Acclaim-Ovation Ultra or...?

[DaveAnderson]

Hey y'all, had an m20k for the past few years, love it and never had an issue...but...could be time for an upgrade this year.   I live in So-Cal and we have some good mtns, and i enjoy flying to Colorado, or up to Mammoth (7135 ft) in CA.   I'm used to the Turbo at this point, but i'm looking at those new ovation ultra's and it seems like they may not have an issue getting up there compared to the Acclaim.  Yet the Acclaim at 200+kts cruise seems pretty GD nice as well.  

Wife + 5 yr old + 1 yr old + me + bags....

Or...even bump up(?) to a Mirage or Malibu.   I really love Mooney's..my dad had one when i was 8 and i've been hooked since.  

PS, anyone want to buy a freshly annual'd M20K?  

 

- Dave

[milotron]

Watching....I have a similar itch. Looking for 200kts too. I am going completely mental and seriously considering an Aerostar!

I also have a K.

 

iain

[DaveAnderson]

@milotron Aerostar...haven't even looked....researching now.  

[milotron]

Twin engines. Whole other level of aviation finances! They are what Mooney would have been had they had a multi engine version.

[LANCECASPER]

1 hour ago, DaveAnderson said:

Hey y'all, had an m20k for the past few years, love it and never had an issue...but...could be time for an upgrade this year.   I live in So-Cal and we have some good mtns, and i enjoy flying to Colorado, or up to Mammoth (7135 ft) in CA.   I'm used to the Turbo at this point, but i'm looking at those new ovation ultra's and it seems like they may not have an issue getting up there compared to the Acclaim.  Yet the Acclaim at 200+kts cruise seems pretty GD nice as well.  

If you are used to a Turbo and you can do it I would spend the extra and get the Acclaim. Even though the Ovation is a great airplane and shows a service ceiling of 20000, once you get past 12000 you will wish you had the Turbo.

[rainman]

Just thinking that you may want to consider something pressurized as sometimes the little ones aren't too good at wearing their oxygen.  What do you think?

[DaveAnderson]

@rainman yeah.. Good point. Most of my flying is for business, though the kids will be more and more as they get older.

@LANCECASPER do you know what the fpm is on the Ovation past 12k?

[LANCECASPER]

23 hours ago, DaveAnderson said:

 

@LANCECASPER do you know what the fpm is on the Ovation past 12k?

I bought a beautiful Ovation in November 2014 after owning 4 turbocharged Mooneys over many years (231, Encore and 2 Bravos). I added the 310hp STC to the Ovation, but I was spoiled by the Turbo Mooneys. That summer when I would fly in the afternoons, getting over the 12,000-14,000 build-ups was a struggle for the Ovation in the hot humid weather in South TX. I had a great panel in that airplane and some other great options, but the powerplant was the deciding factor in wanting to get back into a turbocharged Mooney. Once you got to 12,000 feet on hot humid days it was realistically 300-400 feet per minute on the hottest days. The Bravo will give me 1000+ feet per minute all the way into the flight levels, which, when you need it, is important.

[DaveAnderson]

2 minutes ago, LANCECASPER said:

I bought a beautiful Ovation in November 2014 after owning 4 turbocharged Mooneys over many years (231, Encore and 2 Bravos). I added the 310hp STC to the Ovation, but I was spoiled by the Turbo Mooneys. That summer when I would fly in the afternoons, getting over the 12,000-14,000 build-ups was a struggle for the Ovation in the hot humid weather in South TX. I had a great panel in that airplane and some other great options, but the powerplant was the deciding factor in wanting to get back into a turbocharged Mooney. Once you got to 12,000 feet in hot humid days it was realistically 300-400 feet per minute on the hottest days. The Bravo will give me 1000+ feet per minute all the way into the flight levels, which, when you need it, is important.

Hmm... So Acclaim it may be. Good perspective. Thanks! 

[Jerry 5TJ]

With little kids a pressurized cabin is a big plus:  a PA46 is a good step up from a turbocharged Mooney. 

[StevenL757]

1 hour ago, DaveAnderson said:

Hmm... So Acclaim it may be. Good perspective. Thanks! 

Keep in mind, your Acclaim annuals will be nearly twice that of an Ovation.  A slight bit less for a TLS or a Bravo.  All three will carry the loads you suggest.  Agree with Jerry that a Malibu or Matrix would be worth a look.

Steve

[LANCECASPER]

Just keep in mind on a Piper PA46 (Mirage piston) you are asking the Lycoming TIO-540-AE2A piston engine to produce 350 hp and pressurize the airplane with two turbo chargers and 2 intercoolers. I sold a Bravo in 2000 and went into a Mirage - beautiful cabin. Mine was down for two Lycoming Service Bulletins and I was without it almost a year. 

The Lycoming TIO-540-AF1A that was used in the original Mooney TLS is a very similar engine and went through cylinders fast. In 1996 the TLS got the Bravo Engine Conversion, which became a TIO-540AF1B, which has oil cooled valve guides. The Lycoming in the Mirage runs just as hot as the TLS did and is generally operated in higher altitudes where the air is thinner, meaning the cooling is not as good. This engine doesn't have a provision for oil cooled valve guides. Expect to go through cylinders. Everyone that owns a piston PA-46 loves the airframe but most agree the weak point is that you are asking too much out of 6 cylinder piston engine. The annuals in a PA-46 will run you double what the Mooney TLS Bravo annuals run.

[Mcstealth]

4 hours ago, LANCECASPER said:

I bought a beautiful Ovation 

Smokin' panel, spectacular paint job, all the bells and whistles including air conditioning, yeah. Nice Ovation. 

[carusoam]

Dave,

What a great challenge to be given!

You have the TC’d Mooney experience.

The next step would be Bravo or Acclaim...

If you have the budget, go Acclaim!

The Bravo has no bad issues it just got replaced by the TNIO550....

If you really have the budget... a single turbine really looks good!

Go Jerry! 

Best regards,

-a-

[aviatoreb]

Age old topic here on Mooneyspace.

Your current family will fit in Mooney.  But kids grow.  That's what happened to my kids!

If you have money to buy an acclaim and considering that your kids are on the early side and surely will get bigger and heavier.  Consider a twin for the weight carrying capacity.  If I were to go twin at around the size of a Mooney I always loved the Beech B55.  B36 is great too for a bit more space.  They can come in pressurized at greater maintenance expense and longer runway requirements.  But at that point I become tempted by the Aerostar line, already mentioned.

Now I am on the other side of the growing family topic.  2 boys in college and one 17 year old still at home but mostly I fly often with them, but most one at a time, occasionally two. Or with wife to go see them.  Mooney is filling this roll well.

But I have had this airplane for 9 years.  Somehow when they were smaller, and we all wanted to go somewhere together, like to Maine for vacation, it became clear that even a small twin would not have been enough for that.  For all the bikes, luggage, blow-up Kayak, fishing gear, etc, it took our Toyota Minivan with a bike carrier with 5 bikes, and a big roof rack luggage pod on top.  To match that, we would be talking at least a Pilatus PC12.  And well, that's just way way out of the possibility of budget.  So for that sort of twice a year trip - we drove and it was fun.  For the 3 or 4 ,more times a year where we could travel lighter, and a twin would do, we still would drive say 6 hrs to CT for the grandparents because the Mooney couldn't do it.  For the dozen or so taking the kids to weekend sports events 3 or 4 hr drives, still minivan was good since these were XC ski racing trips and taking lots of skis, wax table, etc to some remote mountain..... 

And all along the Mooney was either me alone half the time going off on business, or taking one or two (occasionally all 3 boys but not the wife) to baseball or something, or just me and the wife.  So its served a roll all along, but not all of our transportation needs. However now it serves almost all of the transportation needs.  Still not all though - in 3 weeks we drive our son to start grad school at Duke, and well we have to drive because he has just a ton of stuff as its essentially a move. 12 hr drive.