1962 Mooney M20C Ranger

The classic Mooney M20 series was still in its early days when this Ranger rolled off the line in Kerrville, Texas. Many pilots of the era appreciated its combination of speed and efficiency, and these initial models weren’t stuffed with a ton of extras, leaving an owner today with good options for restoration. 

In the case of this Mooney M20C, you have 980 pounds useful load to work with. With 3,740 hours on the airframe, it’s not particularly high time, though the Lycoming O-360-A1D engine is past mid-time, you probably still have a couple years of flying before you might need to address it, though it was hung in 1982. The panel is vintage Narco, but this Ranger has been updated to ADS-B Out with a uAvionix tailBeacon.

READ MORE: The Marvelous Mooney M20

It’s priced to move at $52,000, from its current home in Ocean Springs, Mississippi.

Interested in more deals like this? Check out AircraftForSale.com and our new PlanePrice feature that gives you a window into the opportunities that are out there.

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Brothers Al and Art Mooney founded Mooney Aircraft in 1929, an inauspicious year for startup ventures, and abruptly declared bankruptcy a year later. The company lay dormant until 1948, when the Mooney brothers and their partners resurrected Mooney Aircraft in Wichita, Kansas. By the mid-1950s, the brothers had designed and produced the first of the iconic Mooney M20 series. This design, with its all-flying forward-swept tail, tightly cowled engine and unique aerodynamic lines, formed the basis for nearly every Mooney to follow. 

However, by the 1960s, the brothers had left the company to work for Lockheed Aircraft. Mooney Aircraft, by then based in Kerrville, Texas, was looking to expand its line of aircraft and produce a truly top-of-the-line transportation machine. Toward that end, the company recruited Ralph Harmon from McDonnell Aircraft. Harmon, an experienced aerospace engineer, had worked on the McDonnell 119/220 and Cessna’s never-produced four-engine Cessna 620. His experience with these pressurized high-flyers, coupled with Mooney’s excellent basic platform, led to a groundbreaking design. The goal: Produce the first pressurized piston-powered single for the serious traveler. 

What emerged was a husky, pressurized, five-seat travel machine that could climb into the flight levels in less than 20 minutes. The fuselage, similar in concept to the Cherokee Six of the same vintage, sported a 6-inch plug down the center to provide a wide and more comfortable environment on long journeys. The tail feathers were widened and strengthened and a dorsal fairing added in front of the vertical stabilizer. The all-metal wing was carried over from the M20 line, and the aircraft’s beefed-up landing gear created a more aggressive stance on the ground. This sense of muscularity carried into the instrument panel, which sported a massive landing gear handle and trim wheel that would look right at home in a Boeing 707. 

Power was provided by a 310-horsepower Lycoming TIO-541 turbo supercharged engine that enabled a cruise speed of over 220 knots at its service ceiling of 24,000 feet. Cooling this tightly cowled beast appears to have been a priority with no less than six cowl flaps visible, two traditional ones and four additional vents, two on each side of the cowling. Entrance to the Mustang was through a two-piece upward-hinged entry door that featured pressurized door seals and allowed for an 11,000-foot cabin at 24,000 feet. The result is an aircraft that is definitely a Mooney. However, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and the best that can be said about the Mustang is that it looks like a Mooney on steroids.  

First flight took place in 1965, more than a decade before the appearance of Cessna’s pressurized P210. The type certificate was granted the following year. Pilots reported that the aircraft was stable, fast and within the capabilities of single-engine pilots stepping up to a larger and faster airframe. Control forces were heavier than the M20 series, not unexpected of a 3,600-pound, 200- knot-class aircraft. Additionally, cabin altitude management, a new experience for most step-up pilots, required careful attention and training. Despite the engineering success, a disconnect appeared between Mooney’s production and marketing departments. In fact, the Mustang appeared to be selling for less than the cost to build it! Unfortunately, these kinds of issues plagued Mooney throughout the period and eventually led to its sale to Butler Aviation later in the decade. 

However, in 1967, optimism abounded. Mooney had just produced the first pressurized high-flying single and was eager to show it off to the world. The 40th anniversary of Charles Lindbergh’s solo flight from New York to Paris provided that opportunity. Thus, on May 23, 1967, pilot and company co-owner Paul Rachael flew the second production Mooney M22 Mustang non-stop from New York to Paris. This flight, exactly 40 years and two days after Lucky Lindy’s 1927 arrival in Le Bourget, gained international attention. The Mooney Mustang made Lindbergh’s 33.5-hour journey in just 13 hours and 10 minutes! The aircraft, christened the Spirit of Texas, remained on display at the Paris airshow and followed this with a tour of European capitals in hopes of generating international sales. 

“The Mustang solved the problems associated with pressurizing a large single-engine piston airplane, but at a significant cost in dollars and complexity. Eventually, only 36 examples of the Mustang were produced, each one likely sold at a loss.”

In the end, being first may not have been the best strategy. The Mustang solved the problems associated with pressurizing a large single-engine piston airplane but at a significant cost in dollars and complexity. Eventually, only 36 examples of the Mustang were produced, each one likely sold at a loss. Of the 36 built, a search of the registry shows fewer than half still on the books. A little more sleuthing reveals that three or four are still actively flying today. A recent internet search reveals a beautiful example of the type for sale with only 2,300 hours on the airframe. The pictures accompanying the advertisement illustrate the strength of the pressurized cabin, windows and door structure. And much to the delight of loyal Mooney owners, the cabin is incredibly spacious with room for four to stretch out in air-conditioned and pressurized comfort, all the while winging their way above the weather at over 3 miles per minute. 

Mooney aircraft have never been short on engineering excellence or innovation. The company would go on to produce the remarkable 201/231 series and still holds claim to the title of fastest piston single. Who knows; if Mooney had had the luxury of time and money to support the development of the Mustang, this incredible plane might have been as successful as the Cessna P210 or Piper Malibu that followed. 

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Some airplanes are ubiquitous and ordinary, attracting mostly temporary followers until replaced by something more desirable. Others ignite fires of passion upon their introduction, dying down to smolder after the initial blaze. And then there are the true cult airplanes, those for whom devotees never waiver in their loyalty. 

Put down the plucky little Mooney M20 series as belonging in the latter category. Mooney owners truly believe in their plane, and they stand by it through thick and thin—and there’s been a lot of thin in Mooney’s history. Those of us who enjoy rooting for the underdog have certainly been kept busy over the company’s checkered times.

How did Mooney Aircraft (under various corporate names) manage to survive over its 70-odd years of existence? For one thing, it has always built a niche product, filling a need mostly unmet by competitors, some of whom attempted to field a Mooney-like airplane while they concentrated on a larger line of cookie-cutter products. Mooney Aircraft never waivered; it knew who it was, and it stayed on message.

Marvelous Mooney 1

Secondly, Mooney was always one of the most responsive manufacturers in the industry when it came to modifying its airplanes to satisfy a customer’s wishes. Somehow, someway, Mooney would find a means of shoehorning in a different radio or instrument or otherwise make the airplane fulfill a requirement. You want electric landing gear or flaps? You got it. You want a turbocharger? Here it is. In-wing radar? Sure, we can do that. There seemed to be nothing Mooney wasn’t able to certify to make a customer happier. 

That said, the basic recipe didn’t change. Mooney’s trademark tail stayed stubbornly erect, defying swept-fin convention, and the bulletproof one-piece wing still carried the (a-hem) compact steel-tube fuselage cage. What Albert Mooney established in the beginning has served the company’s various owners quite well; efficiency above all, getting the most miles-per-gallon out of a fast personal flying machine.

History of the Mooney M20

For good or for ill, the Mooney story is a long and interesting one. After working for various airplane companies in the heady 1920s, the depressed 1930s, and the wartime 1940s, Al Mooney, along with his brother, Art, once again went into business for himself, founding Mooney Aircraft, Inc., in Wichita in 1948. Its only product was a single-seat retractable-gear model, the M18 Mite, originally to be powered by a Crosley car motor; like most automotive conversions, it didn’t work until a proper Continental A-65 engine was fitted. The innovative little Mite soon attracted considerable attention, in the limited way of single-place airplanes.

As Mooney’s proof-of-concept, the M18 was built from 1949 to 1955, showing that a wooden-construction wing and tail, with a welded-steel fuselage frame, offered strength and lightness that could be incorporated into a four-seat variant. The first such M20 flew on Sept. 3, 1953. At that point, the company had moved to Kerrville, Texas, in the state’s rolling hill country, a fertile transplanting that became one of the key ingredients of the firm’s survival over the years. 

Al Mooney, like most visionary designers, wasn’t a practical businessperson, so he was no longer with the company by late 1955. Two Midland, Texas, investors, Hal Rachal and Norm Hoffman, had seen the M20’s potential, and with their help, the airplane was CAA certified on Aug. 25, 1955. The company sold only 10 airplanes that year, but it was a start, and sales steadily grew. The new four-seat speedster was marketed as the “Mooney Mark 20.”

History of the Mooney 2

Starting with a sleek retractable-gear design, Mooney had installed the most sophisticated small power package of the mid-1950s, Lycoming’s 150-hp O-320 engine with a Hartzell constant-speed propeller, barking through unmuffled augmenter exhaust tubes under the belly. The cabin’s width was reportedly based on Beech Bonanza measurements, but other dimensions were compromised. The tail tilted in its entirety for pitch trim, replacing a speed-robbing elevator trim tab, its trailing edges slanted forward to match the wing’s planform. The wing section was a laminar-flow profile, highly efficient but demanding smooth surfaces; hence the plywood skin and doped-fabric finish. The fuel system employed a three-tank setup, using two 17.5-gallon wing tanks and a 14-gallon aft fuselage tank. The landing gear was retracted and extended via a beefy and foolproof manual lever.

By 1958, Lycoming had developed the 180-hp O-360, a natural fit for a follow-on Mark 20A, approved on Feb. 13, 1958, and briefly produced concurrently with the 150-hp M20. Cowl flaps replaced the noisy augmenter-exhaust cooling, but the wood wing and tail remained standard through 1960, at which point new management under Ralph Harmon dictated a change to all-metal construction. Saddled with recurring AD inspections, few wood-component Mooneys survive at this point out of roughly 600 built.

Going Full Metal

Once the furor over Harmon’s abandonment of Al Mooney’s wood medium died down, sales of the new M20B Mark 21 took off. It was certified on Dec. 14, 1960, retaining the M20A’s manual flaps but using a two-tank wet-wing fuel system of 48 gallons; gross weight remained at 2,450 pounds.

An improved M20C was certified on Oct. 20, 1961, bringing a manually pumped hydraulic flap system and a welcome 125-pound boost in gross weight. Fuel capacity was increased to 52 gallons in 1964 when flush gas caps replaced the recessed Thermos-style caps. In an attempt to broaden the product line into a simpler training-plane market, a fixed-gear M20D “Master” was approved on Oct. 15, 1962. The Master could be readily converted into a C-model if desired, and most of the 161 M20Ds built for the 1963 through 1965 model years are now M20Cs.

With the availability of Lycoming’s 200-hp IO-360 engine, the hot-rod M20E “Super 21” (later called the Chapparal) was certified on Sept. 4, 1963, and a 10-inch-longer M20F “Executive” model was approved on July 25, 1965 (although not produced until 1967), using the same engine but with another 165 pounds of takeoff weight and an additional 12 gallons of fuel capacity. It was about this time that the original arched window shape was changed to a rectangular contour. Never one to leave a gap in the product line unfilled, Mooney brought out an M20G “Statesman,” certified on Nov. 13, 1967, and matching the M20C’s 180-hp carbureted engine with the M20F’s lengthened fuselage. 

Expensive Attempts

During all these years, Mooney Aircraft dabbled and dallied with projects that might improve its market position, including a proposed “Mark 22” twin based on the M20A, then a pressurized-cabin M22 Mustang single, which actually was certified; 29 were built from 1967 to 1970, but it was a financial disaster. A joint venture with Mitsubishi to assemble and sell the MU-2 turboprop failed, as did the company’s acquisition of the Alon Aircoupe (Ercoupe) in 1967—it converted the eccentric Aircoupe into an M10 “Cadet” trainer, complete with a proper Mooney tailfin. The move resulted in few sales.

By 1969, the company was in financial trouble, leading to bankruptcy; it was bought in March 1969 by American Electronics Labs, which sold it to FBO chain Butler Aviation in December 1969. Butler had visions of creating an aircraft manufacturing empire by combining Mooney with Ted Smith’s struggling Aerostar twin line. Mooney’s airplanes acquired a tailcone stinger and a forward-protruding appendage on the top of the fin (the “Butler Buttonhook”) and were henceforth referred to as “Aerostars.” By early 1971, the Mooney plant was closed. Republic Steel Corp. bought the company in 1973, and production resumed in January 1974 once again as Mooneys, building the M20C, M20E and M20F.

Republic Steel brought in Roy LoPresti, who had cleaned up the Grumman Traveler to create the Tiger and Cheetah, to perform some aerodynamic magic on the Mooney Executive. It was a target-rich environment, with a blunt nose cowling, a straight-up “battering ram” windshield and considerable drag-producing protuberances under the wing. Through a series of nip-and-tuck smoothings, the staid old Mooney M20F Executive became the M20J, designated the “201,” to reflect its top speed in miles-per-hour. The Al Mooney standard of one-mph-per-hp was back, at least as measured in the brochure.

Resurrection Of The Mooney M20

Certificated on Sept. 27, 1976, the first 201s were 1977 models. Gross weight was raised to 2,740 pounds (raised to 2900 pounds in later models), and fuel capacity was now 64 gallons. The windshield was carefully slanted, and the cowling was reshaped; the retracted main gear was faired in and hidden behind partially enclosing doors, and the underwing flap hinges were streamlined. Sales took off as the new model 201 revitalized the Mooney line. With LoPresti’s touch, the M20J came close to the 201-mph mark, and as added refinements came along, like sculpted wingtips in 1981, it earned a “205” designation for the 1987 and 1988 model years.

After 1978, the entry-level M20C Ranger was discontinued, marking the end of the short-body Mooneys. In 1979, a new market was established with the M20K as the model 231, blending the M20J airframe with a 210-hp turbocharged six-cylinder Continental IO-360, the first time something other than a Lycoming powered an M20. 

In 1984, Republic Steel was acquired by LTV Corp. and Mooney was put up for sale, eventually to be bought by Eurlair, a French charter company and Mooney dealer. By 1986, the 231 had become the 252, benefiting from intercooling, electric cowl flaps and a 28-volt electrical system. Meanwhile, the 201 was joined by a 201 L/M (“Lean Machine”) cost-reducing package for 1985, while the deluxe version was transformed into the 205 SE special-edition for 1987. An AT advanced trainer was fielded in 1989; the 201/205 was renamed the MSE in 1990.

The M20J finally went out of production after 1998, the last of the classic Mooneys powered by four-cylinder Lycoming engines. The M20K, as the TSE, persevered through 1990, supplanted by the 1989 introduction of the M20M TLS, codenamed “Turbo Lycoming Sabre” during its development. But wait; the M20K returned with a 220-hp version of the IO-360 Continental in 1997 and 1998, sold as the “Encore.”

Muscle Plane Mooneys

No roundup of the Mooney line would be complete without mentioning the ill-fated M20L PFM, built in 1988 and 1989. The PFM, for Porsche Flugmotoren, was an attempt to merge the Mooney airframe with a 217-hp six-cylinder Porsche automobile powerplant. It was to be a high-tech computer-operated marvel with single-lever power management, but it proved to be too heavy and low on power to meet traditional Mooney owner expectations. Only 41 were built, few actually being sold. But the M20L’s airframe, stretched by 18 inches to accommodate the Porsche engine, did serve to become the foundation of the M20M and M20R, the “super Mooneys.” 

The M20M TLS was the first of the modern big-engine Mooneys; attaching a 270-hp TIO-541 to the airframe turned the Mooney into a real rocket. In 1994, it was joined by a non-turbocharged, but equally potent, M20R Ovation model, using a 280-hp IO-550 big-bore Continental engine. The M20M TLS became a “Bravo” version in 1997. An M20S Eagle variant came along in 1999, using a 244-hp Continental IO-550G engine.

Look Out, Here It Comes Again

All of these model manipulations were again affecting Mooney Aircraft’s fortunes, leading it into bankruptcy in July 2001. Acquired by Advanced Aerodynamics and Structures, Inc., in 2002, Mooney was sold to Allen Holding Finance in May 2004 but then was reacquired by ASSI (as Mooney Aerospace Group, Ltd.) in December 2004. The introduction of Garmin G1000-fitted Ovation 2 GX and Bravo GX glass-cockpit models soon followed, and in April 2006, the M20TN Acclaim was unveiled.

Characteristics

Mooney airplanes generally fall into the “little Mooney” and “big Mooney” categories, with many, many sub-divisions. The little versions are the original designs with four-cylinder Lycoming engines, the big variants being the ones powered by six-cylinder big-bore Lycomings and Continentals. Always focused on efficiency and speed, Al Mooney intended to exceed a top-speed criterion of 1 mph per installed horsepower. The single-seat Mite would do 130 mph or better on 65 hp, and the Mark 20 could make 160 mph with 150 hp. The 180-hp models didn’t quite hit the mark, producing about 165 mph in cruise, and the 200-hp versions were only slightly faster—until the M20J 201 came along. The “muscle plane” Mooney M20Rs and subsequent models easily blow past 200 mph with their 270/280 hp engines, but they burn prodigious amounts of fuel in the process.

Gear Systems

The landing gear system uses stacked rubber cushions for shock absorption, a simple trouble-free method until time catches up with it, requiring disc replacement. Check for elasticity by watching for the gear to rebound after unloading. Pre-1981 Mooneys had a supplemental automotive-type shock absorber on the nosegear, eliminated in later models.

Flying A Mooney M20

I’ve flown just about all the metal-wing Mooneys, including the Porsche-powered PFM, and have never found them difficult to operate. They are stable in IMC, responding immediately to control inputs and predictable when maneuvered. However, Mooneys, as complex, high-performance airplanes, do require study and practice to learn how best to use them.

Prior to 1969, the top of the airspeed indicator’s green arc was set at 150 mph, so the 200-hp models would cruise in the yellow caution range at low altitude; the Vno was raised to 175 mph in 1969. Mooneys don’t like to slow down; on some models, maximum gear-down speed is 120 mph (104 knots), and the flaps-extended limit is 125 mph (109 knots). Later models of the M20J 201 carried a 132-knot gear-extension limit, and there is a 107-knot limitation for gear retraction. Even the big-engine M20M has to slow below 140 knots to put the gear down (it can fly up to 165 knots once the gear is extended), so it’s no wonder Precise Flight speed brakes are almost always installed.

The point is, airspeed control is an essential element of Mooney flying. Gear up and power off, the airplanes have an 11.46-to-1 glide ratio with the propeller windmilling in high pitch. The 167 square feet of wing area sits well into ground effect, so when the M20J manual says to use 65 to 71 knots for landing approach, pay attention. Extra speed increases landing distance exponentially. Flap extension or retraction requires immediate trim adjustment.

Boarding a Mooney, particularly the short-body models, is done by loading the pilot first, sliding the co-pilot seat forward, installing the rear passengers, and then sliding the co-pilot seat aft to seat that person. The door is latched AFTER being pulled closed; slamming it doesn’t work. With the short-cabin Mooneys, it’s possible to reach back and push on the baggage compartment door to check that it’s latched. 

Settling In

If you like the looks of your feet, take note of them before sliding your seat forward; your legs disappear under the panel when flying a Mooney. The seating is comfortable, just restricted. In older Mooneys, the floor-mounted fuel selector is beneath the pilot’s seat, requiring it to be slid back to reach the valve. Otherwise, all controls fall nicely to hand; nothing is far out of reach in a Mooney. From 1969 to 1977, Mooneys were fitted with quadrant-style power controls before returning to push-pull knobs.

Starting is accomplished as with most low-wing Lycoming-powered airplanes; for some reason, older fuel-injection Mooneys give me more balked starts than just about any other airplane, but following the handbook will generally produce results. Taxiing is straightforward, although some of the longer-body airplanes have restricted forward visibility for us vertically challenged pilots. The nosegear only steers to 14 degrees, so the unbraked turning radius is 41 feet. Because of their short wheelbase, Mooneys tend to rock in a hobby-horse fashion during taxi on uneven surfaces. For small Lycomings, the engine run-up is conducted with regard to a yellow caution range on the tachometer. To avoid overheating, don’t linger on the ground with the tight Mooney cowlings. 

Up And Away

Takeoff is normally performed with flaps in the 15-degree position. Only a slight rotation is required for liftoff. The gear is retracted at a safe point, followed by the flaps. If flying an old manual-gear Mooney, relax your grip on the yoke while retracting; onlookers will watch for you to bob and weave as you struggle to get the gear up. The procedure is simple enough: The big chrome bar standing straight up under the center of the panel is unlatched, then you switch your grip to thumb-down and pull the handle 90 degrees aft and down to push it into the gear-up latched position, swiveling your handgrip as you go. The secret is to use the inertia of the swing to avoid stopping short of the floor latch. Extension is much easier. Retracting the electric gear is a piece of cake, as long as you have enough airspeed to activate the motor.

Mooneys like altitude, even the normally aspirated ones, so climb high, watching the CHTs and using cowl flaps appropriately. If you engage the “ram air” feature, be sure to include a “ram air closed” box on your pre-landing checklist. At cruise, the airplanes are stable and comfortable, perfect for cross-country travel. The controls stiffen up as speed increases; Mooneys are not sensitive aerobatic machines.

Rein It In

Plan your descent to respect the airspeed limitations as you arrive. Turbocharged Mooneys should be equipped with speed-brakes to allow descending without shock cooling the cylinders. Plan to level off to slow to gear speed as you approach the traffic pattern, adding flaps and trim to stabilize during the arrival. The older small-cabin Mooneys need to be slowed to no more than 80 mph on short final before entering ground effect. The nautical-indicating airplanes will be flown in at 70 knots or less, and the larger big-engine Mooneys require about 80 knots. Don’t expect whipped-cream smooth touchdowns from the stiff gear but do respect the nosegear by holding the yoke back.

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Aerodynamic legend Roy LoPresti arrived at Mooney in the early 1970s as the vice president of design after stints as an Air Force fighter pilot, an engineer at Bede Aircraft, and a vice president at Grumman Aircraft. At Grumman, he massaged the basic four-seat Traveler airframe into the sleek Cheetah and Tiger, arguably the fastest single-engine, fixed-gear aircraft on the market. LoPresti had a gift for taking good designs and making them faster and more capable. His goals for aircraft design were “fast, efficient and good looking.” At Mooney, he set to work to perform similar magic on its line of retractable-gear singles. His team immediately began cleaning up the Mooney M20 airframe, reducing cooling drag, and improving the cabin ergonomics. The Mooney 201 and 231 that resulted were immediately the fastest piston singles in their class, and their descendants continue to hold that title today. 

However, by the early 1980s, a new class of high-end singles was emerging. The six-seat pressurized Cessna 210 had been on the market for several years, and Piper and Beech had announced plans for additional six-place cabin-class pressurized singles. LoPresti’s team originally looked for inspiration to the Mooney Mark 22 Mustang. It had been the first pressurized single to market in 1967. However, the Mustang had been a commercial failure and contributed significantly to the 1969 Mooney bankruptcy. Additionally, while a capable four-seater, the Mark 22 did not provide significant room for cabin growth. 

So LoPresti and his team, many of whom he recruited from outside the company, decided on a clean sheet, six-seat, pressurized, single-engine design powered by a Lycoming TIO-540. From the cabin forward, the 301 bore a resemblance to many successful LoPresti designs, with a steeply sloped windshield, low-drag engine cowling, and small but efficient engine cooling intakes. However, any resemblance to the 201/231 line ended there. The 301 sported swept tail feathers and a fixed horizontal stabilizer, breaking with Mooney’s trademark all-moving, forward-swept tail assembly. The comfortable cabin boasted room for six adults in a club seating arrangement. Aircraft entry was through a wide upward-hinged entrance door, located behind the left wing. 

However, the biggest departure from traditional Mooney thinking was the wing. While similar to the M20 wing in planform, it boasted nearly full-span double-slotted fowler flaps. Roll control was provided primarily by spoilers augmented by large rectangular ailerons located near the wing tips. This design combined excellent high-altitude and high-speed performance while maintaining relatively low approach and landing speeds, all the while providing excellent control authority. 

Theoretically, the new 301 could climb to 25,000 feet with a 9,000-foot cabin altitude and take six people in shirtsleeve comfort over 1,000 miles. Like the Mooney 201 and 231, the name 301 was derived from its design top speed of 301 mph. In early flight tests, the single prototype demonstrated excellent handling characteristics. However, it was initially a bit heavier and slower than projected. Unfortunately, before Roy LoPresti and his team could develop the aircraft further, the recession of the early 1980s placed significant financial strains on the company, so Mooney went shopping for a partner.   

Enter the French aerospace firm Aerospatiale and its general aviation division, SOCATA. Mooney, struggling through several ownership changes, initially partnered with SOCATA, then eventually pulled out of the agreement. Thus, development of the 301 prototype was left to SOCATA, specifically its general aviation division located in Tarbes, France. During the brief Mooney/SOCATA partnership, the name “Tarbes Built Mooney,” or TBM, emerged and has remained to this day. Thus, the Mooney 301 prototype formed the genesis for the highly successful TBM 700, 800 and 900 series. If you compare the Mooney 301 prototype with the TBM series, from the windshield pillars back to the tail, the similarities are obvious. 

The key difference between the TBM 700 and Mooney 301 was turbine power. The TBM mated the elegantly designed Mooney 301 wing with an even larger six-seat cabin and powered all of this with the ubiquitous Pratt and Whitney Canada, PT6A turboprop. The speed and weight issues that had dogged early development of the Mooney 301 were conquered by this smooth, powerful and reliable turboprop powerplant. First flight occurred in April of 1988, and the European and U.S. Type Certificates soon followed. Of course, the rest is history. The TBM series, which now extends through multiple iterations to the current TBM 900, has been a runaway commercial sales success. As of October of 2020, the TBM series, now owned by French Aerospace company DAHER, celebrated the delivery of its 1,000th turboprop single.

Meanwhile, back at Mooney, Roy LoPresti, his work done, left to join Piper in 1987, and you can see his signature design features on many of its models. After Piper’s 1991 bankruptcy, he formed a family business with his sons, LoPresti Speed Merchants, and spent the remainder of his years making general aviation aircraft faster and more efficient. 

Mooney continues to experience financial challenges that have limited its ability to develop new products and keep pace with its other competitors. In 2013, it was acquired by a Chinese equity firm, and plans for a full line of training and travel machines were announced. However, this was not to be. Currently, the Mooney International Corporation soldiers on under a group of faithful owners, providing product support to its many loyal owners.

 The Mooney 301 design must be considered a success. Its French descendants, the TBM series, are industry leaders. The legacy of the Mooney 301 is a tribute to the vision of Roy LoPresti and the dedication of the many loyal and talented Mooney engineers and employees. As Roy said, the incredible Mooney 301 was “fast, efficient and good looking!” 

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The Kerrville Daily Times is reporting that Mooney International has ceased manufacturing operations at its Kerrville Airport factory at Kerrville Municipal Airport (KERV), Texas. In the move, a company spokesman said, the company laid off 229 employees, bringing Mooney employment down to around 90 workers. None will be producing aircraft parts, however, which is certain to concern Mooney owners.

At the same time the company, which is owned by the Chinese investment company Soaring American Corporation, says the move is “temporary” and that it will restart production when the market for its singles returns, though prospects for that don’t look promising. Despite best-in-class performance, a recently updated design that includes larger windows and a second, pilot-side entry door, the aircraft have sold poorly even at a time when sales of some competitors’ planes have held steady or surged.

The company had operated research and product development facilities in Southern California until 2017, when it closed that facility and relocated all operations to Kerrville.

Mooney was founded in the 1920s by the Mooney Brothers, produced planes in Wichita, Kansas, for a time and moved to Kerrville in 1953. Since then the company has changed hands 11 times by our count.

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For reasons that are both easy to understand and completely counterintuitive, the four-seat, piston-powered airplane has, for decades, dominated the GA marketplace. And it continues to do so, even though the number of pilots who buy these planes as a transportation tool has slowed dramatically, mostly in lock step with the slowing of the overall GA piston market. The tens of thousands of personal planes sold every year in the ’60s and ’70s, the true heyday of flying in the United States, has turned into fewer than a thousand planes in a good year, and the two dozen or more available models have shrunk to just a handful.

That four-seaters should be the prototypical GA ride makes sense to pilots—but to few others. Considering that most flights go out with one or two occupants (including the pilot), it seems a two-seat alternative would make sense. I’ve thought so for years, but the market was never developed for such a runabout. This is surprising because two-seat planes, like the Van’s RV series, dominate the kitbuilt market and have for decades. Not so in the Part 23 world.

Last year, GA manufacturers worldwide turned out 1,139 piston-powered planes. In the US, manufacturers of piston planes delivered 829, including 771 singles. Of those singles, 380 of them were Cirrus SR22s or SR20s, and 160 of them were Cessna Skylanes, Skyhawks or TTx (a single delivery).

For its part, Piper Aircraft delivered 114 four-seaters in 2018. So those three manufacturers—Cessna, Cirrus and Piper—accounted for all but 87 of the piston singles sold. Sales of six-seat (or larger) piston planes need to be factored in, as well. Piper sold 20 M350s (formerly the Mirage) and Beech handed over 15 G36s.

Internationally, it doesn’t get any more crowded. The top seller among other companies was the Diamond DA40, with an impressive (but still modest by historic standards) 45 deliveries. The bottom line is that recent sales of four-seat models are scant, and those sales are dominated by a few companies.

Moreover, the profile of the customers putting cash on the cowling for four-seat planes has shifted tremendously, as well. In the ’60s and ’70s, though it’s hard to come up with firm numbers, most four-seat piston planes were marketed and sold to private owners. That still happens in some instances, especially in the case of Cirrus Aircraft, which targets affluent pilots looking for high-tech personal transportation. The two other major players, the Textron Aviation Cessna Skyhawk and the Piper Aircraft Archer, are overwhelmingly sold to flight schools.

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There have been a couple of departures from our last roundup of four-seat planes. Textron Aviation pulled the plug on the critically acclaimed but slow-selling TTx (formerly the Columbia, among other names), and it ended production of its problematic diesel-powered 172 JT-A. Piper announced this spring that it was no longer producing its four-seat retractable landing gear Arrow model, though the company acknowledged that it could and likely would restart production if a substantial fleet order materialized.

Another major change in the marketplace is the drying up of the piston-single retractable gear market. Beech sold 15 Bonanzas, and Mooney sold seven each of its Ovation Ultra and Acclaim Ultra, and that was about it. There are a couple of emerging retractable-gear models. The Pipistrel Panthera has been inching toward certification for a few years now—is this the year it gets it done? —and Diamond’s exciting DA50 retractable-gear single is looking as though it might get the company’s attention after sitting on the back burner for the past several years. Both planes are included at the end of this roundup as being on the horizon, thought if you’ve been in aviation very long, you know that the horizon is usually much farther away than it looks.

The other big wild card in this whole four-seat equation is the Part 23 rewrite—I guess we’ll have to come up with another term that now it’s been rewritten. These liberalized certification standards have been adopted but not put into practice much. As such, the new FAA standards will allow manufacturers to wrangle approval for their light planes by using industry consensus standards, much the same way as it’s done in the LSA world but with more FAA oversight. Will these changes result in more Part 23 four-seaters (or any other type, for that matter)? We’re just not sure. But in the LSA segment, this certification approach has resulted in an impressive number of new designs.

Lastly, there remain two big stumbling blocks for the return of the four-seat market to anything resembling its former glory. First, and most obvious to the consumer, is that these new planes are expensive, not just in dollar numbers, but even when adjusted for inflation and other factors. Second, the manufacturers aren’t getting rich on these planes, either. Everything they use to build these planes, including the labor, is more expensive, too.

One ray of hope is, ironically, the aging of the piston fleet. With the introduction by Garmin and a few others of game-changing avionics retrofit options for owners of older planes, which is a lot of us, there’s suddenly new life for these planes. That doesn’t mean they’re getting any younger though, just that they’re more useful to us for a while longer. But the truth is, the supply of decent used planes is shrinking, and they cost a lot to maintain.  There’s nothing we can do about either of those things.

There’s also the subject of electric power. The dream of having small planes that run on battery power is great, but it’s not happening anytime soon. Four-seat planes are about twice as heavy as two-seaters, and battery power doesn’t make much sense on two-seaters, yet. Until there are major breakthroughs in battery storage capacity and/or weight, electric flight will remain more science experiment than practical solution.

Some of the four-seaters that remain in production, however, are impressive examples of how new technology can successfully breathe life into great, old designs. Cessna’s high-wingers spring to mind. Others, like the Cirrus piston singles, are new airplanes, relatively speaking at least, and show that innovation can actually create new markets.

Click the button below to see our lineup of production Part 23 four-seat singles. Enjoy.

Cirrus SR22 G6/SR22T

Okay, the Cirrus SR22 isn’t really a four-seater—it’s a four-/five-seater, but we’ll allow it since the plane’s general configuration is identical to other recent Cirrus models, but with extra room inside to add a third, smaller backseat passenger. It’s a good thing we’re counting them, too, as the SR22 is the most-produced light plane in the world. It’s not the fastest piston single in the skies—that distinction belongs to the Mooney Acclaim Ultra, but the SR22 is the most technologically advanced model available, with its built-in whole-airplane recovery parachute system, optional known ice protection, excellent exterior lighting and much more. It’s also the bestselling single in the world once again, despite a steep price of around $900,000 with all the bells and whistles. The latest model, the SR22 G6, has the Garmin G1000 NXi avionics suite, which was rare when Cirrus launched its G6, but is now in just about every new model. NXi is great, but Cirrus takes it several steps further with its Perspective keyboard controller which, with practice, cuts down on pilot workload and eases operation. The SR22 is available in a normally aspirated or turbocharged version, though most buyers go with the turbo. That would be our call, too, as the blower allows the plane to achieve its best true airspeeds when you head up to the mid-teens, where we spend most of our time when we’re flying the plane.

Niche: Premium fixed-gear transportation plane.
Bragging Points: The chute, great styling, outstanding visibility and excellent cross-country performance, high style and excellent visibility.
Tradeoffs: Premium price point, control feel that leaves something to be desired, less-than-best-in-class speed.
Base Price: $539,900; $639,900
Price Typically Equipped: $950,000
Competitors: Mooney Acclaim Ultra, Mooney Ovation Ultra
Fun Fact: Cirrus offers trade-up programs for pilots looking to up their game in an SR22 and later transition to the SF50 Vision Jet.

Specs SR22; SR22T
Main Construction: Composite
Engine/HP: Continental IO-550-N/310 hp; Continental TSIO-550-K/315 hp
Propeller: Hartzell, 3-blade, composite, constant speed, 78 diameter; Hartzell, 3-blade, composite, constant speed, 78″ diameter
Avionics: Cirrus Perspective+ By Garmin (Garmin G1000 NXi)
Top Cruise Speed: 183 kts; 213 kts
Stall, Landing Configuration: 60 kts; 60 kts
Max Range: 1,118 nm; 1,021 nm
Max Takeoff Weight: 3,600 lbs.; 3,600 lbs.
Payload (full fuel): 798 lbs.; 716 lbs.
Useful Load: 1,330 lbs.; 1,248 lbs.
Takeoff/Landing Distance: 1,082 ft./1,178 ft. (groundroll); 1,517 ft./1,178 ft. (groundroll)

Mooney Acclaim Ultra

Mooney is back in business, and its latest models offer huge improvements in comfort and utility, while taking nothing off the eye-popping speed numbers. The Mooney Acclaim Ultra is different than previous Mooneys because it has two doors—one on each side. Construction is very similar to previous sheet-metal Mooneys, with the exception of the forward fuselage section being composite, which allowed the company to add a door and make both doors substantially larger than previous portals. As a bonus, the windows are also lower for better overall visibility. How fast is the Acclaim Ultra? As they say in Beantown, it’s wicked fast, to the tune of 240-plus knots fast. To get that speed, Mooney pairs its slick aerodynamics to a 310 hp turbocharged Continental TSIO-550. The Acclaim Ultra is now standard with the Garmin G1000 NXi, so owners can get all the latest avionics goodness. In all, the Acclaim Ultra is a four-seat single that’s faster than any other plane in its segment, has FIKI ice protection as an option and is more comfortable than ever.

Niche: Premium retractable-gear personal transportation plane.
Bragging Points: Best speed in the world, greatly improved interior, comfortable seats, tremendous range.
Tradeoffs: It’s smaller inside than an SR22 or TTx, and the gear adds complexity, weight and, down the road, maintenance.
Base Price: $769,000
Competitors: Cessna TTx, Cirrus SR22
Fun Fact: The Acclaim Ultra can trace its roots back to the original Al Mooney-designed M20 of 1955, with a wood wing. It’s come a long way since then, but it’s still built in Kerrville, Texas.

Specs
Main Construction: Composite
Engine/HP: Continental TSIO-550-G/280 hp
Propeller: Hartzell, 3-blade, metal, constant speed, 76″ diameter
Avionics: G1000 NXi
Top Cruise Speed: 242 kts
Stall, Landing Configuration: 56 kts
Max Range: 1,100nm (45-min. reserve, standard tanks)
Max Takeoff Weight: 3,368 lbs.
Payload (full fuel): 384 lbs.
Useful Load: 1,000 lbs.
Takeoff/Landing Distance: 2,100 ft./2,650 ft. (50 ft. obstacle)

Mooney Ovation Ultra

When Mooney got back into business several years ago now, Job One was to reinvigorate the lineup. In 2017, Mooney got FAA approval for its Acclaim Ultra, the turbocharged version of its slick airframe. The normally aspirated model, the Ovation Ultra, came next. The company got the thumbs up for that model last year. Like the Acclaim Ultra, the Ovation Ultra gets a fiberglass shell on the forward fuselage in place of the former sheet-metal outer shell. As on the Acclaim, this gave Mooney the ability to reimagine the forward shell, adding a pilot’s side door, enlarging and lowering the windows, all without adding additional weight. Like the Acclaim Ultra, the Ovation Ultra features the Garmin G1000 NXi avionics suite. Known icing protection is available, as is air conditioning. The big differentiator between Ovation and Acclaim is the powerplant. The Acclaim, designed to fly high, relies on better true airspeeds up there without losing horsepower for its best-in-class speed. The Ovation, on the other hand, accomplishes this with more power—310 hp compared to 280 hp for the Acclaim Ultra. It works great, too. The Ovation Ultra is the fastest normally aspirated production piston single, achieving just a couple of ticks short of 200 knots true. The model also boasts tremendous range, greater than 1,400 nm, and terrific climbing ability.

Niche: High-performance retractable-gear transportation plane
Bragging Points: Fastest non-turbo plane in its class. Top-notch avionics. 
Tradeoffs: Not as roomy as its fixed-gear competition. Does its best work at lower altitudes.
Base Price: $689,000
Competitors: Cirrus SR22, Mooney Acclaim Ultra
Fun Fact: Mooney delivered seven Ovation Ultras in 2018, the same number as for the Acclaim Ultra.

Specs
Main Construction: Metal with forward-fuselage composite skin
Engine/HP: Continental IO-550-G/310 hp
Propeller: Hartzell, 3-blade, metal, constant speed, 76″ diameter
Avionics: Garmin G1000 NXi
Top Cruise Speed: 197 kts
Stall, Landing Configuration: 59 kts
Max Range: 900 nm (45-minute reserve, standard tanks)
Max Takeoff Weight: 3,368 lbs.
Payload (full fuel): 514 lbs.
Useful Load: 1,130 lbs.
Takeoff/Landing Distance: 1,600 ft./2,500 ft. (50 ft. obstacle)

The post Four-Seat Piston Singles Round-Up appeared first on Plane & Pilot Magazine.

This marks the third year of our Plane & Pilot Plane of the Year recognition for the most impressive design in light GA, and as we knew when we launched the award, new designs in light aviation are not as common as they used to be.

Still, this year’s winner is a special plane that took home the hardware after a unanimous vote. The Mooney Ovation Ultra takes the Mooney DNA of speed to burn, great efficiency and butter-smooth flying characteristics and adds what Mooney owners have been dreaming about for decades, a pilot-side door, more space and far easier entry room in back, better visibility all around (but especially in back) and updated avionics, too.

The Ovation Ultra is the second Mooney to get recognition from Plane & Pilot. Two years ago we gave the nod for best new piston single to the Acclaim Ultra, which shares many of the improvements of the Ovation upgrade.

Amazingly, those improvements are all (well, mostly all) thanks to a new forward cabin shell that’s made of composite material instead of Mooney’s traditional sheet metal shell. The forward fuselage continues to use the company’s trademark welded steel cage construction for a high level of crashworthiness compared to most built-built-up all-aluminum designs. The composite shell is overlaid, and because it’s all new, it allowed Mooney to ingeniously add a second door—so no more playing Tetris to figure out what passengers go where—and to extend the length of the doors for easier entry and to allow for larger windows, too. If these sound like small improvements, you haven’t flown Mooneys much. They’re game changers.

The whole package is rounded out by the addition of the Garmin G1000 NXi avionics suite, which is a perfect complement to the Ovation Ultra in that, to the uninitiated, it looks like vintage G1000, but it’s not. The familiar appearance and very similar interface hide the fact that NXi is a game changer in its own right. The processors are way faster, the glass is sharper and brighter, the symbology is easier on the eyes, and the capabilities are much improved, with the addition of extensive vertical capabilities, VFR approaches (they’re so cool, you’ve got to try them) and improved connectivity, as well.

All this, and the Ovation Ultra is still a barn burner, with a top cruise speed nipping at 200 knots, a range of better than 1,000 nm with long range (100 gallons) tanks at the Ultra’s fast “economy” cruise of 170 knots, a climb rate of 1,300 fpm, and did I mention how pretty it is? Everywhere I went with it while testing it last fall, other pilots stopped and paid it compliments. On a couple of occasions, they even said, “Wait, it’s got two doors!”

Congratulations to Mooney International for its second big win in two years!

For more information about the Mooney Ovation Ultra, visit mooney.com.

The post 2018 Plane of the Year: The Mooney Ovation Ultra appeared first on Plane & Pilot Magazine.

I was traveling with my new real-life and longtime Facebook friend Richard Simile, of Mooney, whose tough job it was to keep an eye on me while we went flying in the new, very fast piston single around early autumn California. For months I’d made no secret that I wanted to fly the Ovation, and to fly it early and often. I’m like that with most airplanes. And the fact that Mooney is in Kerrville, Texas, just a Skylane hop across hill country from my home in Austin, might make it seem as though that would have been easy. But when I finally got the chance to fly the plane, it wasn’t in Texas at all but in southern California, where the newly certificated model was about to embark on a two-week sales tour to show prospects just what kind of plane it is. The sales trip made sense to me, because no one really knows what the Ovation Ultra is like because it’s the very first one. It is in a very real sense a 197-knot unicorn.

It’s understandable that some of you might be wondering what’s so special about this particular Mooney, an airplane that, admittedly, has the same basic shape and function as just about every Mooney before it. The Ovation Ultra is shaped like a Mooney, which if you like Mooneys, and I do, is a good thing. And its mission is pretty much the same as those Mooneys that came before it, to go economically from distantly separated points on the map with great speed.

What is different is the way it accomplishes the mission.

For background, the Ovation is not a new plane. It’s been around for 20 years now, the successor to the remarkably popular M20J, popularly known as the Mooney 201. The “201” nickname signifies how fast the plane is in mph, as determined, some say, by a slightly optimistic marketing department. Regardless of whether it’ll hit 201 mph in straight and level flight or just come close, no one argues that the 201 is very fast on just 200 horsepower, a remarkable one-mile-per-hour per horsepower, a 1:1 ratio that set a standard for certificated light transportation planes.

When it was introduced in the early ’90s, the Ovation was all about taking Mooney speed and adding lifting power and comfort, both of which it succeeded at doing by going with a substantially (13 inches) stretched fuselage, a more powerful, six-cylinder Continental IO-550 engine putting out 280 horsepower, and additional fuel capacity. Later, the Ovation got even more power, with an STC that allowed more operating horsepower out of the same fuel-injected IO-550 Continental engine, boosting it to 310-hp. This is the engine in the new Ovation, but the process, instead of being STCed by a third party, is now produced in-house by Mooney.

Ultra

The Ultra version, which earned FAA certification earlier this year, enjoys the same improvements as the company’s Acclaim Ultra, which earned Plane & Pilot’s 2017 Plane of the Year recognition for piston singles, announced in our November 2017 issue.

Whereas some variants of some airplanes are difficult to discern from their predecessors, figuring out which Mooneys are Ultras and which are not couldn’t be easier. The Ultras have two doors, the first Mooneys to boast twin portals after many decades of everybody having to climb in on the right side of the airplane. The new arrangement, Richard told me, is hard for longtime Mooney pilots to get their head around. Richard, who has around 5,000 hours in Mooneys, including a couple that were his personal airplanes, described how even after having flown the two-door Ovation Ultra for around 25 hours, he still instinctively turns toward the right side to get out and wanders over to the co-pilot’s side of the airplane to get in.

The need to break old habits notwithstanding, the way Mooney made a two-door airplane out of a single-holer was ingenious, and while it’s easy to explain the process, it was anything but a cakewalk for Mooney to make it happen. It took the company more than two years to bring the plane to market.

With a couple of exceptions, early models that used wooden wing structures and fabric-covered flight controls, Mooneys have always been all-metal airplanes; until the Ultras, that is. As much as Mooney owners are a loyal and enthusiastic group, and they are, for decades they have made their wishes known. They wanted more room (especially in back), better visibility, and, oh yeah, a shoot-for-the-moon wish-list item, a pilot’s side door.

The Ultra answered all of those questions by replacing the forward fuselage metal skin with an all-new composite structure, with integrated doors on each side. This approach allowed Mooney to cut the weight of the exterior skin to achieve a weight savings it desperately needed in order to add the second door. The need to cut weight wasn’t because the doors are particularly heavy. They aren’t. They’re each substantially lighter than the original right side built-up sheet metal door, so when you add it all up, it’s close to a wash over the single door of the non-Ultra Ovation.

But the overall weight savings was critical for a reason that makes sense to manufacturers but that most pilots don’t ever think about—the structure under the wing walk, which has to be a lot beefier than a comparable non-weight bearing surface. If you think about it, it makes sense. The wing’s surface needs to be not only strong for a flat surface load but for a concentrated load of a few hundred pounds focused in the space of one footprint. So all the weight saved with the composite skin is dedicated to the stronger wing root structure on the left side.

The composite fuselage also has the advantage of allowing completely redesigned doors and windows, two things that few Mooney owners ever specifically asked for but that will delight every one of them. The windows are larger, and a lot of that extra space is used to make them lower, so the view out the window is greatly enhanced. I’d go so far as to say it’s a terrific sightseeing airplane for a low-winger. With the wing set back a bit in classic Mooney fashion and the side windows more spacious, the view down in front of the wing is quite nice.

The longer doors also make it a lot easier for the rear-seat passengers to get in. Just slide the seat forward, fold the seat back forward, and there’s space galore for getting into and back out of the plane. The combination of the longer and lower windows also give the back seating area a feeling of roominess and openness that is unprecedented in the type.

The panel is also completely redesigned over the already very nice G1000 panel in the previous Mooneys. The Garmin G1000 NXi suite in the Ovation Ultra (and in the Acclaim Ultra, too) is custom designed to fit the space and the mission of the Ovation. For the first time in Mooneys, there’s a dedicated keypad for entering or modifying flight plans, punching in comm frequencies or inputting a new transponder code, among many other functions. The displays, as with all NXi G1000 suites, look great, but the magic behind them is in the new graphic style of the user interface and the blazing speed of the processors. Panning and zooming are super fast!no more waiting for the system to catch up with your requests. Ask for a new view and you shall receive it, like right now. It’s a terrific update to G1000, as I’ve written before, and the avionics features are top-drawer stuff, competitive with any other premium piston single and even a few turboprop singles, for that matter.

As in the Acclaim Ultra, you can opt for TKS known-ice protection, air conditioning or neither, but not both. The plane I flew was the naked variety. And though it was a warm day for our California adventure, we never felt overheated. For taxi, you can crack the doors, and once you’re airborne, the fresh air system, the best in any transportation piston single I’ve flown, is powerful, with lots of pressure and multiple eyeball vents coming at you with cool air from every possible direction.

Even the seats are better than ever, with a longer seating surface, betterpadding and improved adjustability, including lumbar support that works great. The bottom of the panel is still pretty low, so there’s that feeling that your legs are encased beneath the panel, which longtime Mooney pilots probably won’t even notice. Compared with the Cirrus SR22 or Cessna TTx, it’s a more sports car-like feel, compared to the competitors’ luxury sedan ride. But once you’re seated in it, the controls fall to hand very nicely, and everything you need to do while you’re flying you can pretty much do without reaching or readjusting. Even the buttons on the yoke grip are smartly placed, with the speed brakes, for example, being along the side of the surface, so you can’t mistake it for any other button there. The ergonomics are outstanding.

My introduction to the Ovation Ultra was on the early-evening photo shoot we did for this story. I was flying in the co-pilot’s seat of Scott Slocum’s A-36 Bonanza. Scott was in the back, the big side door off, shooting the Ovation Ultra, and Jason Somes, a corporate pilot by day and warbird pilot in his off time, was to my left doing the flying. Steve McCartney, who, like Jason, flies Gulfstreams for a living and WWII planes for fun, was flying the Ovation, and with an hour of sunlight left in the day, we’d departed Camarillo, a popular GA airport near the coast in Southern California. We flew low along the coast, in tight formation, getting some beautiful shots, keeping it going until we’d run out of light.

So when the next day dawned just as golden, I was stoked to fly the new Mooney, in part because I’d developed a bit of a crush on the plane after staring at it in the California light for a couple of hours the night before. It was a real beauty.

Richard wanted me to get a good feeling for what the airplane could do when it stretched its legs a little, which, I have to admit, we only simulated. With 100 gallons of fuel and the power pulled back, the Ovation Ultra can, says Richard, fly from LA to Atlanta with reserves, a leg much longer than I’d care to do, especially with the power pulled back, but, impressive, yes. Our plan, to head up to Monterey for lunch, was far less impressive but probably a lot more fun.

The flight was, as is often the case with light GA flights, a remarkable example of the efficiency and ease of flying small planes for transportation. Our flight, from Camarillo (KCMA) to Monterey (KMRY), was one that would have been a long day’s drive in a car. In the Mooney, it took us less than two hours, and we arrived in plenty of time for lunch despite a very leisurely departure schedule that included a stop at Starbucks and a lengthy preflight walkaround.

We decided to go up VFR with flight following and to manually avoid the restricted areas and MOAs around Vandenberg Air Force Base, an approach that would allow us to gab more about the airplane without undue interruption from the nice folks at LA Center.

Starting an IO-550, like the one in the Ovation Ultra, is easy when the engine is still cool. And, indeed, it turned over on the third blade. We taxied out for a takeoff conveniently to the north. After getting cleared by the tower for takeoff, I smoothly pushed the throttle forward and the airplane accelerated smartly. I found it easy to keep the Ovation on the centerline, and, on this mild morning, we had rotation speed very quickly. Upon positive rate, I retracted the gear and, a bit later, the flaps, and we headed up, doing a turning climb toward a big hole in the spotty marine layer above. It’s business as usual at these coastal California airports.

We weren’t full of fuel—you seldom need to fly around with all 100—and it was just me and Richard and my giant suitcase (necessary for the 10-day odyssey I was on). We were looking at 1200 fpm at 120 knots indicated, a climb airspeed well above best rate and way above best angle, but one that seemed ideal that day. The maneuvering gave me a chance to get a feel for the Mooney, which, as you might know, famously has push rod controls that give the pilot a very solid feel for the flight controls. It’s not a sporty airplane, it’s not particularly quick in roll or in pitch, for that matter, but it is just right, in my opinion, for an airplane meant to go places and fly approaches. I’m a fan of the way these airplanes feel to the hand.

We flew and I jotted notes and chatted with Richard about the plane and his experiences in it, but we did a lot of random chatting, too, along with a lot of sightseeing and iPhone picture snapping of the spectacular California coast, cold blue waters and rocky cliff shores interrupted by strips of bright sand and surf. And, yes, Florida-born, adopted California son Tom Petty played the background surf guitar-inspired music for the views. And, yes, Richard and I were both getting paid for this. Please don’t mention it to our bosses. And the views were indeed greatly enhanced by the new window layout in the Ultra. I can’t begin to tell you just how much more open the feel is. On the practical side, I came home with some amazing shots of the stunning landscape passing by below us as we flew.

As I noted previously, the Ovation Ultra is the updated version of the Ovation, the naturally aspirated IO-550-G powered model. So its happy place is down low, as opposed to its sibling Mooney, the Acclaim Ultra, which does its speedy thing—up to an advertised 242 knots true—in the teens and twenties. In the Ovation, a streamlined profile with a very small flat-plate signature (which seeks to represent the plane’s overall drag coefficient into an imaginary single flat of material), you still get a lot of speed without the turbocharging. On a day when temperatures were well above standard and at a cruising altitude, 8,500 feet, well above the plane’s optimal power-producing level, we still saw true airspeeds of better than 190 knots at around 70 percent power while burning 16 gph.

There are some downsides to the Mooney lineup. If you’re a fan of whole-airplane chutes, forget about Brand M and go talk to Cirrus. And the Ovation lacks the mechanically simplified power controls of the Cirrus SR22 also, so power management isn’t as easy as it could be or probably should be. And there’s the gear. Unlike the Cirrus SR22 or Cessna TTx, both of which are fixed-gear speedsters, the Mooney Ovation is a retract, which many pilots, me included, are fine with, though there is some additional risk, and insurance premiums tend to be a bit higher, too. The payoff is a lot of additional speed. And retractable gear planes are just downright cool.

I don’t fly Mooneys on a regular basis, so almost without fail when I fly one for a flight report like this, my first couple of landings in them are less than works of art. And my landing at Monterey, an aircraft carrier of a runway perched on a bluff with lots of terrain surrounding it and a predictably crummy ride on short final whenever the winds are blowing, was no exception. All those excuses made, my approach was great. It was the landing that wasn’t. I was a little fast, which in Mooneys makes for predictably lousy landings, and I flared a little high, as Richard warned me I would given the new view of the Ultra series. I bounced it a bit but resisted the urge to over-control the plane and, hence, to get into a porpoise, and guided it back down for a relatively nice second try.

Then the weirdest thing happened. The seemingly baffled ground controller guided us confusingly to our spot on the near side of a pair of F22 Raptors—man, are they cool—that were running up, we assumed in anticipation of taxiing out and taking off, an assumption that proved incorrect. We shut down the IO-550, turned off the lights, unbuckled and climbed out, me out of the left side and Richard out of the right, only to have to wait 20 minutes to get an escort to the FBO while the F22s ran some diagnostic tests that apparently prevented people from walking in front of them. All was forgiven when, an hour later, we got our consolation prize, watching the stealthy, super maneuverable fighters take off on afterburner, wowing the small crowd of people who’d gathered for the event with their own private airshow.

Our next leg from Monterey was down to Santa Barbara, where I had to be the next day. The trip back down the coast was, if anything, even more spectacular than our journey up earlier in the day, and it underscored the remarkable capability that a near-200-knot airplane gives you. It was a lot of traveling at a leisurely pace, and we both felt as though we hadn’t done any flying at all. The level of comfort is really remarkable.

Heading into Santa Barbara, the clouds were close to the ridge tops to the north, so we headed toward the beach and came up the freeway, which put us on a right base over the high terrain for 15 Right. Richard counseled me on the landing technique I should use, which involved a lot of nose up trim; in fact, pretty much all the nose up trim that we had and being patient as the energy dissipated. I floated a bit, but the touchdown was solid and I got on the brakes, and we made the turnoff to the FBO. These planes take some technique to land well, as do many planes, but once you get the hang of it, as I have in the past when I’ve had the chance to fly them regularly, it feels something like second nature.

I reluctantly said goodbye to Richard and headed to the rental car counter to make my way to my next flying adventure. As I drove into town to my AirBnB, I thought about how remarkable it is to be able to jaunt around a huge state like California like it’s a little town, but that’s what we’d done. Again, such a trip in a car would have been a multi-day affair, and good luck trying to pull it off on the airlines.

And as you know if you’ve flown Mooneys much, or a very few other really fast single-engine piston planes, that’s just the beginning. The Ovation Ultra is a plane that might not be a bizjet, but it enables long-distance flying so efficiently that you’ll never think of air transportation the same way again, as you piece together trips that previously seemed undoable.

With the Ovation Ultra, Mooney has done it again, taking an already-powerful and sleek platform and transforming it into the best-in-class, normally aspirated cross-country machine. Fast, easy on the eyes and efficient, the Mooney Ovation Ultra is also the most comfortable Mooney ever and the most technologically advanced, too. With Mooney getting back into the game after successfully earning certification for these two new airplanes, it might take a while for it to build up sales momentum. But based on what I experienced in my flight in the brand new Ovation Ultra, all it will take is one flight to understand just how much better a plane the Ultra is, which is saying a lot, because its predecessor is an impressive performer, too.

The Mooney Ovation Ultra we flew for this report is the 2017 certification model. It features the Garmin G1000 NXi with integral keypad, GFC700 digital autopilot, dual solid-state attitude and air data sensors, traffic and terrain awareness utilities, Garmin ESP envelope protection, Garmin ADS-B In and Out, Sirius XM weather and entertainment, and more.

Price as flown: $689,000

2017 Mooney Ovation Ultra Specifications

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Price as flown: $689,000

Main Construction: Metal with forward fuselage composite skin

Engine: Continental IO-550-G

Horsepower: 310

Propeller: Hartzell Scimitar 3-Blade Metal

Avionics: Garmin G1000 NXi

Landing Gear: Retractable

Seats: 4

Doors: 2

Maximum Takeoff Weight: 3,868 pounds

Useful Load: 1,030 pounds (80 gallons)

Fuel Capacity: 80 gallons

Fuel Capacity, Long range: 100 gallons

Wingspan: 36.5 feet

Length: 26.7 feet

Height: 8.3 feet

Cabin Width: 43.5 inches

Maximum Climb Rate: 1,300 fpm

Top Cruise Speed: 197 kts

Maximum Operating Altitude: 20,000 feet

Maximum Range: 1,450 nm with long-range tanks

Typical Range: 1,080 nm long-range tanks, 170 ktas

Takeoff Distance (50-foot obstacle): 1,600 feet

Landing Distance (50-foot obstacle):2,500 feet

Read our Mooney Ovation Ultra pilot report.

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Seats: 2-3

Main Construction: Carbon composite

Engine/Hp: Continental CD-155/155 hp

Propeller: MT (MTV-6), 3-blade, constant speed, 75″ diameter

Avionics: Garmin G1000, GFC 700

Top Cruise Speed: >160 kts

Stall, Landing Configuration: Unknown

Maximum Range: >1,000 nm

Maximum Takeoff Weight: Unknown

Payload: Unknown

Useful Load: Unknown

Takeoff/Landing Distance: Unknown

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