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FloridaMan

By FloridaMan
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FloridaMan Grand Master

FloridaMan

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I find that I'm not flying as many hours with the Rocket as I did with the M20F; I attribute it to my trips taking less time. I think ATC sees my speed and prioritizes based on that. I've had a King Air get relegated to #2 "behind a Mooney" and heard an "excuse me..." from the King Air driver. Then, there's the time an MD88 was called as #2 at Key West and says some smart-ass comment. I was at the FBO and out of the plane before he landed. Then there was the time that ATC verified that I wasn't a twin on departure. 

 

 

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aviatoreb Grand Master

aviatoreb

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2 hours ago, FloridaMan said:

I find that I'm not flying as many hours with the Rocket as I did with the M20F; I attribute it to my trips taking less time. I think ATC sees my speed and prioritizes based on that. I've had a King Air get relegated to #2 "behind a Mooney" and heard an "excuse me..." from the King Air driver. Then, there's the time an MD88 was called as #2 at Key West and says some smart-ass comment. I was at the FBO and out of the plane before he landed. Then there was the time that ATC verified that I wasn't a twin on departure. 

 

 

I upgraded from a Diamond DA40 to my current rocket just over 10 years ago.  A DA40 is comparable in speed to an M20F.  Maybe a tad slower.  I found the same - my hours dropped noticeably that next year even though I was largely doing the same trips and the same number of trips - I was just going faster and also sometimes getting more expedited routing. Go Rocket!

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FloridaMan Grand Master

FloridaMan

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My m20f is quite a bit faster than any DA-40 I’d flown, but that’s with LoPresti mods and the extra couple inches of mp the ram air gives me. I tell people that Diamonds are the perfect trainers for Mooney pilots in how they require pilots to be on top of their air speeds. 

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PJClark Proficient

PJClark

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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

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FloridaMan Grand Master

FloridaMan

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5 hours ago, PJClark said:

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

So are you saying the gamis were worth it? Do you have fine wires? If my plugs look like footballs this annual, I'll replace with fine wires. I'm not seeing the efficiency that other rocket owners are seeing. I'm in Florida, so I don't expect to see the numbers that someone in the midwest on cold days, but my fuel consumption has been going up since new plugs last annual. 

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aviatoreb Grand Master

aviatoreb

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8 hours ago, FloridaMan said:

So are you saying the gamis were worth it? Do you have fine wires? If my plugs look like footballs this annual, I'll replace with fine wires. I'm not seeing the efficiency that other rocket owners are seeing. I'm in Florida, so I don't expect to see the numbers that someone in the midwest on cold days, but my fuel consumption has been going up since new plugs last annual. 

I have fine wires - I really like them.  Seems like its just a tad smoother, burns a tad less fuel and EGT's are a tad cooler.

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PJClark Proficient

PJClark

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@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.

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Seth Grand Master

Seth

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My jump from my M20F to my Missile was the same.  Less hours despite similar trips and destinations - it just shaves enroute time off.  Also faster time to climb and hit faster cruise speed earlier.

As for the plugs - yes, I switched to Tempest Fine Wire plugs in 2017 and it made a difference.  Smoother engine and smooth LOP ops where before I could tell we were running LOP just by feel.  Didn't do it often until after the fine wire plugs. 

But my Missile is normally aspirated, not turbo.  Eric flew my Missile a few times and he says its erily similar before 8000-10000 feet as the rocket, maybe even a tad faster below 8000, climb is very similar.

Of course, I rarely fly higher than 11,000, thus it was the right match for me.

 

-Seth

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