FloridaMan

My M20F went up and the Rocket went down, so it’s pretty close to the total for last year.

You should’ve shut off the master and seen if the gauge went to zero. Not sure if it works the same as my old oil temp gauge in my m20f, but a poor connection in the gauge socket resulted in a high reading. Turning off the master showed it still reading and a firm press with my thumb reseated it and read where it should have.

I carry an EarthX booster pack and a plug-n-jump in my Rocket for emergency jump starts.

I had the engine quit in my F trying to “remain clear of the Bravo” while in a steep spiral with top rudder. I had an instructor tell me to always slip into the wind. I don’t do that. I slip with the wing I’m taking fuel from on top. I also have used slipping turns as well. And using top rudder and loading up the wing is how I managed to not bend metal when I had to put my m20f down in a field. Per the earlier quote in the thread, of course when the plane stalls in a slip it yaws towards the rudder and it’s why you use top rudder — it buys you some time to unfuck the situation as your plane rotates through the horizontal. In a slip, your fuselage shades a wing, so the forward wing has more airflow over it, both from the pressure hitting the side of the fuselage and the shading on the other wing. The forward wing has more lift. This is even more pronounced in swept wing fighters and RC aircraft that can bank with the rudder alone. Our planes bank a little with rudder alone because of this and that it is above the longitudinal axis of the airplane so it is vertically asymmetrical. When you stall uncoordinated, one wing stalls first. The forward CG pulls the nose down and accelerates the other wing, increasing that wing’s lift. If you stall the top wing first and immediately unload it, you might be able to recover before going inverted. If you stall with the bottom wing first (skid with bottom rudder), think about what happens. With all that said, I slip the F and use speed brakes with the rocket. My understanding of that Texas crash was that one of the two people was known for always wanting to make his spot on the runways. It’s presumed that the Mooney test Pilot was not the one controlling the airplane when it happened.

Rocket support is far better than Mooney.

I’m usually 15” on final and chop and drop to land. Short runways with obstacles here. 2800-3500ft.

Rocket was down for annual for a couple months and took about 20 gallons more than the totalizer indicated that I needed to fill up. I topped it off fully. A couple weeks later, I noticed the right tank was down a bit, so I topped it off again, to the rim on both tanks until the inboard started overflowing. It took 5 gallons. Landed. Verified full fuel. This was Friday. Now the right outboard tank is down again. There are no signs of dye anywhere outside of the airplane. Where could my fuel be going?

@shawnd well, I lucked out with my m20f because someone else jumped on the plane I was trying to buy. As for handling, it’s not the length, it’s the wing loading and CG. My Rocket feels like an Ovation and my M20F feels more like an RV. I’m guessing you’re out west and need a turbo to get above the thermals. I don’t know your level of experience; I consider the Rocket to be an airplane to transition into from something similar and slower. In terms of operation, I have to do less stuff than I do with the m20f because automation is there with the autopilot and better avionics. At the same time, things happen faster and it is a less stable airplane; I’m guessing because of the weight and CG. The one noticeable difference is that you have to push the M20F to accelerate while you’re in the yellow, and you have to consciously work to slow down when you’re approaching the runway threshold. The Rocket is the exact opposite. When you get into the yellow and are descending, she wants to accelerate towards Vne, and when you’re on approach and drop below around 90kias, you have to either have an uncomfortably steep approach or carry power. In the M20F, you can chop power on downwind and land where you want to.

Call Dan at LASAR and get the Hartzell spinner. As someone who ended up AOG and then twice more with getting used replacement bulkheads that lasted a few hundred hours each, trying to save money cost me lots of frustration and thousands more than just buying the damn replacement spinner that Hartzell sells that bolts to the hub. I did seem to lose a little bit of cooling as I think the new spinner allows air out through the front of the cowling. LASAR had the best prices. Seriously, don’t do what I did and try to replace the part with design flaws with another flawed part. Get the one from Hartzell and be done with it.

Supposedly 978 UAT anonymous mode is truly anonymous

Stuck Vernatherm? It does the same thing as the thermostat does for your car’s radiator, but for your oil cooler.

Fellow rocket owner here. I do it every 50 hours or four months. Your consumption sounds about right.

Says every job description from companies that don’t understand data.

I’ve flown into MIA a number of times. The airport fees aren’t bad, but Signature should be evicted from doing business in the USA. They charge us tolls for traveling from point to point in airports that are paid for by tax dollars, and the money goes to London. When it was Landmark just a few years ago, overnights were $10. Now they charge you $15 for a half day plus about $45 in other handling fees and bullshit.

Call these guys and they'll steer you where you should go: https://www.jaegeraviation.com/contact

Don’t sand. Get a harbor freight soda blaster and use that

I think you can still get it “to go”

http://skyaddictaviation.com/

Just thought I’d mention this. The shop that I use at KSPG has taken excellent care of me over the years. He did the R&R on my m20f’s engine, repaired fuel leaks, replaced two rivets in my Rocket tanks, R&R of my Rocket exhaust, installed my EDM-900, rearranged my panel, and has done all annuals for me since 2016. Annuals run around $1k before repairs and he’s extremely reasonable on rates.

I used to fly my F to Wichita when I contracted for Koch. Yingling is one of the best FBOs at a major airport I’ve ever dealt with. Are you now based at ICT or transient?

I’m guessing you’re turbonormalized? I envy the fuel burn you’re likely seeing at those speeds.

We just got an old 60 ton press at the shop to complement the big CNC machines. We were talking about how everyone seems to want to CNC or laser things these days where it only takes a few minutes to make a part. But with some of these other technologies, you can make parts in seconds. The worst misapplication of tech I think is the 3D printing of rocket engine nozzles. Those should be made using the process that you use for making O2 tanks. Instead of hours or days, those things could be produced as fast as you can say “KACHUNK”