Are rayjays still economically maintainable?

[schmookeeg]

Hello,

I've been between airplanes for 2 years, and it chafes.

I have my eye on a local bird that has a rayjay STC on it. I know very little about these, other than they tend to use manual wastegates, which I'm okay with.

I imagine the turbos themselves are well-supported since there aren't too many specialized turbos floating around.

I worry about the plumbing and and other oddities that may come along with a rayjay STC. Specifically, I'd like to be assured that I do not have a blowtorch under each cowl because some fiddly little valve can't be sourced so we just keep hammering it into place until it fails. Ya know?

Does anyone have any anecdata about how these things are holding up in the field? The plane is a 310 "Riley Turbo Rocket" which was converted to Rayjays in 1963 . I'm concerned with any Rayjay plane maintenance, though, and I can extrapolate from there.

OpEx aren't a significant concern, acquisition cost is (since I refuse to finance airplanes without jobs) -- otherwise I'd just get a turbostream with factory turbos on the mills and pay 3x as much.

Cheers for any thoughts, other than "omg run"

- Mike

 

[Gary Austin]

I did a prebuy on a 310D Riley Rocket two years ago in the upper part of Ohio, the Rayjay's had not seen good maintenance since they were new, the left wastegate actuating arm had eroded away, and there was something about the props, i called the manufacture of the prop I think it was McCauley, they said they did not support that hub and blade combination, it had a nice paint job, sorry, looks like I am the first to say.... omg run"
If you want something with a turbo, get something that came from the factory with it already on, wish you the best on your hunt

 

[flyingcheesehead]

Rajay-specific parts should be obtainable. There's a guy who bought up what was left of Rajay and all their STC's a couple-three years ago, and he's doing well enough supporting them that he's planning on actually selling at least some of the STCs and parts for new installations again. He had a booth at Oshkosh this year for the first time. https://rajay.aero

I would also get in touch with Rocket Engineering - Yup, they're still around - And inquire about availability of anything specific to them. https://rocketengineering.com/contact-rocket-engineering/

Finally, check out Mooneyspace and ask this same question there. I'm not aware of any Rocket owners here, but there are sure to be at least several over there. You might want to start on this thread: https://mooneyspace.com/topic/21914-rocket-engineering/

Good luck! I hope you get to see something like this soon (this is a G500 TXi in a Rocket, getting 221 true and 267 over the ground at 19.9 gph at 15,000 feet, recently posted to the Mooney Pilots group on Facebook):

 

[LB 408A]

this LSA has no need for turbo info.


yet