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Welcome... |
| ...to Mooney Accolades! The response we received from you, our readers, was heartwarming. Thank you! Please keep the stories, helpful tips, and questions coming.
This newsletter is YOUR newsletter. We invite you to send us your Mooney stories; submit questions to our Experts, Bill Wheat and Stacey Ellis; or just drop us a note to say "Hi!" at Mooney Accolades . We look forward to hearing from you soon. |
| Benjamin Franklin and Dave "Crash" Craddock |
"Benjamin Franklin would have been angry at me if I didn't buy this airplane." I think that nearly every time I land. Don't ask me why I think that but I do. I'm not an expert on Ben but I believe, were he alive today, he would be flying a Mooney Acclaim Type S. Or better yet, if he knew me - Dave Craddock - and my life - he would emphatically agree with me to do whatever it takes to buy and fly a Type S because the combination of beauty, performance, and price is a miracle - simply the best value for a guy like me.
I've been a pilot for nearly twenty years. I don't want to manage two engines. I started off in a '61 Comanche 250, then Ovations, and now 270+ hours in the first Type S Acclaim off the factory line. Belonging to a group of pilot dentists who are quite nerdy about piston singles, I talk airplanes often. I've been instrument rated for 16 years and flown Mooneys out of my home base of northwest Illinois over every state in the continental union except Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. I have flown to the Bahamas, the Turks, to Canada and over Cuba to Grand Cayman. I hate to drive as speeding tickets ruin all the fun. I've flown Mooneys into O'Hare twice and Midway 25+ times to catch airline connections. I can sit in my Mooney seemingly forever and not get bored. If I do, I just remind myself that I'm lucky I wasn't born before the Wright Brothers and life could be worse. I could be lying in the hospital with 14 tubes sticking out of me. Been there. Due to 9 years of cancer, I'm missing a large section of my innards. A rather generous section of my aorta and iliac arteries were replaced by woven polyester coated with beef collagen. And ya'll thought the W. L. Gore company only made Gortex for outer wear!
Performance and Beauty rule! The Mooney Acclaim Type S hands down outperforms the competition. I know for a fact, have proof, and will tell you how I know.
First -Beauty: I understand beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but I sincerely believe if you brought a bunch of non-aviation artsy folks out to the airport, let them walk around and study the looks and lines of a Cessna 400, Turbo Cirrus, and my Batmobile (as I have nicknamed it - I swear when you're flying and you look out onto that beautiful black shaped-like-a-P51 Mustang wing with upturned winglets, it looks like you're flying a bat) the vast majority of them would be drawn to the Acclaim. To me, a C400 and an SR22 look like pods with wings, legs, and a tail. They're nice, definitely not ugly by any means, but the lines of a long bodied Mooney are unique and truly beautiful. The Mooney tail section alone is friggin' cool! Everybody knows about the forward slant of the back of the tail but how about the forward slant of the back edge of the horizontal tail to go with it? How about the masculine look of the indentations on the long generous rudder and elevator? And it all goes with the forward slant of the back of the main wings! Have you ever noticed the side windows of the newer Mooneys? They're way cool. They do it all with lines and proportions. How they made that back window extend outside of the rear pillar and into the baggage area does a good part of the trick.
When I took delivery of N103DX at the Mooney factory, the hangar doors opened with 150+ Mooney employees gathered around the Batmobile. I was stunned. At the people and all but mainly I thought, "YEEESS! Not only does it look great but, holy cow, it looks AWESOME!!" Mooney let me provide input on the first off the line BMW paint scheme but I wasn't sure we'd hit a home run until the doors opened and man -oh-man did it look tough. Good tough. Stealthy tough. Angelyn and I walked through the factory later that day and several employees that have worked for Mooney a very long time (50 years for a legend named Stanley) made it a point to tell us our plane was the most beautiful one Mooney had ever produced! WOW! The next day I took formal delivery right up the road from Kerrville at the Hangar Hotel on the ramp in Fredericksburg, Texas, where our group, the Flying Dentists Association, was having a continuing education course. Everyone, including other hotel guests, was praising the beauty of the Batmobile. Dr. Dave Camp, president of our group at the time, whom I respect lots, has been around airplanes for 40 years. He kept looking and saying things like, "Gosh, that may be the prettiest airplane I have ever seen," while never taking his eyes off the plane. Needless to say like Julius Caesar I needed that little guy on my shoulder whispering over and over in my ear, "remember, you are only a man..."
Speed is King. My Mooney Acclaim Type S beat a Cessna 400 hands down in three speed tests conducted side by side at the request of several Cessna employees. That's right! I'll tell you the whole story right here in the next issue. It's a great story! |
| Tips From Our Readers |
| "My '82 201 was looking shabby with some spots where paint was missing on the wing leading edge, but I was reluctant to spring for a full paint job, so during an annual I asked that they repaint most of the leading edge. That was done, back to some 3 or 4 inches aft of the leading edge. Problem? Yes, I lost 5 knots of speed.
To make a clean stopping point they had used masking tape, which left a tiny (.02" ?) step at the edge of the new paint. The paint probably wicks up thicker at the edge. When we sanded that transition down, my speed returned to normal. The airfoil was happy, all of which makes me think bug removal helps more than just cosmetics.
Aerodynamically, Dick Van Pelt." | |
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| Introducing N113TN |
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N113TN (serial number 31-0113) is quite the famous Mooney Acclaim Type S.
After a visit to the Indy 500, she was featured in the July/August 2009 issue of Pilot Mag. Author Jeff Mattoon seemed quite impressed with our "little lady." See more photos and check out his article here. Flown by Mooney Sales Director, Wayne Fischer, she currently resides in Arizona.
N113TN is a single engine, normalized turbo with 280 hp. Equipped with a Garmin G1000 glass cockpit, WAAS Avionics package, ELT ME406, Bose Headsets, Oxygen system, tinted rear side windows, and air conditioning, this lady is looking for a new home. For more information, click here. |
| Mooney History... The Early Years |
 After graduating high school, Al Mooney's plans to attend the Colorado School of Mines were interrupted by a chance encounter. While working with his father, helping to build a nursing home, he saw a Swallow bi-plane fly over. Arriving at the airport to check out the Swallow, Al noticed the plane was mis-rigged. After Al helped re-rig the plane, the pilot, J Don Alexander offered Al the job of assistant to the chief engineer at Alexander Aircraft Company. Al accepted. The first design he helped with proved unsuccessful but from there he was able to design and produce the M-1, also known as the Long Wing Eaglerock, a successful trainer. Al was soon lured away from Alexander Aircraft Company by Montague . Stay tuned to learn more about that... |
| Mooney Factory Service Center |
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 Pictured from left, front row: Luis Rosales, David Mendoza, James Barker, Enrique Rosales, Brian Kendrick, Monty Rusch, Mitch Guidry, Mel Salinas, Jason Slaughter, Segovia Baldemar, Les Cauthen, Ronnie Kallies, Oscar Cruz. Back row from left: Cedrick Humphrey, Charles (Taze) Vandever, Mark (Steve) Brow, Jeff Brown, Donnie Shirley and Paul Kehner
The Mooney Factory Service Center is a certified repair station with certifications in radar, instrument, airframe and engine repair. They are also a certified Garmin Dealer. In the picture above, there are 2 IA rated mechanics, 5 A&P rated mechanics, 4 master painters, 1 certified repair mechanic, a test pilot, and an Avionics Guru, just to name a few of their qualifications. Also pictured are 2 FCC general radio telephone operators. The gentlemen surrounding our lovely Ovation 3 have a combined total of over 203 years of aviation experience with over 107 of those years Mooney specific. For more information, contact Ronnie Kallies. Who else would you trust to offer advice on how to care for your Mooney? | |
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