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Maybe the numbers will pencil out differently in a Section 363 sale in bankruptcy. I think someone will eventually support a fleet of Mooney’s size.

To check the cowling, do a light test. Place a bright light in the lower backside of the engine compartment, place the airplane in a dark hangar and look through the front for "light leaks". If you can see light, air is leaking. Seal it up. Sometimes seats will push back and leak under pressure. Lycoming says in climb you should have a minimum of 4 inches of water pressure as measured on a water manometer on the high pressure side. If you don't have a manometer use an old airspeed indicator, 4" is about 90 mph. The formula is airspeed (MPH) squared divided by 1980.

Smart Avionics at N71 (near Lancaster PA) did mine and has done several other Mooneys. From simple work to full on rip everything out and do over like mine. A number of owners at my home field have had work done there and everyone has been happy. https://smart-avionics.com/

McFarlane looked at Mooney, but couldn't make it work.

I'm glad they got educated on that issue when they moved away from California.

I recognize that plane and hangar.

The Aerostar factory makes this work with a fleet of about 600 planes. Point being it’s possible to make this work. Given there are so many variants of the m20, there will have to be some hard decisions. It just isn’t feasible to make every single part that the diversity of the fleet requires. As I have said before, they have records of everything they have sold, and it doesn’t seem like an insurmountable challenge to analyzes this and figure out what is needed and profitable.

It’s a shame that he gave up on the Aerostar so quickly. There is not a plane made that is easier to dismantle and transport than the Aerostar. Three people can take off the wings and feathers, and load on a truck in one day. Upside is that he moved into the mustang! Go Mooney! that being said if he thinks the Aerostar, who has a fully functional factory supporting the fleet with everything needed to keep our planes flying was frustrating him, just wait till he needs a Mooney part! ps…. Before I get dogpiled, I know Mooney makes nothing for this plane and hasn’t for a long time…

I was providing a suggestion made by our friend WilliamR who is an investment banker. If you want to avoid the uncertainty of bankruptcy and insure the continuity of the existing company and the success of the new owners, it is one strategy.

The operating manual for my F calls for 18.6gph at full power and full rich. @PT20J is absolutely correct in that fuel flow is not field adjustable. It is adjustable by the overhauler. Years ago, I had my servo overhauled locally by a Bendix fuel system specialist. I asked that it be set as rich as possible within spec. When I reinstalled the servo all of my takeoff EGT‘s had dropped into the high 1100s or low 1200s. I’m not sure what the fuel flow was it that time because I did not have a transducer installed. I can say that my takeoff EGTs have gradually become leaner since I first installed the servo. My takeoff fuel flow currently runs between 18.5 and 19gph. It will be interesting to see what the numbers look like this winter. Managing EGT‘s was never really a problem, but the engine has run very cool since the servo overhaul about 12 years ago.

Potentially silly question, but what is the useful load of this bird?

Vance, I’ll chip in…I just acquired a 67’F that sat for years! (The entire story soon). The A&P/IA seller rescued it and did a top IRAN on it and put a few hours on it before I bought it. No issues were found or present while he flew however after my 1st fuel stop and 3 hours of flying I had no issues in starting but afterwards for a bit it ran like some described, stumbling. I taxied to an area were I could clear the mags thinking perhaps a plug fouling. I was satisfied and did a static takeoff, it seemed to run fine. Did not see anything on JPI. 2nd fuel stop the same symptoms, perhaps not as pronounced. That 3 hour leg was fine and F is now home, well almost, temporarily parked at a different airport. The seller suggests adjusting the mixture again. I’ll be troubleshooting further.

It’s a website from the future

Just popped up on my feed (not my channel). Check out this Mooney Mustang project. He has also made a website mooneymustang.com. Great to see an iconic plane getting some love.

That assumes they have successfully purchased Mooney. Not what I’d call the spirit of the deal however. I’m sure the Lasar guys will take your shortcut into consideration. Good luck with that.

While I do not have firsthand knowledge of the agreement between Lasar and Mooney, I believe you are correct with regard to the name and the PC, TC, PMA’s STC’s etc.

I would assume you may be correct on Mooney being broke. Please provide some information to back your claim of Lasar’s financial condition. I’ll monitor and wait for factual information to back your claim.

You may very well be correct. Unfortunately that’s not where we find ourselves today.

Companies like Univair and McFarlane are much better setup to look after type certifies, PMA etc. and support owners.

Nothing, except it’s not for sale for a $1.00. Business go out of business everyday without filing bankruptcy. You’ve made an assumption without any knowledge of the actual facts.

The leak may only appear when the metal is hot.

In finance, words and terms are important. It avoids misunderstandings, disappointments, lawsuits and the tax audits.

Nothing prevents the existing owners from selling Mooney to LASAR for $1.00 if they want to avoid bankruptcy court.

Can you tell from your past engine data that it was colder at some point? Especially before some specific maintenance?? Like maybe before the Surefly was installed? I had one on my F and I really liked it. Never had heat issues, but as @PT20J said, it times a little different than a mag, so could be installed wrong. Or the dip switches set wrong, or maybe even the MP tube not rigged right allowing it to advance earlier than it should? I’m just spitballing here, but I might look back at the data and see if you can tell when it started getting hot. And how long has the SF been on there? Just for clarity, installed properly, the Surefly has a pretty good history of working fine and didn’t cause any heat issues in my F. It should not be advancing at all below about 5,000’ anyway.

One you get that LSA certification has exactly nothing to do with sport privileges, the problem goes away. But I've seen more than enough confusion on it that the FAA probably should have come up with a new category name and tossed "LSA" out altogether. The other one I've seen several times is, you can't fly that Cessna 172/M20J, whatever unless it gets recertified as an LSA.