rocketman

Funny you should bring flying a low approach up today. After a 2 1/2 hour flight in IFR conditions today, I flew a LNAV approach in low clouds to minimums, and did two missed approaches. No matter how much you practice, when the real thing hits, you feel as though you never could practice enough.

Excellent piloting. Excellent execution. Excellent video production. How else can I spell EXCELLENT! I am impressed.

I have an intermittent noise in my 1980 Rocket that sounds like a warning horn that comes from the panel somewhere only when the elevator trim is engaged. When this sound occurs it can be stopped by turning off the elevator trim switch again, it comes and goes and can last from minutes to an hour. Sometimes it begans when first starting the engine and engaging the elevator trim switch and other times will began after a half hour or so into the flight. It can always be stopped with the trim switch pushed to off. The noise can occur with the engine running in flight or with it off. Every time I try to demonstrate it to my mechanic, the gremlin hides itself and cannot be duplicated. (Don't you hate that!). The noise is not heard through the headsets. It seems to have started about the time my GTN750 was installed but probably has nothing to do with it. The noise is not the same as the stall indicator noise. Maybe it could be the same as the gear warning sound but I have not heard that sound since I was not around the gear retract test during the last annual (I know I should be). Any ideas? Thanks Ron Dubin

Love the plane! No real issues with the flight characteristics, comfortable, excellent climb performance, no heating issues, TBO to 2000 a real number, and did forget to say comfortable. The only issue is that it is so heavy that if you have an even slight elevation in front of your hanger, it is very tough to hand push it into it.

Call LASER. They have an STC for this. Had the same problem with my Rocket and although the fix is not cheap, its well worth it. Flying with a pulling tendency is dangerous, especially in a crosswind.

I would suggest looking for some common element to your myraid of problems, like maybe a loose ground wire

Is there any good web site that gives approximate hours of shop time for labor to do certain repairs on a Mooney? I just had my alternator replaced in my 201 and was charged 5 hours for labor. Seems excessive to me. It was replaced with a new alternator, simple and straightforward.

When you provide the best of all worlds, speed, performance, quality, safety, American made, working factory with support, style, sex appeal, uniqueness, strength, numerous available mods and upgrades, laminar flow wing, tubular structure, push pull rods for control surfaces, what's there not to hold their resale value!!! Forgot to mention Texas Pride too.

First of all Aviation consumers report was very unscientific and very subjective of a few peoples experience. If they tried publishing their reports in a peer reviewed journal they would be laughed at and ignored. Do not take their word as gospel. Nobody reviews their results but themselves. This would never pass mustard in medical journals. I did try the Bose A20 and the PFX At Oshkosh. Both sounded good. Both fit well. The light speed has a larger control box because the unit is much bigger than a simple Bose switch. The best comparison to the two boxes is like the earlier cell phones to the current smart phones. The light speed has better control thru an apple app, has better sound quality, has improved capability, and light speed can and will update new software thru the app. I bought the light speed today after buying 3 earlier bose including the a20, a10 and the first version. Both are good units. Bose just needs to come up to the modern technological advances. As far as aviation consumer I subscribe to it, read it and enjoy it. But like many medical journal articles I read I critique the study, and discard the ones that don't have the foundation to support the conclusions. Aviation consumer should try to be a bit more scientific then taking a few people flying a few headsets in a few airplanes and drawing conclusions from it.

Great food. Great company Great conversations. Great airshow. Great weather. Great airplane. My mooney brought this all to me Thanks Jolene

I see 17.1 GPH on takeoff in my 1982 201. Full rich to about 8,000 ft. I don't mind consuming fuel, like cool cylinders, and no chance of detonation. Maybe too rich, but ...well, it works for me! 1750 TTSN and all graphs, gauges, temps, compressions, and performance numbers are well in the green.

I think it might have to do with the ability for Phillips to stick to the metal parts longer than synthetic or semi synthetic oils. I remember this argument sometime ago when ExxonElite was debated with Phillips XC. In any event, there is no right answer since we will all disagree. Nor is there probably any convincing real studies touting the benefits of one oil over another, sans the oil manufacturing companies themselves.

The Dugosh story was reported in the current issue of the MAPA Log

Wonderful Video. Makes me want to go out and buy my 4th Mooney!

Rocket Engineering is still in business and has excellent support. Still has parts available. I replaced my entire exhaust system a few year ago which they had several systems on the shelf. They can make most any part necessary specific to the Rocket if necessary.

I own a Bravo and Rocket - similar but yet different planes. Your question depends on their upkeep, maintenance, hours, corrosion, history, avionics, previous accidents, etc. Its tough to compare apples to oranges but in reality they are fairly similar planes compared to my 201. Both have fairly complex turbochargers but both dependable with good maintenance histories. They both burn about the same fuel flow per HP but the rocket goes a little faster since its a smaller plane. Honestly, the Rocket is a very fun plane to fly, kind of like driving a NASCAR while the Bravo is like driving a supercharged Suburban. Both will get you there in short order but their different in acceleration, speed and performance. As far as budgeting for future upkeep, costs and maintenance, thats a variable that nobody can answer her since it depends on the condition of the plane you are buying, Given everything being equal, I would think that your variables you mention would be about equal as well. As far as the 252, I never owned one so I am not help there.

Let me check with my wife on plans that weekend. I live just an hour or so from M33. Looking at their web site, looks like it will be a fun event and educational with Wings Program. I am in for anything that fosters safe flying and promoting aviation to our youth. And of course being able to display the finest aircraft made in the world. Ron Dubin

I have hangars for all of my planes. It's a necessity cost for mooney ownership

Make sure the spinner is on tight!

Interesting topic since I am half way through the 30 day demo period for both Foreflight and Garmin Pilot. HAve not made up my mind yet either Positive for Garmin - AHRS and ability to preflight with winds aloft calculating best altitudes. Positive for Foreflight - Being able to transpose the approach plate on the map. Things to consider - Company support. Garmin has always been great to call but I have not had to call Foreflight yet. Also the market is heating up for these portable units. Just look at the first five pages or so of Sport's magazine I got in the mail yesterday. So, I fully expect to see some really big changes in the next few weeks at the Sun-n-Fun fly in. So I will not purchase anything until I check that out. Also, I use regularly use the Garmin 796. The hardware is a better platform than the iPad, more stable, and really I feel a lot more comfortable shooting a GPS approach in an aviation grade unit than an iPad and the other units. JMHO One recommendation for both Foreflight and Pilot - larger buttons for ease of use in turbulence. Keep the smaller sizes for preflighting and the larger buttons for flight. Their missions and environments are different and so should the software presentation. See you at Sun-n-Fun

Congratulations Mike - you deserve this award for all the hard work you put into helping your students. As a Mooney specific instructor, we are most fortunate to have you amongst our breed. I am glad you will continue doing this for as long as you can. I'll tell you what, I'll continue running marathons for as long as you will continue Mooney instructing.

From what I understand Rocket Engineering still have the STC for the Rocket Conversion and be willing to convert a 231 or 252 for a price to reflect a one time conversion. They still support the Rocket and Missile and still have all the parts .... for a cost. At least they are still there and will be in the foreseeable future

I would not necessarily contribute Omega -3 1000mg TID as a sole contributing factor to such a significant weight loss. If you are having bowel changes with this weight loss, see your physician to be sure everything is OK.

Jose' - If its not unusual to have some engine roughness with the boost pump on low RPM, is there anything I should be worried about using the boost pump during landing when the RPM's are 1000 or less? After all, the POH does call for the electric fuel pump to be turned on during al landings.

The other day right after a proper preflight check, I turned the boost pump on in preparation for takeoff in my 1994 Bravo and noticed engine roughness and sputtering at 1000 RPM. Turning off the boost pump eliminated this problem. I taxied back to the apron and tried this several other times which the engine continued to run rough only with the boost pump on. I attribute this to flooding the engine with excess fuel. I then shut the engine off and restarted it 10 minutes later and the problem went away. I reattempted duplicating the problem with the boost pump at various RPM's, even going through the same conditions on engine preflight checks to try to duplicate this condition but could not. I then flew the plane and everything was prefect. My rocker switch never experienced so much of my fingerprints for a 30 minute flight so now this intermittent problem cannot be duplicated. Any thoughts on why this condition existed and what do I do now to check where the problem might be.