PJClark

hey how do you do that map thing in your signature?

I'll send him a note. My yokes are already done by AC, previous owner. But I like those center medallions. I'll ask if they're retro-fittable. Thx! Happy New Year!

Awesome @AvianaMehrdad!

How do they attach? Magnets?

Hey @gsxrpilot where'd you get those cool embroidered logos at the center of your yokes? Hector at Aero Comfort?

32 hours, but just bought it end of May, paint shop June-Aug and Avionics shop Aug-Oct

GTX345R installed with whole panel upgrade this fall

This? :-)

FWIW I love my Rocket..it's an '86 252. I just got back home from an 80-miles-each-way trip to drop my son's girlfriend off near Columbus OH for Christmas. At 65% power, 30" Hg, 2200 rpm, LOP at 13.4 gph, 6500 MLS, 168 KTAS. Not quite as efficient as a J but... 15 years ago I owned a '78 J. Good airplane, had most of the available speed mods on it. It would do 162 KTAS at 75% power on about 11.5 gph to keep CHTs cool. But it started to slow down above 9000 MSL. I think my Rocket with the same power settings as above will do at least 185 KTAS at 12,000 MSL and keep going faster the higher I take it, on same loafing power setting and same ff. I have a 920# UL. There are 2 231 conversions for sale right now that have 1040# and 1133# respectively. Dont believe the horror stories about Rocket UL! It's not possible those airplanes are 110# and 210# lighter than mine...one of our empty weights is wrong, probably mine. But the Rocket will yank theirs off the runway at 1650 fpm just like mine...dont worry about UL in a Rocket (I won't load over gross...but gross doesn't worry me) Back to your original question: "upgrade or spend?" I discovered I could buy this really clean Rocket with 200 hours on a Victor Black premium overhaul, strip to bare metal and repaint, have new leather interior by aero comfort, and re-do all the avionics with G3X touch and all the other stuff and it would cost me less than a G1 SR22 that would still have had it's old avionics in it...no SV, no WAAS, no ADSB out. You can do some cool stuff with great raw material. If you're really hankering for upgrade...thing is you can probably do that AND spend by financing the upgrades as part of the purchase. Second choice: Bravo!

@Ah-1 Cobra Pilot any luck yet with your computers? Or by chance have a Pitot Heat switch cover laying around? Mine finally fell off on Friday Merry Christmas all!

@FloridaMan GAMIs are worth it. It went into the shop because the idle mixture was too rich (had to fiddle with mixture too much in the pattern to keep it from dying), #5 was too hot, and as an artifact I was having to run about 19 gph at 65% to keep it under 380F. Also, it would not run LOP at all-roughness as first cylinder peaked. I had fine wires in there. GAMIs in, fuel adjusted, new baffle seals, mechanic said the fine wires were near "end of life" so he put in new massives. I'm not sure that can be true with 200 hours on the Victor Black overhaul and plugs, and I have the fine wires in a box. Will take them with me to DMax for annual in March and have him look at them-if they can go back in they may. I can now run LOP though, waiting for GAMI analysis--I think I can decrease CHT on #5 by swapping with #1.

Ah, God Bless all Rocket Drivers! A thread for men (and women!) who get joy from a simple thing: speed. N305PJ was in the shop for fuel system setup for almost 3 weeks, but I got TurboGamis installed while I was at is. A quick jaunt today from I68 home base up to KLHQ near Columbus to pick up my son and his girlfriend for Christmas. 3 of us in the plane, about 70 lbs of baggage and 60 gallons of gas and I had 90 lbs of UL to spare. Climbing out of KLHQ thus loaded on the homeward leg at climb power of 35 in and 2500 rpm I'm climbing a little over 1500 fpm. Level off at 6500' for the 70 mile flight, throttle back to 65% power at 30" and 2200 17 gph, right up to 178 KTAS. Smooth as a turbine, quiet and comfy. Back seater had plenty of legroom even though she's about 5'9". A machine Santa could get very jealous of! Merry Christmas to all and thank you Rocket Engineering and Mooney! :-) PJ

@Kris_Adams FWIW, that's my panel @MIm20c posted above. the GMC507 controller where you see it is about perfect for me--easy reach for my right hand, easy to see everything. I put two switches to the right of the controller for easy reach: Prime and Low Boost. The rest are pretty much in their original M20K locations, minus the pitch trim switch (eliminated by GFC500) and one other I can't recall was also redundant after my install. I use the heading knob on the GMC507 to move the heading bug on the G3X--completely natural, no craning of the neck, easy to see everything. I select AP modes generally on the controller by touching the buttons, although you can also do it on the G3X by touching the autopilot bar above the PFD...that opens a window and all the buttons on the GMC are there on the right half of the g3X screen--touch and you're done. I tend to use the up/down button after selecting VS to set the Vertical Speed bug for descent. Not deliberate, I'm just doing what seems to have come naturally--I have about 20 hours behind the panel as of end of flying today. Good luck with your layout...mine works great for me, has created natural habit patterns! feel free to PM if you have questions about the whole setup: it's awesome, you're gonna love it. PJ

Thanks. Rocket didn't seem to be able to send me any drawings of seals with unique shapes. So new ones have been locally fabricated and installed using the blue material Thanks for grabbing GEE BEE for me.

Good question. In summer 2018 I started flying Cirri. Dec 2018 finally finished the whole SR22 instrument course...all behind the Avidyne system. I wanted to see how hard it'd be since all my 3000 hours are with round dials in USAF pointy nosed machines...and I never liked the HUD for anything but killing stuff. But...the transition is easy. Very intuitive, the scan contracts to a very small space. You'll love it. I guess to be fair: I have about 10 hours with this new panel, I just picked it up and flew it away from the shop on 1 Nov. I haven't yet hand flown an entire approach.

And there you have it!

@thomas1142 looking a little more closely at your layout. Is the panel in your J the same size and shape as in my 86 K? If that's correct, you may find you've got the G3x and/or G5 not to scale in your drawing. Here's a pic of my whole panel minus glareshield. I think you may not have room to offset the G3X to the right as you have it shown and still get the G5 between that and the gear handle and radio stack. Ditto for EDM900. Hope this helps.

you actually can get the second G3x with its own ADHRS, but it still can't be the backup instrument. I tried and failed to make that happen. Has to be a G5. But the G5 is pretty amazing with G3x and GFC500. If the G3X fails, the G5 takes over...and still drives the GFC500. All the modes you've already selected for the autopilot, for your approach or whatever, remain selected and the machine just keeps flying. G5 displays both course deviation and glidepath/glideslope. You can switch it to run from GPS/Nav 1 to GPS/Nav 2 in case of a failure. If your only GNS/GTN fails, or both of them fail--well, G3x has its own GPS and its own database with all the approaches in there. It is not certified for flying an approach. But if both my navigators have failed, I'm declaring an emergency (or if both radios went with both navigators, I'm squawking 7700/7600), and I fly what I can fly. The entire system is very, very slick. Backups all over the place, long before you have to go to your iPad. OBTW, G3X has Connext, so you BT your tablet running Garmin Pilot to the G3x--upload flight plans, they go to G3x and direct to GTN. Change flight plan on either G3x or on GTN-- GP asks you if you want to update the FP on your iPad. I also have a GTX345R--which has its own BT if you want just weather, traffic, and attitude to your tablet but not flight plans. I use both BT's with two different tablets in the cockpit. You've chosen wisely. also--tough to see in this photo, but my GMC507 autopilot control head is mounted below the EDM900. Great place for it, easy to reach all the buttons. I find I use the heading knob on GMC507 to move the heading bug on G3X instead of the G3X left knob (which would need my left hand). I find I change altimeter settings on the G5--a natural move for my right hand, and it changes it on G3X too. you're gonna love it.

Your plan is brilliant!

@Ah-1 Cobra Pilot awesome thanks!

@Ah-1 Cobra Pilot are you still making these? my Pitot Heat rocker has gone all wobbly. I could use BOOST PITOT LDG NAV STROBE ROT PUMP HEAT LITE LITE LITE BCN Thanks I sent you a PM PJ

here's mine in case anyone still wants examples

hey is @GEE-BEE still here? I may need new baffle seals for an 86 Rocket Conversion. PJ

Actually...disregard the Bob Cabe bit. He didn't suggest that move, I was thinking of something else. But still...don't do that with a GFC500!

Way long ago I was a EE student at Auburn and my specialty was control theory. Based on what Ive seen so far in IAS mode I think they have a pole in the control laws (a place where they get divergent feedback instead of damped) I suspect they'll figure it out as they get more installs. Another surprise...flying an LPV approach this afternoon I decided to take Bob Cabe`s advice and use full flaps to make the start down the GP. Don't do that! I think flap driven nose down pitch change exceeded AP`s ability to compensate. BIG pitch down. I punched off AP and hand flew rest of the approach. No more config changes for me until committed to landing!