Mooney International (Chino) wants to lease my Acclaim

[Joe Zuffoletto]

Got an interesting letter in the mail today from Mooney International in Chino, CA. I didn't know Mooney had any facilities outside of Kerrville, but according to LinkedIn, this facility has at least a dozen employees.

 

Anyway, they're offering to lease my Acclaim for 6 months, with options to renew in 6 month increments. The letter says, "The airplane would be used for sales demonstrations, air shows, and company flying."

 

The letter says they tracked me down through the FAA registry, so I'm guessing that other Acclaim owners will receive this letter as well.

 

I'm not interested in leasing to them, but I thought it was an interesting letter.

[Hank]

The company that purchased Mooney, Sunshine Aviation or whatever, us based in S. California.

[DaV8or]

I think it's unlikely they will be able to find people willing to lease their planes. They should either buy some used Acclaims if they can, or buy some used Ovations and convert them.

[201er]

That sounds ridiculous... Cant they just build themselves one?

[carusoam]

Sounds like an opportunity!

I would lease my O.

To be paid back with a newer one off the line at a later date.

Make the call, be friendly...

Best regards,

-a-

[aviatoreb]

Its not so crazy of them to ask - there are folks who buy airplanes and then end up not using them for months or even a year or two on end.  Whether it be health reasons or work reasons that have them moving abroad for a while.  I see it on my field and I am sure we all do.  In such case it might make sense to keep the airplane flying and put it to work. rather tan leave it to rot.

[aviatoreb]

Maybe its a good sign - that all their production already is sold for the next year or so?

[Bob_Belville]

That sounds ridiculous... Cant they just build themselves one?

After Oshkosh bookings Mooney production is presumably sold out for almost 2 years.

[DS1980]

I would treat this the same as renting out your primary residence while you're away. Only makes sense if you know who's renting (in this case, flying) it.

It would provide an absolutely bulletproof excuse to fly the RV more.

[triple8s]

Why not have an agreement to have owners of late model Mooneys just get paid for appearances at events or demos. They might even trade for expenses plus goodies.

[KSMooniac]

Mooney leased an Ovation that the previous owner of my J purchased, and wrecked it in 2007. Be careful. I know it is a different bunch now, but be very careful.

Sent from my VS985 4G using Tapatalk

[cliffy]

They might have a much better tax situation if it is leased

[ArtVandelay]

When I had my boat built they offer to cut the price if I let them take it to a boat show before delivery, this is a common practice, they could do the same thing.

[Piloto]

$10,000/month plus $1,000 dry/hour. After all if they sell it for $800K it would be a fair deal.

 

José

[Ron McBride]

There are several for sale. Why doesn't Mooney just buy one?

 

Ron

[Houman]

$10,000/month plus $1,000 dry/hour. After all if they sell it for $800K it would be a fair deal.

 

José

At that price, I would even trough in the pilot ( me )... So that I can enjoy the travels...

[201er]

After Oshkosh bookings Mooney production is presumably sold out for almost 2 years.

If they're only planning on building one every few months perhaps...

[DaV8or]

There are several for sale. Why doesn't Mooney just buy one?

 

Ron

 

Probably short on cash. Otherwise, just buy a few, use them for the demos and then sell them when you're done as "factory certified" examples. Likely you get all the purchase price back.

[hoppetool]

I received the letter yesterday as well.  Tough to lease my airplane now when I've only got the next 10 hours to fly it!  Just found out that the tail section has to come off the airplane to comply with the latest Airworthiness Directive.  Suggest all TN model owners check into this ASAP.  It just came out last week and you only get 10 hours to comply.  

 

As for leasing, I'm going to call these guys and see what they have to say.   I'm not one to let anyone fly my airplane but who knows what they'd be willing to do in an effort to have aircraft to demonstrate.  Pretty tough to sell what you can't show.  Opportunity is knocking....

[Joe Zuffoletto]

I received the letter yesterday as well.  Tough to lease my airplane now when I've only got the next 10 hours to fly it!  Just found out that the tail section has to come off the airplane to comply with the latest Airworthiness Directive.  Suggest all TN model owners check into this ASAP.  It just came out last week and you only get 10 hours to comply.

Yep, my plane goes in this week for the tail section remediation. Arapahoe Aero has already confirmed that it's affected.

 

As for leasing, I'm going to call these guys and see what they have to say. I'm not one to let anyone fly my airplane but who knows what they'd be willing to do in an effort to have aircraft to demonstrate. Pretty tough to sell what you can't show.

PM or email me and let me know what they say. My email address is jj at zzmail dot me.

[Guest]

Aviatoreb,

       You are not too far off point with your statement about already having a waiting list. We did rather well at OSHKOSH 2014. Policy restricts me from divulging the actual length of time to receive a NEW Mooney. That is up to our sales dept. and WAY above my pay grade.

[flyboy0681]

Maybe its a good sign - that all their production already is sold for the next year or so?

 

That was my thought, that they are serious.

[hoppetool]

Yep, my plane goes in this week for the tail section remediation. Arapahoe Aero has already confirmed that it's affected. PM or email me and let me know what they say. My email address is jj at zzmail dot me.

My main concern is that Mooney may not have replacement parts if indeed I need them. I called and they say they have them.... We shall see. I'll reach out to you once I've spoken to Mooney re leasing.

[Jeff_S]

Here's one thing to consider. I don't know what avionics Joe has in his Acclaim, but it could be that they need a plane with the G1000/S-TEC 55x combo to use for certification testing so they can finally get this configuration WAAS certified. That would be very good news to many of us.

[MB65E]

Lease it if they pay for all the tail repairs. (I'm guessing they already are paying for parts hopefully)

It would also be nice to see their lease agreement.