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If I still owned an airplane with cowl flaps with an electric motor I would call BAS Salvage and tell them to put me on the list when they get in a Mooney with electric cowl flaps. I would figure out a way to get the motor “rebuilt” so I had a spare. Mooneyspace is much about keeping an aging fleet flying.

I flew mine back from California to Texas with the cowl flaps wired in the half-open position. Temps were fine all the way back

It's in the shop now, might be worth a try.

I appreciate the insight, I will call around there and see if I can find someone to say yes.

Which means they still have half of their workforce there. I was told by the first few people I talked to in 2014 that they didn’t do that anymore. I kept calling and kept talking to people politely and kept asking whoever I could talk to, “Who did they think could make this happen?”. There have been many people on here in the last 11 years who were told the same thing. Some of them gave up and others got their cowl flap motor “rebuilt”.

If you’re grounded (or soon to be) anyway, i might take it out, disassemble, clean the internals, and test the motor on a clean 24v source just to make sure it’s not something with the wiring or switches.

Here is the link to the article if anyone is interested. Alabama motor manufacturer laying off half its workforce - al.com

I tried emailing Bobbie but the email address no longer seems active, it was returned as undeliverable. There is a news article from this summer that says they cut half their workforce at the Dothan location.

That was also their official position when I had my cowl flap motor go bad on a Mooney Encore in 2014. Whether Ms. Bobbie Eldridge is still there or not or her e-mail still works, you just need to talk to the right person. (By the way, I sent her a gift basket when I got my motor back.)

I did talk to LASAR and they are looking into what they can do.

I did call the Dothan location and they said they stopped doing it back in the April/May timeframe.

Depending on the price per unit, there may be many interested in a group buy as well! shelf stock aka future proofing seems like more and more of a good idea personally!

There was a one Rpm version and a two Rpm version. And if you buy the 2 Rpm version, the cowl flap will blow open or closed because the air pressure drives the motor through the gear train. So get the right one.

It seems like this may be a problem that just needs to get to the “right” person at Allied/Globe. I previously reached out to Ms. Eldridge (late 2021 I think) and they could not sell me a new motor as it would have to go through Mooney for certification. However since they were a repair facility they could “repair” mine…aka they just replaced and restamped it. If Globe is still a repair facility this should still be a possibility…if they are so inclined. My unit was replaced with new.

It’s a single data point between two planes. Certainly not a comprehensive model vs model comparison. We were running supplies to NC together. He departed 2 mins ahead of me and despite being within 100lbs gross, I passed over him about 9nm from the airport as I climbed through 6500 on my way to 8500. He was as surprised as I was at the climb and speed differential. I will likely start flying that C model while my F is down for upgrades. I’ll get a better idea of the performance differences after a few long cross country trips.

This does seem like a good idea. I wonder if lasar are willing to stock some parts like that and have capital to do it…

Unfortunately, it would take a pretty significant change as there’s quite a lot of force on it both open and closed. The motor seems to act as the “brake” as well. I think there’s a thread where someone tried that and eventually gave up.

Depending on the cost per motor, perhaps a company like Lasar might purchase a min order and resale? Of course that’s gonna come with an upcharge and replacing would be the more expensive option than overhaul. Maybe reach out to Dan Reisland at Lasar. @JohnM Did Globe give you a price per unit?

can you just get rid of the eletrics and put in manual control? I only have an E with manual cowl flaps, can't even imagine how making it electric improves things

I think the only option is for somebody to develop a PMA replacement. The world is full of gear motors.

I was looking at the Globe Motors Alabama facility. The local news from last week says that they are laying off 1/2 of the work force. I suspect that includes the folks that rebuild the motors. https://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/story/news/local/alabama/2025/06/17/globe-motors-layoffs-coming-to-alabama-manufacturing-plant-in-dothan/84190402007/

That's very similar to the performance i get from my C at 9000 msl, WOT- / 2500 and leaned to peak or 25° Rich. No fuel flow installed, but i get ~8.4 gph from fuel pump to fuel pump. I do have the 201 windshield and guppy mouth closure, but also have a Hartzell 3-blade prop.

Yeesh, that’s scary. Heres my thoughts… first, I was having an issue with mine no more than 4 months ago and I contacted Globe / Allied at the Alabama facility and they said they could overhaul it if required… are you sure you were talking to the Alabama folks? The accent left no doubt for me. However, maybe something has changed there… Second, are you sure it’s the motor and not the limit switches? I think there’s a similar setup to the flaps where there’s an up and down limit switch, and those would be more likely to fail. Good luck!

Well, it seems like there is about a 5 knot penalty on my plane for the 1970 model (with many exposed screw heads instead of flush rivets) and inefficient three blade prop. My best speed/fuel efficiency ratio for cruising seems to be 9.3 gph (peak EGT) at 8500 feet, 143 kts, 2500 rpm.

There's been cases where a nose cargo door opened and contents came out into the prop on that side. Those can be bad accidents.