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Where do Rockets come from

Webb

Webb

Well Known Member
Sponsor
Just wondering.....where do Rockets come from??

Does it start with an existing plane and convert?
Does it start with a kit and go there?
What is involved and and at what expense?

Pretty and fast.... just wondering...................
 
Harmon or F-1?

There are two "rockets"

The Harmon Rocket is an RV-4 that you order from Vans and delete the parts you don't need from the list. You will get the parts you deleted from John Harmon LLC. From what I understand it is very labor intense, which an RV-4 build is anyway, but then you add on the work involved in the rocket kit and it gets worse. The forward fuse is widened and other things (fastback).

The F-1 rocket is a quick build that goes for ~40,000. It is a stand alone kit provided by Mark Fredrick (sp?). You can see it HERE.
 
Where do Rockets come from?

This is what happens when the Space Shuttle "docks" with the Space Station....you get little Rockets. ;)
 
Rocket

Passes everything but the gas pump!:eek:
Just a little fun here.....
The Rocket also handles like the RV-3 which I hear is one of the nicest flying planes around.
 
Aden Rich said:
The Rocket also handles like the RV-3 which I hear is one of the nicest flying planes around.
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Yes this is true, and having recently flown a -3 I think the -3 flies like a well-tuned little Rocket. The rudder is nicer on a -3, I'll give it that.

In a buddy's F1 with the shortened elevator bellcrank and elevators with rounded trailing edges I can do a loop with two fingers on the stick. Not the kind of responsiveness for the masses I would want if I were the manufacturer but I like it that way.

Either way both are hands-down better than any other RV in handling. A light -4 is great, the -8 is ok but not as comfortable, the -6 is ok, -7 is more like a truck and just my opinion here but why anyone builds a -9 is beyond me.
 
rocketbob said:
A light -4 is great, the -8 is ok but not as comfortable, the -6 is ok, -7 is more like a truck and just my opinion here but why anyone builds a -9 is beyond me.
Click to expand...

Bob, your aviation mission is just high test right now. Give it a few years and you'll be wanting a Caddy ride over a Viper. I own a -3 and love it, it is a keeper! But would still fly / buy / build a -9 if I was looking for a good comfortable CC machine. A -9 lands easier than any other plane I've flown. It's just a joy to fly.

The good news is we get to test them all the time! :D

To each his own. ;)
 
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Oh, it's not that bad. I get about the same fuel burn as my RV buddies, unless you push the "go lever" full forward all the time. Then, it gets expensive.
 
rocketbob said:
...Either way both are hands-down better than any other RV in handling. A light -4 is great, the -8 is ok but not as comfortable, the -6 is ok, -7 is more like a truck and just my opinion here but why anyone builds a -9 is beyond me.
Click to expand...
Ouch, that hurt!

Truth is, I ask myself that question from time to time. Then I load up the wife and dog and take a trip. 760 lbs useful load is just that, useful!

If I were to build again, it might be a light -7 with an O-320 and wood prop, or maybe and RV-10, or maybe a -3.

Then again, I still like the way the -9 flies; stable but responsive. The -9 was really meant as a replacement for my T-craft and in that roll it performs better than expected even with all of 135 romping stomping HP up front.
 
Still better than a Cessna...

No worries Bill, it's all relative. Bob is right, the Rocket is the coolest personal lightplane for the money you can fly, but it's still no F-16C. However, I could never fault anyone who builds a personal aircraft, test-flys it and operates it regularly, you da man! The RV-9 is light years ahead of 90% of GA anyway...

Of course the Rocket is Light Speed ahead...:)

Smokey
HR2

PS: I loved my T-Craft, and the clip wing is one of the finest aerobatic airplanes I have flown!
 
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Smokyray,

I love blasting past the other planes in our EAA chapter when they know I have only 135 HP up front. That just irks them no end. :D

I do roll the -9 every now and then but haven't tried to loop it, which is why I think I should have built a -7. (I've always wonder which was higher risk, rolling or looping a -9. The most I have pulled in a roll is 1.3 G's but that is a twisting load rather than a straight 3.5 to get over the top in a loop.)

There is one rocket in the area and its performance just blows me away! No other way to describe it.

From everything I have read and heard about the clip-wing T-crafts, I'm thinking I should have kept mine and performed some surgery on it. Maybe one of these days I'll get to fly one. I didn?t find out you weren?t supposed to roll a long wing T-craft until after I sold it. Oh well...
 
Where do rocket's come from?

I guess we've been putting off this talk for too long.

You see: When an RV-4 and a Mooney love each other very much...
 
More like...

RV4 and Mooney? More like RV4 and Dragster...
You need to go for a ride, that -7 kit will be in the classifieds the next day...:)

Smokey
HR2
 
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