How does your Rocket/Missile compare?

[aviatoreb]

Hello fellow Mooniacs.

 

Just a little update.  I have done some things to address my "pokey" Rocket.  

 

At annual ending at the beginning of early Feb, I 

-Had some antenna farming done.  In particular, a shockingly large ADF antenna was hiding on my belly doing nothing but adding drag.  That's gone.

-Had aileron gap seals added.

-Got some of the overlapping doors to replace my pre-overlapping doors.

 

 

I have not had a chance to do proper speed testing yet following that, but I can say its faster.  My impression was that this alone has added 3-4kts to speed.

 

Then I took it to Weber in PA where they addressed some rigging issues - it was not in perfect rig as it turns out, and yes it was flying with a slightly out of center ball in level flight.  Got it back from them on Friday.  I would guess that gave me another 3-4kts.  It was hard to say how much because it was an extremely bumpy flight home, so I kept pulling power back (trying to) slow down to be kind to the airframe.

 

Over all, I would say first impressions are that I am going 6-8kts faster than before.  Proper speed tests soon...  But that is putting me awfully close to Rocket book speeds, and that ain't too shabby!  Especially for an airframe with tks and vg's, and not the latest and greatest 252 style airplane - I have a 231 rocket.  

 

If I were to go all out with my credit card - I still have the "not smooth" belly and so also some needed antennas exposed on the belly rather than inside the belly - but I don't think I will address that since darn that smooth belly is expensive for a few knots.  Also, I still have the towel bar VOR antenna on the tail, but that too is going to stay.  Otherwise, I seem to have all the other latest speed mods.  And Weber confirmed that generally I have a nice and straight airframe.  Plus they were very complimentary that my firewall forward setup was especially smooth for a rocket - and she does just purr and oh so smooth.

 

Over all I am quite happy!  Thanks for the hints Mooneyspace!

[Seth]

That's great news Erik!!! I'm curious what your actual speed gain was once you test it.

[aviatoreb]

I timed a climb today - I always knew it was a good climber but I decided to time my climb to FL17 today.  Here is what I got:

10k in 6:57

15k in 10:43

17k in 12:?? but I missed the seconds.  Almost 13.

 

I was running 33'' 2500rpm which is a bit lower than the recommended 35'' 2500rpm 85% cruise climb - because I was in no hurry.

 

I was solo and started 13gal lighter than full fuel.  It was 18F on the ground.

 

Cylinders never topped 350CHT.  Cowl flaps closed (can only do long climbs with cowl flaps closed in the summer) and 120IAS - on a hot day, I won't climb for to the flight levels like this as I will increase the IAS to keep it cool.

[Awful_Charlie]

Nice set of figures Erik

 

I try to do a timed climb every year, but looking at my records see I missed last year. By recording the accurate weights and temperatures, and nailing the speed at best rate, it is one of the few tools to see if the engine performance is 'going off'. I tend to use the UK CAA test schedule, as I feel it's a good thing to do the full airtest periodically, even though it's not mandated any more - search for CAP1038 which is the full version with notes and worksheets

[aviatoreb]

Nice set of figures Erik

 

I try to do a timed climb every year, but looking at my records see I missed last year. By recording the accurate weights and temperatures, and nailing the speed at best rate, it is one of the few tools to see if the engine performance is 'going off'. I tend to use the UK CAA test schedule, as I feel it's a good thing to do the full airtest periodically, even though it's not mandated any more - search for CAP1038 which is the full version with notes and worksheets

 

Hi Awful.  (I love calling you that for a nickname for short…)

 

Actually, I wasn't initially planning to time it.  It was sort of an after thought.  I never timed before.  I should have!  I have a time since take off function on my Garmin aera 510 so somewhere passing through 7 or 8k I decided to see what was going on.

 

If I was making a proper climb test I should have been doing the official 85% cruise climb setting of 35'' 2500rpm.  Maybe tomorrow evening on return trip home.  I came to White Plains (the stop for NYC for a bit of work).

 

I am looking for the CAP1038 tables you suggested.  I like the reason you gave.

Cheers,

Erik