Yooper Rocketman

Ya, well it doesn't look that good now. That was before the turbo failure. I cleaned the bottom after that but didn't wax it that time. I just noticed the last few flights more oil than normal on the bottom (and a slight uptick in consumption). I start the annual today, so shall see if something on the turbo is leaking or if I developed something else.

There may be some dissimilar metal corrosion going on. My Rocket is always trying to develop corrosion on the bottom, any place there is a edge of paint that gets exposed to the exhaust flow. The lead in the exhaust (as well as probably other corrosive elements) will attack anything it can get at. I am pretty religious in cleaning the bottom to prevent that from happening. I've stripped and repainted several panels since I bought it in 2001. Seems the more frequently I clean, the less I see corrosion trying to start. Tom

Good decision! I went into a 2000' x 40' strip recently with the Rocket, after not landing on anything shorter than 2900' in the last 5 years. I did a go around on my first try and that was the first go around in a long time. The local airport manager, a Pilatus owner, was outside watching me (told me later he was wondering who was trying to land at his airport in a hot rod Mooney). He is an old friend and once he saw it was me, he laughed. My instructor was based out of this airport, so I had landed there before in every airplane I have ever owned. Just had not been there in a while. Oh, on the go around, I take that back, I did a go around on the 2900 footer too. 3NR3, Transylvania, NC, where you need airport manager approval to land AFTER you have watched the videos on landing and departure procedures. http://transylvaniacommunityairport.com/ Down wind for one of the runways is on the other side of a mountain, with a side step on short final to align to the runway. Pretty hairy for a first timer. Tom

OMG, brings back memories of Fred on the Mooney Mailing List about 20 years ago.

Good Question. I made a personal commitment when running over TBO I would monitor 5 things, and any of them that gave me a sign of engine issues it was time to put in a Reman. 1. Any major change in oil consumption. 2. Any major change in compressions. 3. Any major sign in the oil samples. 4. Anything found in the oil filter (or screen in the case of that F model IO360A1A). 5. Any other sign felt from the pilot seat that the engine may be developing a major issue. Back to your question; I installed a Reman and was amazed how much more power I had (after about 20-30 hours). The old engine had certainly lost it's snort. Tom

I sent out oil samples on my F model after every oil change, especially after I went over TBO. I found a handful of metal in my filter during a routine oil change at exactly 2400 hours. I wrenched on big trucks all my life, doing mostly engine, transmission and differential overhauls, ( in addition to building drag racing engines), so felt pretty comfortable working with oil samples. Anyway, I decided to send an oil sample off of the oil on my F model that had just breathed it's last. The sample came back with nothing in it to give me concern had I not found the handful of metal in the filter, and I had 500 hours of trends (25 hour oil changes) to compare it with. I'm not a big fan of oil samples. I do them occasionally now, but I don't expect they will warn me of anything I haven't already discovered from other signs already. Tom

Well, got home at 9:30 this morning and my wife put me to work replacing fence posts in her horse pasture all day. As promised, here are some pictures on the installation we did of the wing deice panels Friday afternoon. Brad and crew (Airframes, Inc) were great to work with. I believe we will have one of the best Lancair TKS installs, as we found several areas we were able to improve the installation over prior installs he has done (and I have seen). Only time will tell. I brought the horizontal stabilizer panels home, as I feel really confident I can get them on now that I have participated in the wing panel installations. One picture shows Brad installing the special glue to hold the panels on (two part epoxy product). The other two show the panels after installation and cleaning off the squeezed out glue. The panels were protected with multiple layers of blue painters tape to ensure no glue got on the panels. 10 ratchet straps were used per wing, with a lot of adjusting and switching which side the ratchet was on to make sure the leading edge of the panels were perfectly straight (tended to pull a bit to the side the ratchet was on). Brad and crew will final bodywork the wings and all accessories, then install final primer to fly in. Preliminary feedback was I had everything pretty decent (bodywork wise) so hopefully not too much work will be needed. I should be running back down in 3-4 weeks to pick them up to install on the plane (hope to have it out to the airport by then). Tom

It's the body work of the panels to the wing (carbon fiber) that so many did not get to the professional level that Brad has accomplished. His installs are seamless. We did get them bonded on today and it went really nice. We spent 2 full days in prep and alignment before he and I were satisfied. I took pictures with my IPhone and will post tomorrow. I headed out of Tennessee at 3 PM and thought I could drive all the way home (12 1/2 hours) but ran out of steam at midnight and got a room in Sheboygan, WI. Will finish the last 3 hours in the morning.

I flew out of Toughkenamon (N57) years ago, which is just out of KPHL, and it was on a weekend when the FBO was closed (no land line available), no cell phone, and marginal VFR. I didn't know what to expect with routing, so filed Direct to an airport in Ohio to get fuel. When I attempted to pull a clearance airborne, the departure controller was pretty pissed. He said " you expect to get this clearance airborne? Why didn't you call on the ground?" I said I tried, but couldn't raise you from the ground. After much explanation about why I couldn't call before launching, he finally said he was too busy so the best I could get was VFR Flight Following. I accepted and started scrambling to find an airport to land at. About 5 minutes later another controller comes on (obviously a supervisor) and asks me if I am ready to copy and accept an IFR Clearance. I said yes and he rattles off one with about 10 way points, all of which I had never heard of. Pissed myself, I read the clearance back twice as fast as he gave it to me. That changed everything, as they then realized I was not a newbie. I flew to one way point and then the original controller gave me Direct. Really? Coming out of Detroit on medical flights I always get the scenic tour of the area too. One time after a pretty crazy routing, I asked departure if he had a second? When he did, I explained I had a baby on a respirator and would like to get her back home as soon as possible ( not an emergency, but clearly it warranted better routing). I got Direct to KSAW immediately. Have to believe this has more do do with Standard Practice than being routed to clear traffic. Tom

Thanks for the offer, but John Cook, my engine guy will be training me. He has about 18,000 hours of Walters time and was the first Lancair builder to install a turbine in the IVPT airframe. I've incorporated every feature he has requested (dual fuel pumps, simplified fuel system,dual engine instrumentation, new updated Wolstenholm nose strut, etc.). Speaking about Bob, I thought I caught an earlier post during Sun & Fun that you know him. When he first brought his completed IVP to Oshkosh, I was all over it with my camera. After a while my dad spotted his concern with me all over the plane. Dad told him "don't worry, this is one of the finest IVP's my son has ever seen, and he building one right now so those pictures are worth a ton more than the builders manual. Tom

First to answer Orionflt, yes Brad will be painting it. He completed the only TKS wing and H/stab panel install I thought was nice enough that I could be satisfied with TKS on my plane (I've seen quite a few installs I could not have lived with). Erik, yes CAV makes a model specific for the Lancair IV, IVPT, IVPT. The last kit they sold before my order in October of 2014 (yes, I've been waiting 18 months) was in 2011-2012, so I was happy they would even sell me a kit. The delay was because the factory in the UK converted the production process from manual (craftsman) to automated machines. They converted every model except the Lancair kit to this modern technology. Most of the craftsman from the manual build days had retired or left, so it took quite a while to get guys back up to speed building my panels. The delay never really hurt me, time wise, but another month delay would have cost me a bunch more, as I should be ready for wing installation in 4-6 weeks (requiring wing removal later at Brad's shop once delivered for final paint if panels not on then). So.........I am really grateful CAV didn't just dump my order. That would have probably been the most financially wise decision. We found out yesterday the wing panels are 1 1/2" longer than the wings (less winglets), so we needed to modify the end of the wing, and will need to do the same to the winglets. We did not bond today, too many hours spent getting them in the exact location for the least disruption of the laminar airfoil. Hopefully tomorrow, as I need to head back to the U.P. Will leave the wings and all accessories for Brad to final body work and prime.

Sorry, had to screen shot the email I sent my friends. Working with IPad a challenge for me. Tom

Tuesday morning in Kansas picking up my TKS panels. I loaded the wings back in the U.P., left at 1:00 PM when the last wing panel finally arrived at CAV, and headed from there to my painter's shop in Milan, Tennessee (arrived there just before 5 PM). My back was killing me yesterday from the drive and hotel bed, but we should be glueing the panels on today. More pictures tomorrow. BTW, I started this thread for some of you that suggested I post updates. Tom oops, picture didn't post. Will try to get one on here later.

With the Rocket, full fuel (105 gallons) and it's a two person airplane. I rarely ever fuel it completely, for that very reason. As Brad stated, I would pump off fuel, fly off some fuel, or rearrange the passenger count. Tom

I flew about 7 hours this weekend, doing some round robins between the U.P., Lower MI, and Green Bay taking my son to spend the weekend with his girlfriend, and bringing my FBO owner's daughter home and back for the weekend. I didn't get any shots on Friday, but here's some from last evening. #1 is looking North over the Door Peninsula, a small island called Plum Island, and the large Island farthest North is Washington Island. #2 is like Doc's (going down hill), except I had about 20 knots on my nose. #3 is the Frozen Tundra, Lambeau Field. #4 is the sun setting on my northbound flight from Green Bay home. I took about 10 of the sun setting, but the Iphone is not the best filtering the brightness out light the eye does. #5 is flying the ILS 01 into KIMT at about 15 minutes after sunset.

Getting close to airport time.

If I ever get to Texas when mine is done I will get you a ride in one anyway. I'm getting close to moving it to the airport for final assembly. Tom

One thing is evident (and a good thing). The opinions vary based on aircraft and equipment. on scenario one I was more concerned with the crosswind than the DA and airport altitude. I've done 4 passengers in pretty warm weather, but we had 2 healthy guys and two petite ladies, AND with 305 HP and a turbo, this is a bit different that a NA Mooney. The potential for icing in scenario 3 was concerning for many, but again, with TKS and a turbo, as long as I can get above it in a reasonable time it's not a show stopper unless reported is an issue. The Rocket would be on top in 5 minutes. Those without deice answered exactly as I did when I owned my F. I would be more concerned about flying in IMC near thunderstorms. I know of at LEAST two planes and crews that ATC ran right through convective activity and they are no longer with us. Just my take here, but I look at storm scopes, ADS-B and ATC as aids to flying near TS's, while my eyes are primary, and if I can't see them, I am not getting any where near them. Tom

There is a guy on in our Lancair group that is alive today because a "bystander" pulled him out of the burning wreck before he was burnt alive. Good thing that didn't happen in Ocala. Tom

#1 No. I landed the BE26T in crosswinds not a lot less than that and don't desire to do that again (med flight). #2 Yes #3 No, I have TKS in Mooney, FIKI on the Bo, but I won't launch in weather lower than minimums for the airport. You may have to return quickly. #4 Maybe, I would assess all factors, but only if I can remain in VMC near the thunderstorms. I don't fly IMC near thunderstorms. Too many variables and I can't visually steer clear of them #5 Maybe, but probably not. I know I apply tighter standards on my go / no go decisions when they are based on a "I need to get there" flight. It's easier to say "no, it's not safe to make the flight" when you are on the ground, than to be subjected to the added pressure once you launch. I don't doubt my ability to "make the right call", I just don't care to put myself in that scenario in the first place. I've spent far too many hours searching for lost pilot friends and their airplanes. Almost always a day or two later in beautiful weather. Always seems the funeral is on a nice day after one of those. Tom

I flew back the the U.P. once in my F model from the Denver area in just under 6 hours (the "speed" thing, right). My wife says when we get out of the plane "if we are going to do this again, let me know. It's no longer fun and I will go airline". To each their own, but I would rather make the trip fun, not a bloody "mission". I've had some really interesting fuel stops, the wife still loves to fly, my body likes getting out of the plane and stretching, and my 60 year old bladder really likes getting to a bathroom after 3-4 hours. If someone wants to brag about "beating my faster plane" over the whole trip, so be it. I'm a big boy and can handle the flack. Tom