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Mooney M10 testing well along

Mooney Aircraft has flown its three-seat M10 model 47 times and logged 70 flight hours at its development center in Chino, California, the company said.
The Mooney M20 Acclaim on display at EAA AirVenture. Jim Moore photo.

The highly anticipated general aviation trainer and personal airplane will have a Garmin G1000 avionics suite and a single power lever. The M10 is made from composite materials and will likely include an airframe parachute.

It will be manufactured in a fixed-gear T model for flight training and a retractable J model for personal travel. Both models will have the Continental CD-155 diesel engine.

Mooney didn’t say when FAA certification for the M10 will be complete, where the airplane will be manufactured, or when deliveries are likely to begin.

Mooney

The company also is manufacturing M20 Acclaim and Ovation models at its factory in Kerrville, Texas. The sleek, four-seat, turbo-charged and normally aspirated airplanes have been updated with “Ultra” models that include a pilot’s-side door and a keypad entry system for G1000 avionics suites.

Workers at the Texas factory currently are producing 1.5 airplanes a month, and Mooney officials said that number will increase when the company gets full FAA certification. Mooney never gave up its FAA production certificate when it went into a years-long “hibernation” during which it manufactured no new aircraft—but the FAA oversees it as if it were completely new.

Mooney said it expects to regain full production certification in the third quarter of this year.

Dave Hirschman
Dave Hirschman
AOPA Pilot Editor at Large
AOPA Pilot Editor at Large Dave Hirschman joined AOPA in 2008. He has an airline transport pilot certificate and instrument and multiengine flight instructor certificates. Dave flies vintage, historical, and Experimental airplanes and specializes in tailwheel and aerobatic instruction.
Topics: Aircraft, EAA AirVenture

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