aviatoreb

A very nicely written essay.

Quote: Mazerbase Interesting you should ask. I recently had what I thought was an alternator failure on my Rocket immediately after takeoff on a short 40 min flight. It turned out that it was an annunciator problem that kept popping the circuit breaker. However, I can tell you that the load, all lights and radios on since it was such a short flight and I wanted to see how fast things would deteriorate in severe VFR if it might ever happen in IMC, never dropped the voltage a single volt. I discussed adding a backup alternator and, at the end of the discussion, all felt the battery capacity was sufficient and there wasn't any room for a standby alternator anyway.

Quote: 74657 After 2.5 hours of flying this past week in my Missile with the field breaker pulled the voltage readout was 24.6 volts. We were running VFR in the daytime. All avionics were on. I don't think you'll have any issues........

Hi Folks, I am interested to hear what the Mooney brain trust has to say. I have a new to me M20K Rocket - a 1981 former 231. So it has one alternator. My normal reaction is to think about getting a backup alternator for dual alternator reliability. But rocket has dual 35amp batteries which is a lot of backup juice right there if there were an alternator failure. So now I am leaning to just go with that battery situation as enough backup right there by Darwin's design. BTW, how long do you folks think those batteries would last in a pinch - obviously the exact load and load shed - but go ahead and guess. Thanks!

Quote: fantom For those of you that don't have one: http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11644888&cm_mmc=BCEmail_653-_-FOCUS-_-18-_-MarketingItemName I'm sure you can get the same price elsewhere, and they are interesting, even at lower altitudes.

Quote: Mazerbase

Quote: danb35 Not to criticize, but why are you flying an Acclaim so low? It seems you aren't going to see any real benefit to the turbos unless you fly higher than that.

Quote: Mazerbase With respect to cabin width, Plane & Pilot magazine shows a 1988 M20K has a cabin width of 43.5 in and height of 44.5 while an A36 Bonanza, year not specified, has a cabin width of 42 in and height of 50. Goes to show what conventional wisdom is worth.

Quote: bd32322 aviatorweb - i looked up the ntsb database again - for a 10 year and 40 year period back from now - I see 7 lancair IV-P accidents and 1 Lancair IV accident - 3 of them were non-fatal. There are none for the Lanciar ES - which is now the certified cessna 400 and former columbia 300/350 and has a much lower stall speed than the IV-P. You can check the data here: http://www.ntsb.gov/aviationquery/index.aspx So really the only reasons I did not go with Lancair is: 1) money 2) too lazy to build a plane for 5-7 years 3) I am wary of buying a homebuilt that is built by another person - you dont know who has used what technique in building it.

Quote: KLRDMD

Quote: KLRDMD Miles Flown: A36 48,000 NM Baron 45,000 NM Block to block fuel burn: A36 20 GPH Baron 22.4 GPH Block to block average groundspeed: A36 162Kts Baron 167 Kts Cruise airspeed: A36 200 KTAS Baron 175 KTAS

Quote: Mazerbase The Lancair is fast and sexy. That's for sure. The problem is they seem to be particularly dangerous. It is a small sample since there are so few of them but I looked into the IVP. The fatality rate was ridiculous. It may be just the usual under-prepared pilot in over his head but there were so many diverse causes I had to just write it off.

Quote: GTWreck The RV-10 has 4 seats and will do around 165-170 kts. And they're typically far less expensive for a similar vintage production aircraft of the same performance. The RV-10 is a real world 4 adult plus full fuel and bags kind of plane.

Quote: KLRDMD I used to have a Bravo In the Bravo, at 17,500 ft I got 195 KTAS at 19.5 GPH. In the Baron at 8,500 ft I'll get 180 KTAS at 22 GPH (I can burn a LOT more gas and go a bit faster if I choose). With the Bravo, full fuel, full TKS, a weekend bag and me and I was at gross. In the Baron I have 1,778 lb useful load. Overall, I think the Baron suits me well at this point in my flying.

Thank you for the help and recommendations folks. For a little post-script. I called autopilot central and they seemed convinced that with my symptoms and given the model AP I have, that most likely it was simply the roll servo. I had my local AP/IA remove and mail in the servo. They bench tested and found a good deal wrong with it. Capacitors were "old style" and leaking. Gears were brass, chewed up and there was brass dust all over the interior. So long story short, it was mucked-up. So a servo major overhaul and the diagnosis and testing all said and done was $3400. Not cheap. I was hoping that at least it would fix it. It seems to have done the trick. We got it back in yesterday and I test flew it today. The KFC200 AP was rock solid. Yay. I hope it holds.

I was looking very closely at a V35B before I ended up buying my Mooney Rocket. We have 3 kids and I liked the idea of flying with all hands on board, but like you, of my 125hrs a year probably 95% of my flying is with just me, or me and a co-pilot (often one of my boys is co-pilot though) on board. Another requirement was the possibility of at least an inadvertent tks system. Well, sitting in the V35B settled the issue very quickly. I was very surprised to be very very uncomfortable given Bonanza's reputation of being a big airplane. I am 6'4'' and the leg room was poor. Head room is amazing - I could wear a 10 gallon texas hat if I were so inclined. In fact, that v-bar was such that with my legs as they were standing tall since leg extension is poor, the knees are up high and as such the v-bar knocks my knees severely completely eliminating full deflection. I could try to scooch my knee out of the way, but not at the same time as keeping it on the rudder - meaning a full slip deflection is all but impossible. So that was it for Bonanza with me. Besides that....they are wonderful planes and there is absolutely nothing wrong with a Bonanza if it fits your mission and your body. Well, on the other end of the scale - the so-called small Mooney - is very very comfortable for me. My legs sit well forward like sitting low in a sports car like a Porche. This is the first airplane I have been in where I do not want to keep the seat full back. I have it one notch away from full back as full back is too much! Even the big Cessna 414 I am sometimes co-pilot in does not have leg room like that. You know what they say, Al Mooney was 6'5'' and he built himself an airplane. I think it is true! I have never been so comfortable in an airplane. Quite sufficient head room. Shoulder room is fine. Leg room is fabulous. And the performance of any Mooney, and esp my new to me Mooney Rocket, I feel giddy for the rest of the day every time I fly it. I am still feeling giddy today from flying yesterday! So I gave up that 5% of the time mission entirely. It is really both the economical and the sensible way not to compromise the 95% of the time mission for 5% of the time. That is only maybe 2 or 3 flights a year. In fact one of those "flights" will be next weekend. We will drive the ol' mini-van 7 hrs to a family reunion, and I know that at about hour 5, with the kids saying "are we there yet" and I am thinking the same thing, and stuck at a toll both line - I will be dreaming about my head at 12000ft on a quick <1.5 hrs jaunt of utter fun instead.

Quote: sleepingsquirrel I flip mine over on the tie down every 15 minutes to insure even heating.

Has anyone here tried the simpler "scuff and paint" to touch up a paint job that fits that bill - still sticking well but lost its new shine.

Quote: RJBrown Cooling was never an issue with the 1980 231/Rocket I flew for 1000 hours. Yes the cowl flaps are impossible to move at speed. Full open before you start the roll. Climb fast like a turbine and close them as you level off and before you accelerate. Set up properly the flaps never fully close. They are "in trail" when closed. I have climbed directly to 26,000 still over 1500 FPM with no heating issues. The change from the 231 to the Rocket was amazing. The 231 never cooled well, the Rocket never ran hot. The metal angles at the cable attach is bent sheet metal. It is too light for the job. It can bend so far you will go way over center on the mechanism when you open the flaps and you will be unable to close them at all. Wide open they really cost you speed. I got used to checking the shape of those parts regularly. To stay open with the wind they need to be just a touch over center. As you push they open a bit before they close. Too far over center and they are hard to close, way too far over center and they won't close. Trying to open and close at speed bends these parts. This is something that you as the pilot need to understand and adjust. I thought of machining a block of aluminum to replace the piece that bends but never did. With the flaps in trail you can cruise climb without over heating. If center gives a climb of 2000 ft you can just trade speed for altitude and zoom climb. Before you get too slow or raise the temps you are 2000 ft higher.

Quote: Mazerbase The cooling, and the cowl flaps, are more important above 16,000 ft. My high altitude climbs usually include a reduced climb above 16,000, say 600 ft/min from there on, and an occasional respite at that altitude for a few miles and then resumption of the climb. Also, my ambient temperature in FL is probably higher than yours. Do you have a picture of your cowl flap actuator?

Quote: robert14 I found my max altitude one evening during a practice IFR flight, at night, at 10,000 ft. After an hour of hooded flight, I began having trouble maintaining my altitude and heading. My instructor began nagging me. His nagging did not help. I struggled for about 10 minutes trying to maintain heading and altitude while blaming it on the weather. It only got worse. Then, my fingers starting starting tingling. I realized at that moment that I was experiencing hypoxia. I alerted my instructor who took over and immediately requested ATC permission for a quick descent to MEA, 6000 ft at the time. My symptoms continued to grow worse during the descent with general weakness, sweating, tingling fingers, and nausea. As we approached 6000 ft, the symptoms quickly went away and I resumed the flight as POC. I was lucky I had an instructor with me. My doctor claims that your max altitude and time at altitude are a function of your health and age. I am healthy and 64. I now use the O2D2 requlator and an O2 bottle strapped to the back of my seat whenever I fly above 6000 ft.

Quote: Mazerbase Well, here is a picture of the new manual cowl flap control. Works great on the ground. Unfortunately, not so good in the air. The manuals mention the need to close the flap as you arrive at altitude as the air flow tends to pull the flap open and the manual is right because I can't seem to pull this closed in flight. I tried slowing down to about 120 kts but that didn't help either. The installer is aware of the problem but doesn't have a ready answer yet. If anyone knows any easy answers, I'd appreciate it.

Quote: JimR Speaking of "Dick" - I read last year I think, that Richard Collins who no longer flies as much IFR as he used to now feels he needs to practice in order to stay current. He states that in order to feel current he must do his 6 approaches, etc at least once a month, and also across several airports to practice the whole system, and enroute phase etc. I think he is quite right that the every 6 months system of the FAA currency is just that, legal mins and not a good idea to get that low. Since I read Collin's advice, I have taken his advice to heart and I try to keep up with one training flight per month in which I tour around with a safety pilot doing 6 approaches, holds, enroute and all to keep extra current. Since I fly very little actual IMC, maybe once every two months at most, then that doesn't figure into my own self assessment as to if I don't need to do the Collin's method.

That's BEAUTIFUL!

Quote: jezzie What is involved? Do you take the gear off entirely and send it to a powder coat shop?