Bentonck

....dang hamburgers keep going up. Love the story and the adventure...it will all work out in the end...or it's not the end. Best of luck to you! None of what you are reporting seems out of turn for an airplane that sat for 20 years...you'll get the cobwebs off of it and it will be a great bird.

I am not an excel stickler that tracks every last cost. I pay for the JetStream program (everyone does as they include it) ... I have swapped already the tires, brakes, FCU, and a couple of control units all under warranty at a total cost of zero above the cost of the jetstream. Oil use is negligible at 0,002 L/hr fuel burn is right around 70/hr average in mixed use. Basically it's 90g/the first half hour and then at altitude it drops to 60g/hr avg. It's a fun, fun plane to fly and is stable as anything I've ever flown. We call it the magic carpet, the view is fantastic out of the plane and it feels like you are floating!

Well, I own a Vision Jet. I didn't buy it for the parachute. 1) You can get in and out of the damn thing. Seat slides back past door and makes ingress and egress a breeze. 2) It is stupid easy to fly compared to anything else anywhere close. I flew the TBM and the M600 before the Vision. TBM is just as fast but comfort isn't anywhere near comparable, especially for passangers. The M600 is a great plane too but slower and has no place to put luggage. 3) Pilots with no turbine time can get insured. Try that in a Honda Jet. 4) You can't really compare it to a Phenom or Honda Jet. First of all, it's a $3mm airplane. I purchased mine for less than the cost of a TBM, and about half of what a new Honda Jet costs. The Honda Jet flies at 360kts at 41k. The Cirrus trues out at 310kts at 31k. You can fly the Honda Jet faster, but you have to fly lower...fuel burn goes way up and range goes way down. Not a debate, just explaining the reason that some schmuck would buy a turboprop equivalent jet. It's the same reason you learn in a 172 and your first plane might be a 182 and not a Mooney Acclaim. It's a step. Is my last plane a Cirrus Vision? Probably not. I am looking at something like a Phenom 300 but had I tried to go Acclaim-> Phenom 300 there was no WAY I was getting insurance or even a single pilot exemption for the first year or so. The Cirrus Jet I flew home. It's reasonably fast, compared to anythng burning AvGas...and it's easy to fly. And it has a TON of interior room. My kids love it ... my wife loves it... I love it...

I don't either. I have some default settings, my guess is that it is more than 50 degrees lean but I would have to to take some time to find peak and then go from there. I know 14.x is going to get me close so I usually pull to there and then adjust for smoothness. I have no idea where it is in relation to peak EGT but I know it's lean of peak and running smooth, cylinder temps are in the low 300s and TIT is somewhere around 1500 when the gauge is working.

That is pretty close to my numbers too but I think I must run leaner than you. I'm usually 14.5-15.0 GPH with a TAS of 185-190... TIT and cylinder heads are quite cool at that setting.

Did you get this sorted? I'm thinking I'm going to need a new probe, too.

My guess is that you would have to be in an airplane requiring two pilots to operate with both of them "under the hood" and two pilots in jump seats acting as safety pilots where it was agreed that they would act as PIC? Thinking about it I don't think that makes sense either, though, because two of them would be logging SIC time. Hrmmm

The ship looks great Irmin congrats on that!

I sent my $25 this morning, didn't want to be below average

One other question, the two mechanics that went and mounted the engine and prop and all, that was all done in two days only? That is incredible. I can't even get my oil changed here in two days... They looked like they were enjoying the project as much as you were. Best of luck to you and enjoy it....I lived in Switzerland for two years and I sure wish I had gotten an airplane while I was there. It was such a beautiful country and while I enjoyed taking the train to Germany, France, Italy, and the UK it would have been even better if I could have flown on the weekends.

Have really enjoyed catching up on this thread...way to go.

Good afternoon.... and hi to all of you after a while... If you remember my Acclaim suffered a prop strike last year after me letting an employee borrow it... and it was down for almost a year due to supply issues. It is finally up and running again with newly IRAN'd engine and a zero time (McCauley) prop. 900hrs TT... I had bought a King Air while the plane was down and have been flying that, planning to sell the Mooney when it (finally) came out of the shop but the gentleman I bought it from, who became a friend, called about buying it back while he is waiting for his new plane to arrive and we arrived at the conclusion we could both use the Mooney part-time so we worked out a deal for him to buy 50% and I keep access to PT-ALN... so that was good. My friend, however, is much more of a nit picker than I on estetic greatness and so we have started putting the plane back into tip-top, it's going to have a repaint of the wings where some bubbles have formed and around wear areas (screws on the underside, the gear doors, etc) ... and the original sun visor that has the power settings on it I managed to break in half at some point during my tenure ... I think these are manufactured by Lasar but I can't find it in their catalogue (I have not called them yet) but we are looking to replace it with a new one. Does anyone know where we could find one of these? Is calling Lasar it? Hope everyone is well, I have been lurking for a while and see new faces...

I have enjoyed perusing the threat. As one of the legacy G1000 owners (mine without WAAS as it does not exist in Brazil and therefore not needed) ... the real question is out of the 300 or so airframes flying how many people would spend $30-50k to upgrade to NXi? At this point I would not. *IF* the G1000 became unservicable due to Garmin not supporting it anymore (unlikely in the medium term as there are thousands flying still) then it would become a different issue. For the foreseeable future though (and as an economist I can tell you, in the long term we're all dead!) it will be supported and, while showing a little age, is still an EXCELLENT platform and coupled with the GFC700 in my plane leaves very little to be desired in the way of features, really.... but IF there was no option at some point, I am quite sure there are enough airframes at 300 to warrant an STC from Garmin or someone else... Just for S&G I could ask Garmin, they have always been quite pleasant to deal with in the past and they have developed enough STC's now for the G1000 -> NXi that they must know the time and money needed to come up with one. Everyone keeps touting their agreement with Mooney but does anyone really know what it entails or the limitations in that agreement? There may be a clause that a 3rd party can't develop an STC but the now-for-sale Mooney had announced that they were going to do the NXi upgrade as one of the first things, so it would be interesting to know .. I guess my point is that I'm not currently worried about the servicability of my G1000 and even if the NXi came available would not be in a big hurry to upgrade....my current setup fulfills the mission nicely and parts are readily available.

As part of this adventure I got an IRAN done on the engine and it had sat for a few years after the first prop strike (before I owned it, this is the 2nd one!) and there was some pitting on the lifters... but the block is good, pistons and cyldinders are good, and the cube for the prop tested fine so I'm going to end up just buying new blades and overhauling the cube so it'll be zero time but not new. I'll let ya'll know when the bird is back in the air!

Best of luck dude! It is exciting to have your own plane I hope you get a lot of good use out of it! Nice looking bird and with a newer(ish) panel will make a great platform!

This is the best thread on the forum. I read through their presentation...it made a very interesting read but $15mm just get's you the license to spend. Wish I could hear more from GB but for sure that would require going a lot further down the road than I'm going. There is a market for Ovations and Acclaims, I would guess that if you could produce them 100 airframes a year at a million a pop would fly away. Cirrus is now at 1.1 for the SR22 and I think the Mooneys are certainly competetive, especially if you could add the parachute on to get the added safety ... the issue was, and is, the build time in man hours of these things. I think I remember in my conversation with one of the investors that Mooney spends 2.5x more man hours per airframe and that is certainly not sustainable, even if the Mooney niche (speed and economy vs. the Sr22) attracts a certain segment of the market. That being said, the best thing I read on the whole presentation was the 3" stretch because having owned both the Mooney and the SR22 and being a pretty large fellow I can tell you the SR22 is a lot more comfortable, both for me and the other 3 passengers if I fill the seats. And the UL on the SR22 will let you do that in a reasoable manner. The Mooney you can by taking off fuel but there are two pretty unhappy adults in the back if they are average size. There is plenty of ROOM back there, but on the long-bodies the baggage area is HUGE for the load it can carry. I know those back seats are where they are because of W&B issues but I would think you could sort that out. Combined with a 200 or 300# GW increase, and the 2nd door on the pilot side now on the new airframes with composite cabin, and all of a sudden I would think you would have a MUCH more viable airframe. The probem is, you have room on these planes to put the parachute back there, no issues at all, but that is not going to help your W&B issue....you really need those back seats another 3-4" back...but IF you went carbon and could squeeze some weight out and find a way to get a few more inches for the rear seats, add a parachute, and pull of the GW increase you have a remarkably different airplane. (So maybe that last generation wasn't really the "ultra") ... Next issue is the $1-2mm turbine model. In between the VLJs and TBMs and the piston segment. Great idea. ABsolutely has to be pressurized to get any kind of use out of the turbine or your stuck flying mid-teens at best where your fuel range is going to suck and you are looking at a new type cert because if you slung a turbine on the M20 frame with the current UL the range would be dismal. Jet-A is 6.7lbs/gal @ STD and it's going to burn double at the minimum so your flight times are going to be measured in minutes and not hours... So you are looking at a new airframe with a new type cert and people are repeatedly proving this can't be done for under $100mm and 7-10 years ... so I'm not hopeful that that would work. Also when you get done you probably aren't anywhere around $1mm as the engine is easily over half of that and the systems would be complicated. There is also the TBM, Piper M600, Piper M500, etc that do exist in this segment. There are $2-3mm airplanes. If you want a turbine at $1.5 you are looking at an M20 airframe with a turbine on it which means no pressurization... I have flown in a Bonanza with the Alisson turbine and looked at the 210 Silver Eagles so it's not unheard of and there would be a market for a 4-place turbine at $1.5mm, even if it were unpressurized, but I doubt the M20 airframe is the ticket for that. Anyway, I was intrigued but you would need a very clear plan to profitability and I don't think VTOL designs are there yet and don't know if they ever will be and the turbine I don't think is going to profitable for years so, yeah, you need an Elon who takes a flyer on getting the certs or something and the money doesn't really matter. As a private investor this is right up there in no f'ing way territory because the returns would be modest at best and the risk is huge. Just my 2c...

Welcome to the Acclaim life I will be close to my bird tomorrow and will have a look, but at first sight I think doc is right, that was probably caused during maintenance. That being said, they should have cleaned it up.

The Mooney has been based at Campo de Marte (SBMT) ... I know Embraer very well and have flown into and out of SJC multiple times. They have an ILS approach which is one of the few here you can shoot. Congonhas and Garulhos won't let piston's land and Viracopos in Campinas has an ILS but it comes with a $100 landing fee so the only place to shoot an ILS to mantain proficiency here is at SJC, so I usually do it once a month or so. There are few airports with ILS's in the country but you have to fly one on every checkride... and in Brazil IPC's are done every year for license renewal whether you need it or not :)

None taken. I started my own business 8 years ago after 16 years working for a multinational and it finally started paying off to where I could afford to upgrade. I bought a 1980 F90 so it's not like new iron, it's basically a classic compared to my Mooney that was at least built this century, but you're right. It is a wonderful experience and there is nothing like the smell of Jet-A in the morning. I will say this.....the Mooney is a Porsche 911, the King Air is a pickup truck....it get's you where you're going and you can take all your crap but efficiency is NOT it's thing and it flies like a truck. Very stable and smooth but if you want to turn it around you need a mile or two....the Mooney is like a fighter plane in comparison. Point taken though. My only other comment is that if you have a Garmin autopilot in your newer model Mooney, don't expect the same performance from an early 80s rate based autopilot...hehehe, that has taken some serious getting used to. Everyone talks about the ramp appeal of a King Air but there are a million King Airs in Brazil, I have one of two Acclaims and EVERYONE wanted to see it... Carusom, I talked to the MT prop people and have been thinking it over, I like the four bladed prop and it would be cool, I just haven't decided yet. I need to decide soon, though, because it's going to take a while either way. Who has the STC for the 310hp upgrade?

I have been following the forums, though not as much as usual. For business and because I got tired of trying to coach everyone through getting in and out of the Mooney and putting on oxygen masks that ended up not being very popular, as well as the fact that our mission is long legged and the Mooney is great for 2 on longer legs but much less for more, I ended up buying a King Air this year. I was going to keep the Mooney as a weekend/fun plane to use with my wife (who loves it) ... but off I was in the US doing initial training, taking delivery, and working through the logistics of exporting an airplane and my poor Mooney Acclaim was sitting in the hangar alone. I felt bad for her. I also have a pilot on my payroll (but unfortunately not my insurance) who had flown with me many times in the Mooney and who I had let land a few times for him to mantain currency. He is a commercial, 1000+ hour pilot with most of his experience in King Airs and Senecas. I never liked leaving the plane in the hangar without running engine for more than 2 weeks, so I had him go out and run it up and just get the engine up to temp.... ....and then he asked if he could take his wife on a local flight around São Paulo, and I, not wanting to be a jerk, said sure. I then got in the King Air and shuffled off from Texas down to Florida where I arrived to a flurry of messages and several missed calls from said employee....and a picture of my Mooney with a severely bent prop. He bounced it and couldn't recover apparently so now my Mooney has been down for a month with the engine getting a full IRAN and my prop being trashed while I am trying to find another...(did anyone know there is a months-long backlog for props??? I didn't) ... Anyway, I haven't been posting because every time I think about it I get sick to my stomach but the moral of the story here is, don't let anyone fly your plane if they aren't current and checked out in it. I considered this guy "checked out" by me because we had flown together multiple occasions and he always had shown himself to be a prudent and capable pilot if not the best stick-and-rudder pilot I ever met. I never dreamed he would bounce it in instead of going around because we had specifically discussed the need to go around after a bounce on multiple occasions and not try to 'save' it. I have gone around at least 3 times in the last year after not getting myself into the best position and on at least one of those occasions he was with me....but he wasn't "current" and after the fact my wife was asking when the last time he had flown the Mooney was and I frankly couldn't remember. I should have just said no and let it go...being a nice guy has no place in aviation when the checkbook is yours. Before anyone get's onto me about the insurance, I thought about it. I read the policy, but I was lucky as hell to talk one of the three insurance providers here in Brazil to write me a policy on the King Air with extremely limited twin engine and turbine time and if I claim the insurance it is almost certain I don't get my King Air insurance renewed at the end of the year....same underwriter. The dude feels terrible and is chasing down everyone trying to get everything fixed, and he's a super nice guy. I just shouldn't have let him, or me, put ourselves in that position. Just say no.

I loved that whole post.

I am going to second what Schllc says....the G1000 is a very capable platform indeed. I think the issue for most everyone is not the platform itself or it's limitations but rather the fact that it has become a legacy system with little/no potential upgrade paths. A '97 you can gut and put in any different number of systems, while the later model long bodys from the mid/late 2000's are stuck with the G1000 unless another potential upgrade path is offered. The new owners (of Mooney) have been adament that they are going to provide a path to NXi which would be great, but to be honest today for what I'm doing the G1000 with GFC700 AP is about as great a platform as I could imagine. We had to carry more stuff further and ended up buying a King Air and we got G600s with G750's in it which is also a great, great platform to fly behind but I know there are people taking the (more expensive) route and putting G1000's in King Airs (albeit a later version, but it's still a G1000...) Anyway, I've never been flying my Mooney thinking "If only I had a different panel in here"...

Expanding on Art’s post….it depends. with G1000/GC700 A/P, air, and I would assume ADS-B maybe low $400s and more towards mid with the WAAS upgrade as it is currently $30k to install thats what I’ve seen anyway. What you want to look at before going to a full prebuy on a 1000 hour Acclaim is how many cylinders have been overhauled or exhanged already (they wilL not make TBO no matter how gentle you are, and most people aren’t that gentle), make sure mags have been OH’d twice now at 500 hours each, and check log for turbo because at 1000 hours it’s either been overhauled or is fixing to be … Great ride, though. Love mine.

My 2006 Acclaim is non-WAAS, it was exported to Brazil and I bought it here. I was going to buy the GIA-Ws but I ended up holding off as there is no WAAS here in South America and if they come up with an NXi upgrade path I would prefer that to simply upgrading the GIA's and being stuck with the legacy G1000. I talked to Don Maxwell in Longview last year and he was pretty sure the new management at Mooney was going to come up with an upgrade path.

Yeah, old Cylinder #5....I've overhauled that one already @ 800hrs