Mooney goes two doors!

@USFlyer, have you clicked on the pricing link available on the page you kindly gave the link to? Probably not otherwise you would have noticed FIKI is a 64k USD factory option, not a retrofit.

Would you then like to comment on the “very specific capability” the absence of which the FAA obviously missed when delivering FIKI certification?

Or simply keep to the “statements enunciated authoritatively enough to make them sound like they are informed” tradition?

It’s normal for deice to be optional, on SEPs, surely?

Cobalt wrote:

Would it be possible to increase the engine power? 280hp from an engine that in the competition is normally rated 310hp ーwhy?

Certainly I know that the Ovation (NA) has a mod to increase power to 310HP…. From Mooney so no STC required….not sure about the Acclaim (turbo)

The STC actually belongs to Midwest and is done at the factory only for the Ovation 3. It is rather straightforward as it involves increasing max rpm from 2500 to 2700 (the less straightforward part is reprogramming the G1000).

For the Acclaim the most visible improvement is in takeoff length and climb rate, not so much in top speed (fiveish knots gain).

The downside (for Europe) being that 2700 rpm is not in the lowest noise class anymore (Ovation and Acclaim are Class D).

What you describe is actually the Mooney Ovation 3, i.e. all Ovation 3s (which is still the “current” Mooney offering since about 2008 or so) have the 310 hp engine. It’s not an option for quite a few year now.

Not much point in posting facebook content because many people don’t have accounts.

I do have an account but the video is asking for the latest flash player, so I installed that, but it is still asking for it (despite browser restart). (Is there some way to prevent firefox checking for the latest flash player? – there is a lot of config for overriding other “security” stuff but google turns up nothing on this one)

It’s may be fashionable but it would be stupid of a vendor to post stuff only on facebook so maybe there is a youtube or vimeo version? I googled for it (using the caption text) but could not find it.

I am always keen to preserve valuable content so if some facebook video is really valuable and relevant then there is a way to download it (and we can then host it here) and I did that for someone recently, but it is a bit of work for me.

Video works for me on Firefox and without FB account…

Shorrick_Mk2 wrote:

pricing link available on the page

@Shorrick_Mk2 The Mooney is a nice aircraft, no question, but few want it. Mooney sells about 3 or 4 per quarter compared to 45 for the Cirrus SR22T (and CIrrus is limiting production to just 300 this year because they need to start making the SF50).

FIKI is a CERTIFIED deice system on the Cirrus. The Mooney provides a TKS non certified deice system which cannot be used to legally fly into known ice. Also, Mooney says you cannot buy the TKS system and the A/C system in the same aircraft. Cirrus builds with both FIKI and A/C installed.

The cabin is a meager 43 inches wide and the useful load 1000 lbs. Plus it has retractable gear which costs a LOT more to insure and requires specific training before an insurance company will cover the plane. Mooney lacks critical features offered by Cirrus like the BRS parachute, the Perspective panel, the LOP set mechanism, the side yoke, the wider 59 inch cabin, the crush/impact seats, the throttle tree .v. the older more tedious verniers, the integrated automatic constant speed prop control .v. manual prop control, digital backup panel, and a fifth seat in the back.

The base price of the two aircraft is about the same, but Mooney gets far more expensive when you begin to add options that come standard or part of a special pricing package on the Cirrus like FIKI, A/C, Airbag belts, engine preheat, Bose ANC in all seat positions, and traffic avoidance.