with that. Probably less than 40 hours to the break even point on that decision. Did a good ground run and then cowled it up and did a 15 minute test flight. Ready to fly some Young Eagles tomorrow. Definately a tight fit in the hangar now that Steve's E model got moved back in for a new prop and Avionics upgrades. With the Basic Med he's going to start flying again. Tom

OUCH. That hurt.

I've always had the opinion it's NOT a REAL cross country until you are still going outbound AFTER your fuel stop. I guess I get to send you the T-shirt!! Nice pictures of Shelter Cove. Looks like a pretty neat place! Tom

Checked out your flight into MCE. Like your little loop de loop!! Was that for mountain clearance and descent or a bit of an ATC slam dunk? I had one of those years ago going into Baltimore but it was NOT mountains. Tom

PeeVee, That's a NICE looking ROCKET!! Tom

20 years ago they were spot on. Clearly you need a more current experience! Good luck with the OH. You're probably out of the "interest window" for my Rocket now, as it will need an OH in the not too distant future. I'm sure you don't want to manage two OH's in that time frame. :>) Tom

That's fair. I think my personal guidelines on managing high time engines SHOULD help me make the right decision. I doubt I will look at another expensive investment before O.H.'ing. Obviously I hope I don't end up with an "I told you so" (be it from you, or someone that thought the same but didn't say it). At this time, with the Lancair paint and interior expense looming, delaying the OH until I get past that expense (will likely be the cost of that OH or more) works better for my budget. Tom

That IS what my main bench looks like (white Teflon). The one in the picture is a "rolling bench" for holding tools and parts for disassembly work right by the airplane. I don't put dirty parts on my good bench. :>) I also have two rolling benches with covers them, one carpeting, the other an old comforter. My IA knew better than to put dirty parts on one of those benches. Tom

You're flying an F, which was my last Mooney. I bought it with 1900 hours on the engine (1996) and had to perform the oil pump AD at 2000 hours and a few said the same thing you just did. The job cost me $500 and at that time an overhaul cost divided by TBO time put the cost of engine at $12 an hour. I got 400 more hours out of it (worth $4800 in engine time) and sold the F with 800 SMOH. The extra 400 that would have been on the engine had I rebuilt at 2,000 hours would have devalued the airplane another $4,000 at the time of sale. So.......that $500 saved (or earned) me a lot of money. The cylinder work will be under $2k. With a 1600 TBO engine on the Rocket and recently substantiated overhaul costs on this list, engine time is worth $32-$40 and hour. That means this is a break even investment at 60 hours. The math seems pretty easy for me, especially when considering oil consumption (very low) and oil filter contamination (displayed in O.P.). I guess if I was in the aircraft maintenance business I would hope for more aircraft owners with your opinion than mine. Tom

When I shared the symptoms with the 30 year avionics tech (no longer working for my FBO, took a higher paying job in Florida) he was pretty good at zeroing in on the two key factors that should have been analyzed; how it worked with the A/P and how it failed with the yoke switch. What bothered me all along (I delayed fixing this for 6-9 months because I didn't believe sending the servo out would fix it) was the analysis stopped there, yet the information seemed pretty clear. It HAD to be something separate of the servo since it never blinked when using the A/P. He said he was going to call King but, after several weeks when I queried him, he said he couldn't get in touch with them and we should just send the servo out. As far as saving time by sending out components, it would have taken more time to remove and replace the servo than I had finding the problem. It look less than an hour. Maybe it's a mindset, but in my truck dealership, you do not pay for component replacement that DOESN'T fix your problem. AND, with my mechanics "Incentive Program" (monthly bonuses based on flat rate times and quality of workmanship) a mistake like this one will have the mechanic paying for the misdiagnosed component replacement out of his bonus instead of the customer. That creates a much more diligent troubleshooting process when they are held accountable for getting it right THE FIRST TIME. My top techs routinely pull $400 to $800 monthly bonus checks and the quality going out the door is outstanding. I guess I was a little cynical with the first post, but it really PO's me when I can't "technically" work on my plane (no A&P <yet>) and if not for my background and attitude towards maintenance, I would be spending a lot more to fly my plane. Makes me feel bad for those with less or little mechanical background, as they are totally at the mercy of their mechanic/FBO . Far too many in the vocational fields today (all fields, not just aviation) are using the shotgun approach as Marauder pointed out. The one good thing is, in the end, this forum helps all of us by sharing information and saving us money. Tom

Found Problem!!!! https://mooneyspace.com/topic/22795-found-the-elevator-electric-trim-problem/

I had my IA look at the pitch trim servo and pitch servo today. I ran the trim switch through the range multiple times and it worked every time. I also turned on the autopilot and adjusted the flight director to command a pitch action and the trim wheel moved every time after a short delay. He was convinced we needed to send the pitch trim servo in for OH, but I was pretty stubborn that thought it had to be in the electric trim switch. Hey...the trim servo doesn't know whether the adjustment command is coming from the autopilot or the electric trim switch. I noticed my trim switch is a dual switch with the thumb applying pressure to both parts of the switch for function. He said the red switch on the left activated the clutch, the black on the right ran the actual servo motor. I showed him how if I just activated the red switch, the manual trim wheel would lock like it did during the failure mode until I let go of the switch. This convinced me even more it was in the black trim button. At my request he removed the trim switch assy from the yoke, as I convinced him even if I was wrong, the switch repair would be much less than sending the servo out for OH. He said the switch looked good and he could hear a positive "clicking" of the contacts upon activating the switch. I crawled into the plane and wanted to pull the switch out further from the yoke, so cut the wire ties on the wires in the cavity of the wire chase in the yoke. This is what I found. Yep, a 5 cent butt connector to wire failure! Two high level aviation techs were convinced I should send the trim motor in. I'm sure glad I stuck to my diagnosis based on actual symptoms rather than bow to the "most common failure" found on the trim system. Tom

Yes, KFC 150

I have ADS-B in my Lancair and it likely prevented a strong possibility of a mid-air down at Spruce Creek (private airpark just south of Daytona Beach, FL) in April. A guy was flying EXACTLY the wrong direction in the pattern for runway 23 where we are altitude limited by the Daytona Class C at 1200' AGL. In the end it appeared he didn't even know he was near an airport as he continued on his SW flight path and wasn't tuned to the CTAF. I never saw the dot on my G3X get SO large before. That said, my only concern is feedback I have gotten from one friend who works for the FAA on issues and lack of support by controllers of the program. Combine that with the possibility of a "NEW" development that would render the current investment in ADS-B ground based equipment worthless I am keeping my ears to the ground on where this is going. I like the safety aspect of my ADS-B in the Lancair enough I was scheduled to install ADS-B (got pushed back due to shop being behind schedule from loss of main avionics tech) in my Rocket this past week even though I will be selling it within a year. I will have to fly the Rocket while the Lancair is in "paint and interior" for 3-4 months as my primary plane. I was just wondering if any one else had heard what the article suggests? Tom

Since I was on such an intense work session from last spring until this spring getting the new plane going, my aviation magazines really stacked up next to my Lazy Boy chair. Over the last several weeks I was able to read through the 12" stack of them and file them appropriately (most in the trash, one or two circulations in my library). Anyway, I read an interesting take on the ADS-B program that was written last summer. Just wondering if anyone else has heard this or has some skepticism on where this will go next with our pocket books? Tom http://midwestflyer.com/?p=9960