AOPA has always been keen to help trim the costs of flying, and one lucky member will get the chance to have his or her hardware expenses dramatically reduced by winning the association's 2000 sweepstakes, in which the grand prize is a thoroughly massaged Mooney 201. And AOPA Flight Training members are automatically entered in the sweepstakes.
Whoa now, a Mooney. Those are hard to fly, right? Tricky and quirky, you've probably heard. So why give one away? Ah, yes...the misconceptions and hangar talk always seem to catch up with the Mooney line.
The truth is this: Mooneys are quirky compared to more mainstream airplanes, but their quirks are easily mastered. It's a matter of getting used to a different picture out of the window and remembering that the wheels are considerably closer to the belly of the airplane than those on, say, a Piper Arrow or a Cessna 172RG. Mooneys feel different than your basic PA28 or Skyhawk because the controls operate through pushrods and torque tubes instead of cables. This arrangement gives the airplane a tighter, sportier feel at the expense of slightly higher control forces. Again, it's something you get used to pretty quickly, and the more solid responses really help to tame turbulence and make stabilized instrument approaches simpler than in a "kitier" airplane.
Let's not forget about the airplane's excellent performance profile, something that has made the M20 design renowned. First, it's efficient. With the same 200-horsepower powerplant as the Piper Arrow, the Mooney is 20 to 30 knots faster in level cruise. And even though the 201 carries less fuel - 64 gallons usable compared to the later Arrow's 72 - the Mooney has more still-air range, 753 nautical miles versus 710. Better yet, the Mooney will complete the longer trip in 48 fewer minutes. (These calculations are based on 165 kt true airspeed for the Mooney, 135 for the Arrow, with a fuel burn of 11.5 gph and a one-hour reserve.) Second, it'll haul a decent load - although some Cessna models beat the beefy Mooney on useful load. Think of the 201 as a three-seater with full fuel and bags or a conveyance for four lighter souls and their hankies - a common tradeoff in the world of single-engine retractables.
It was the 201's near-ideal combination of speed and efficiency that landed us in the middle of the Millennium Mooney project. That, and we knew that we could make this great airplane even better with the right application of high-tech equipment, including a big-screen moving map, computer-controlled engine, and modern seat designs.
There, so much for the sales pitch. You should also know that the Millennium Mooney is hardly your run-of-the-mill M20J. We started with a 1987 model 201 - actually, a 201 Lean Machine, a model built in batches with a certain avionics package and a reduced price - and went over it from spinner to tail cone. Top Gun Aviation, in Stockton, California, checked the airframe for damage or corrosion. Very little was found, due in part to the airplane's low total time - just 1,600 hours since new - and the fact that it was kept in a dry-climate hangar. The airplane that once was N5817L (and is now N2014U...a 201 for you) turned out to be a real find. This was the nicest of the many airplanes we looked at and, although it was offered for more money than we had intended to spend, it turned out to be a comparative bargain in that there were no hidden defects or poor maintenance practices to unravel.
We knew that the original engine was about ready to be overhauled, and that transplant has just been finished; but between the airframe inspections and modification - amounting to new LP Aeroplastics windows, a LoPresti Speed Merchants Boom Beam high-power landing light, and a host of smaller updates - came the avionics overhaul. The airplane originally was fitted with Bendix/King gear, including a wing-leveler autopilot. Pacific Coast Avionics in Aurora, Oregon, set to work in the first quarter of 2000 to strip it all out.
Virtually everything in the panel was replaced or inspected, leaving us with a big hole in the front of the cabin and a pile of radios on the bench. PCA's ace technicians built a new panel and radio racks to accept a full set of UPS Aviation Technologies' gear. At center stage is the company's MX20, a full-color, large-scale navigation screen that can show you everything short of a first-run movie. It gains positioning in space from the GX60 GPS/com and provides a tremendous amount of information.
What do you want to see? Roads and rivers and the odd airport? Sure, the MX20 can do that. How about just IFR airways and restricted areas? No problem. Would you care for a sample of navaids and IFR information atop a stunning representation of a sectional chart? Easily done. Or perhaps the view du jour could be an obstacle-clearance screen that tells you if your route of flight will put you into unyielding rocks.
At the first few airshows where we displayed the Millennium Mooney, pilots have asked if the new UPSAT screen is difficult to use while also flying the airplane and looking out the windows. Our answer has been: Not at all. For one thing, the screen runs mainly on contextual menus, or soft keys, that change meaning and are properly annunciated according to the mode of the display. In short, there's little to learn before using the display and remarkably little confusion once you've mastered a few basic functions. The remainder of the UPSAT stack is a functional delight. The GX60 provides position information as well as a backup communications radio. The SL30 is the primary communications radio and packs a tiny VHF navigation receiver with VOR, localizer, and glideslope capabilities. It drives through a Century NSD1000 electric horizontal situation indicator that's also shared with the GPS. (Naturally, the airplane is approved for nonprecision GPS approaches and can be upgraded for precision GPS approaches when they're implemented.) An SL15 audio panel tops the stack, providing a stereo intercom with automatic squelch and sophisticated radio switching.
It's a comprehensive suite that provides redundancy and all-weather capability that's further improved by the presence of an Insight Strike Finder weather-avoidance display and a Century Triden autopilot. This all-new autopilot currently is being certified by Century and will be installed and tested later in the year. It uses Century's position-based technology, taking inputs from the attitude indicator and HSI to determine which way is up and which way to turn. The Triden fits into a three-inch-square hole rather than a traditional radio-width slot. To further the high-tech theme, a Vision Microsystems VM1000 engine monitoring panel keeps tabs on the Lycoming IO-360 engine. The VMI setup saves panel space and makes your instrument scan easier by keeping important gauges together. Excedence alarms warn you if the engine's vital signs head off scale. The EC100 annunciator panel mirrors the warnings.
Of course, trendy electronics would look out of place in an airplane sporting a crusty paint job. So, working with Scheme Designers, New Jersey-based KD Aviation sprayed layer upon layer of Sherwin-Williams Acry Glo and Jet Glo urethane paints in a distinctive scheme.
Just before the airplane left for Oshkosh, a new Mattituck Red-Gold overhauled Lycoming IO-360 engine was installed. It was set up for later installation of Teledyne Continental's FADEC electronic engine management system. When installed and approved, this setup will provide a single-lever power control and fully automated prop and mixture management. Basically, you crank up the engine and work the throttle, and worry a whole lot less about how you're managing the engine. FADEC promises gains in fuel economy and engine longevity, which should be bolstered by long-term datalogging that will help maintenance technicians to accurately determine the health of the system.
The latest addition to the Mooney is a custom interior by Oregon Aero. You can see the completed airplane at AOPA Expo 2000 in Long Beach, California, October 20 through 22. This Mooney will embody all that we know about taking a proven airframe and injecting the latest useful high technology. And then we give it to you. Such a deal.
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