SkepticalJohn

When I got mine, stock Rocket setup, I'm not sure how the previous guy was keeping it in CG. Having only two folks (350# total) in the fronts seat, required the full stack of Charlie weights in the tail and 100 pounds in the baggage to be in CG (I found camping water bags worked well for ballast - easy to fill when needed, empty on ramp when not) . I had the plane rebuilt and changed a lot of things - vacuum system delete, prop, avionics, etc... after rebuild I was able to delete all of the lead weights and quit carrying around ballast in the baggage. Most of the change was attributed to the prop, but they all helped a little. You can get an idea of what your change would be by doing a regular W+B and subtracting 37lbs (someone please help confirm the difference in sock vs MT) at the station of the prop. John

Similar smoothness experience here - the mechanic got mine dynamically balanced (ie: installed on a running engine producing 100% power) within .02 ips. Coincidentally, .02 was the same target we used to seek, balancing the props on a King Air 200 I used to fly. The MT 4-blade is literally turboprop-smooth. John

The front of my 4-bladed MT is gray with white stripes, the back (facing the cockpit) is black. I've had no issues with paint.

My situation is similar, I rarely use reverse. But when I do use it, it's either needed or it adds another safety option. If there were a slippery runway, brake failure (one or both), or running out of a runway that should've been long enough - it'd be nice to push a button and get 310 hp of stopping power. As long as someone doesn't use it like some Cirrus folks uses their parachutes, to get somewhere they have no business being, it's a great option to have. Not sure where the 9k or 10k folks are quoting for the MT with reverse. Mine, prop ready for my mech to install, complete with field approval, governor, shipping from Germany, was (going from memory) 32.7k. Maybe a 9k add-on to the regular MT 4 blade composite. John

Thanks, sir. Acorn Welding is indeed the company we used.

MT fixed that flaw years ago. My Mooney's reverse has several lockouts to prevent something like this happening. 3 criteria have to be met before the lock moves and it'll go into beta: Squat switch indicates on the ground, 1400 max engine RPM, 50 knots IAS. When those are met AND you press the reverse button, only then will it go into reverse.

On the jet I fly at work, I'd agree. When it comes to a Mooney Rocket, I couldn't disagree more. Per MT, I have the only Mooney with reverse. My plane will leave the ground on takeoff in ~1,000 ft ground roll. It will not land that short even with my reverse.

Note on the engine mount: there's a Canadian company that has a jig for the Rocket - at least they did have. Their name escapes me, but I can look it up in my receipts if anyone needs it. The way they got a jig... My mount needed some work when I had an engine overhaul completed. I couldn't find anyone with a jig and Rocket was less than helpful. I sent my mount to this Canadian company, had them make a jig from my mount, and repair my mount. It cost me quite a few AMUs to have them create the jig, so I'm assuming they kept it. Also of note: mine was a 252 converted to 305. Being a 1983, yours would've been a 231. I'll make no claim that the 231 conversion has the same mount. The Lord vibration isolation mounts recommended by Mr Stallings (referenced in an above post) have been flawless. John

Turks and Caicos. Anyone flown their Mooney there? Pointers for filing/flying into, places to stay/visit/avoid, gotchas, pointers for filing and return to the states? Also, we're looking to make this trip and staying all of next week. Before it's mentioned... yes the Bahamas are closer, we've been there a bunch(pre-covid), its beautiful, easy and we love it there. We don't like the face mask requirement and are speaking with our wallet while looking to literally expand our horizons. Thank you, John

Just renewed the Rocket insurance, down ~$50 from last year. Same coverage, still similar ratings and ~8k total hours in just over 28 years, obviously a year older @ 43. Hopefully next year is similar.

The changes I've noticed going from the original Rocket 3-blade to 4 was the smoothness, weight loss and reverse thrust. The 3 was smooth but the 4 is like silk. The mechanic balanced it to 0.02 ips - which is similar to turboprop smoothness. The plane lost ~35lbs with the composite 4-blade. Right where it needs weight-loss, on the nose. I haven't found any penalties - except cost. But if you're looking at the same price for each... If I had to do it again, even with the increased cost, I'd still pick the 4-blade MT composite.

Sorry for the long delay. Integrity Aviation in Kissimmee, FL (KISM) took my Rocket almost entirely apart and rebuilt everything. Zero squawks from the first day after assembly. John is super smart, has unshakable integrity and is experienced with the Rocket. I'd highly recommend him.

They gave me the option when i had them build my 4-blade. MT said they could make it with or without FIKI.

Speaking of tugs... in the 444 days it took to the mechanics to rebuild this plane, I built a pretty handy tug I've been planning on doing a writeup on.

One of the aircraft I fly at my military job has reverse - C12 (king air 200). Their (CAE, because flightsafety lost the contract) brief was no reverse below 40 kts, to include no backing up. They said if you DO use it to back up, don't hit the brakes or you'll slam the tail on the ground. That critter sets pretty high on long landing gear. I haven't used the brakes yet, backing up in the Rocket. It sets pretty low to the ground and I think it'd take some aggressive braking to drop the tail. I don't plan on testing that. Mike Patey used his reverse to put his plane, Draco, in the hangar. I'll use my tug and not test that either. If any of y'all are headed to SUN-n-FUN, my Mrs and I plan on being there a couple days and would like to put faces with names.

There are 4 safeties to prevent accidental reverse: - a mechanical lockout in the hub that unlocks <1400 RPM - an airspeed sensor, MT included, that disables reverse above 60 knots. - a "reverse arm switch" on the left side of the panel, beneath the G5. - a trigger on the pilot's yoke to activate reverse. Otherwise, the cockpit controls are the same as every other 252/Rocket - same throttle, prop and mixture knobs. The procedure is, arm the panel mounted switch before landing, after landing and the nosegear is on the ground, bring throttle below 1400 if it isn't already, squeeze the trigger on the yoke, prop flips to -14° pitch, use brakes and push throttle forward as far as needed to adjust the amount of reverse thrust (which feels weird to do after you just landed and don't intend to takeoff again), release trigger once slowed and taxi like every other aircraft.

My buddy just posted a video taken from one of his security cameras of the dead end taxiway 3 point turn I mentioned in my PIREP.

It doesn't go feather or low pitch, but rests against the high pitch stops when the oil pressure is off. Like this... 35lbs is the same weight savings I experienced over the stock Rocket prop/ spinner (both of which I still have of anyone is looking for them). So apparently our weights are similar. I don't remember if I told you, Erik, but your prop was the motivation I had for doing mine. Thanks for blazing that trail!

PIREP on the reserve thrust and 4-bladed prop on my Rocket: It's much more handy than I thought it'd be. There have already been three times where I fueled (self-serve) and some yayhoo pulled in the opposite direction, blocking me from pulling straight out. I fire up the aircraft, put it in reverse, and back out. There was another time, I taxied to my buddy's hangar home on a dead-end taxiway, did a three point turn at the end, and avoided having to pull the aircraft by hand. I landed in Tulsa at night and the tie down parking was almost full. I pulled up in front of the spot I wanted to park and backed her into the spot. All of those cases, I used my backup camera and looked out the windows to assure I didn't bump into anything. The original idea for that feature was to shorten landings. I don't know how much it shortens landings as I haven't done back to back landings for an apples to apples comparison yet. I can say, the prop slows the airplane down a bit faster than the brakes can. If you also use brakes AND revere during landing, it stops at a pretty high rate of giddieup. I'll try to do some comparisons when I get a chance for empirical data instead of seat of the pants, so more to follow. It seems to be one of those things you didn't know you wanted/needed until you have it. Here's a video of the first time I played with it. we all got out of the plane afterwards and had the same opinion, "that is soo handy, I can't believe that every plane doesn't have it!" I answered my previous question, on how to decowl the plane with the 4-bladed prop. Position the blades in an "x', not a "+", and as Erik mentioned before, drop it straight down straight down one side at a time on something soft like a blanket and drag it out to the side. There was a comment before to the effect, you need even multiple blades on your plane.. 2 blades for a 4 cylinder, 2 or 3 blades on a six cylinder. When the mechanic balanced this setup on the airplane, it came out at 0.02IPS. That's turboprop-like balance. My last plane (231 with 2 blades) was 0.2 IPS, balanced. This new prop on the Rocket is silky smooth.

They shipped $10 for one plate and $10 for the other 2 plates. Small flat rate box is the way to go with lead weights. Thanks for the suggestion.

There are three different plates. You add the number of plates you need. Sounds like at 13, you just need to add another plate. Once the extra plate is installed, you'll also need new bolts to hold out down (different length since the stack is taller). I just uninstalled all three plates and all of the bolts out of my plane (New 4-bladed prop and all new avionics changed my plane to where I no longer need them). I'll be ready to sell them this week if anyone is interested.

Ed, please send me a PM and we'll get one headed your way. I've had several folks asking about price. I'm not looking to get rich off of these or run some sort of side-business. The model I'm looking at: I'll send you the piece, you verify it fits, and send whatever it was worth to you (hopefully covering my time and expenses). If it doesn't fit or you don't like the piece for whatever reason, send it back and no money exchanged hands. Kind of an honor system designed to help fellow Mooney folks. For those interested in different aesthetics, I created another version that doesn't have the regular horizontal lines. This textured is available for all of the aforementioned pieces. If you want one, please just me know what part and if you'd like regular smooth 3d print (ie: horizontal lines, left object in picture) or textured print (right object in the picture).

Oh, I also made mounts for yoke switches and blanks to cover the hole in the top of the yoke, for the right yoke that doesn't have switches mounted to the top.

I just finished some "owner produced parts" for my 252/305 Rocket (designed on solidworks and printed on an Ender7 3D printer). I thought I'd check to see if there was any interest before I move on to my next project. These are obviously not PMA. You'd need your mechanic to sign them off as owner produced parts. Please PM me if you're interested...

Reviving an old post, but did anyone have any luck buying the round-window plastics? Thanks, John