Harmon Rocket II questions

On Fri, 04 Nov 2005 11:21:44 GMT, "Ian Donaldson"
wrote:


Never wrassle with a pig,

You will both get dirty but the pig will like it!


Ian


You know, I strongly suspect the "pig" that loves to comment on every
post, is probably a fat, degenerated wheelchair bound do nothing. With
an oxygen canula around his face, at a computer that hasn't been seen
for over a decade, most probably equipped with a 2400 baud modem. From
that throne, he spats out his drivel, and entertains himself trying to
rile anyone he can. And the result is this newsgroup is just about
dead. The number of posts are in the single digits on a daily basis. I
just wonder if it's even possible to have a decent group like this and
keep that trash out of it.

Jason Grass wrote:
On Fri, 04 Nov 2005 11:21:44 GMT, "Ian Donaldson"
wrote:


Never wrassle with a pig,

You will both get dirty but the pig will like it!


Ian



You know, I strongly suspect the "pig" that loves to comment on every
post, is probably a fat, degenerated wheelchair bound do nothing. With
an oxygen canula around his face, at a computer that hasn't been seen
for over a decade, most probably equipped with a 2400 baud modem. From
that throne, he spats out his drivel, and entertains himself trying to
rile anyone he can. And the result is this newsgroup is just about
dead. The number of posts are in the single digits on a daily basis. I
just wonder if it's even possible to have a decent group like this and
keep that trash out of it.

One shouldn't post one's autobiography in a public forum such as this.

Matt

On Mon, 07 Nov 2005 22:39:28 GMT, Matt Whiting
wrote:

Jason Grass wrote:
On Fri, 04 Nov 2005 11:21:44 GMT, "Ian Donaldson"
wrote:


Never wrassle with a pig,

You will both get dirty but the pig will like it!


Ian



You know, I strongly suspect the "pig" that loves to comment on every
post, is probably a fat, degenerated wheelchair bound do nothing. With
an oxygen canula around his face, at a computer that hasn't been seen
for over a decade, most probably equipped with a 2400 baud modem. From
that throne, he spats out his drivel, and entertains himself trying to
rile anyone he can. And the result is this newsgroup is just about
dead. The number of posts are in the single digits on a daily basis. I
just wonder if it's even possible to have a decent group like this and
keep that trash out of it.

One shouldn't post one's autobiography in a public forum such as this.

Matt

F U

Tom Kudro wrote:
On Mon, 07 Nov 2005 22:39:28 GMT, Matt Whiting
wrote:


Jason Grass wrote:

On Fri, 04 Nov 2005 11:21:44 GMT, "Ian Donaldson"
wrote:



Never wrassle with a pig,

You will both get dirty but the pig will like it!


Ian



You know, I strongly suspect the "pig" that loves to comment on every
post, is probably a fat, degenerated wheelchair bound do nothing. With
an oxygen canula around his face, at a computer that hasn't been seen
for over a decade, most probably equipped with a 2400 baud modem. From
that throne, he spats out his drivel, and entertains himself trying to
rile anyone he can. And the result is this newsgroup is just about
dead. The number of posts are in the single digits on a daily basis. I
just wonder if it's even possible to have a decent group like this and
keep that trash out of it.

One shouldn't post one's autobiography in a public forum such as this.

Matt


F U

Oh, there are two of you.

Matt

Jason et al

I know a lot about the Harmon Rocket II. I built and am flying one. The
cockpit is 31" wide whereas the RV4 is 27" wide. The cockpit has been
stretched 4" from the rear spar to the rear seatback. The instrument panel
has been moved forward from the 4 - I like it better. You can have the
seats built to your specs and sit on the floor if you don't want to see
where you're going. You can't see over the nose at the highest seating
position anyway. Kinda like I would imagine it would be taxiing a P51. As
for the wing - it is still Van's original RV4 wing, tested static to 14 G's.
It would be strong enough without shortening it. I don't see it being a
problem since I have seen RV8's a lot heavier than my Rocket which is 1174
pounds dry. I have owned and flown both, the 4 on a couple long trips. I
wouldn't trade the Rocket for anything but still like the 4 - you don't get
in it - it's more like you put it on. As for G loads - there is a pro
aerobat pilot flying a Rocket. I'm 6' tall and weigh 225 and am very comfy
in it.
Hi Jerry.
Man this thread deteriorated quickly didn't it. Seems there are a lot of
people looking for confirmation.
I forget - I haven't posted here for a long time - am I supposed to top post
or bottom..........

jim
"Jason Grass" wrote in message
...
Does anyone here know much about the Harmon Rocket II?
I've been looking at it, and it concerns me in the fact that the
cockpit demensions look a little snug. It has enough room in width,
but the distance between the front and back seat seems too close, as
does the distance of the instrument panel from the front seat pilot.
Also, in looking at pictures of it, pilots seem to have their heads
right up against the top of the canopy. Is John Harmon a short guy?
I suspect it was designed by someone not so tall. I guess it would be
nice to go sit in one somewhere, but that's not always easy to find.
And I wonder if the wing is strong enough. His webiste says he did
nothing to the RV-4 wingspar to strengthen it. He only shortened it to
to reduce the bending moment on it, and reduced the rib spacing. Then
it says he sand bagged the wing to 6 G's. 6 G's isn't all that much
for an ultimate load test. So I'm a bit leery of the design. I wanted
to build one, but after doing a little research, I'm turned off by
what I've found out.

Jim wrote:
...
Man this thread deteriorated quickly didn't it. Seems there are a lot of
people looking for confirmation.

In that regard, do you care to comment on the earlier assetion that the

tail is too short, so that the nose drops precipitously if the engine
quits?

I forget - I haven't posted here for a long time - am I supposed to top post
or bottom..........

Bottom Post.

:-)

--

FF

wrote in message
oups.com...

Jim wrote:
...
Man this thread deteriorated quickly didn't it. Seems there are a lot
of
people looking for confirmation.

In that regard, do you care to comment on the earlier assetion that the

tail is too short, so that the nose drops precipitously if the engine
quits?

I forget - I haven't posted here for a long time - am I supposed to top
post
or bottom..........

Bottom Post.

:-)

--

FF



To begin with by deteriorated I meant went off on a tangent instead of
talking about the flying qualities of the HR2. No offense intended to
anyone.

I guess I got in a little late - I didn't see anything about a short tail or
the nose dropping. I haven't experienced either one of those. The tail
being short is subjective - it seems fine to me. It's four inches longer
from the rear spar back than the -4 and -6 (of which I've owned both). The
engine has never quit on me but I have pulled the power and it does glide
fairly steep but I believe that is due to an 80" prop out front acting like
a piece of plywood face into the wind. I'm not a hotshoe F15 pilot or a
multi-thousand hour airline pilot but I have managed to put 65 hours on an
HR2 that I built by myself (wife included) without crashing so it must not
be too hard to handle. I have only flown a 150, 172, 182, Pacer, Cub,
Champ, RV4, and RV6 but my HR2 is the sweetest one yet on takeoff, climb,
cruise, aerobatics, and landing. In fact to me the only negative is fuel
usage if you want to go fast, and you can feel the heavy nose at extreme
forward cg (not a problem to me).

If a person wants to find fault with the HR2 without flying one and
therefore decides not to build one I feel sorry for them and what they will
be missing.


Jim
2005 HR2