NEW NEWS FROM LASAR AND MOONEY AS OF 10/2/2025

[cliffy]

What’s going on with Mooney & LASAR — the straight story

Hi Mooney family,

We’ve heard the big question loud and clear: what the heck is going on with Mooney and LASAR?

Here’s the answer.

Over the past months, we've kept our heads down fixing the foundation—late nights in the hangar, sorting drawings, validating specs, rebuilding tooling, and re-engaging vendors. We didn’t go quiet because we didn’t care; we went quiet to get real work done. Now it’s time to talk about what’s changing—and why.

LASAR didn’t set out to be a hero. We’re engineers, mechanics, and parts people—builders. When Mooney called, we answered.  When the Mooney torch needed picking up, the hands ready to grab it were ours and those of the Kerrville team who’ve loved and built these airplanes for decades. Our vision is simple and stubborn: Mooney, by the people and for the people. We’re committing every dollar we can to one job: keep ’em flying—not someday, now.

How we’re organized (clear lanes, one mission):

·       Mooney builds certified parts and stewards the Type Certificate.
·       LASAR distributes, supports customers, and supplements availability with additional and PMA parts where appropriate.
·       LASAR Aviation doesn’t manufacture parts; it’s the coordination and funding layer—the “plumbing” (finance, purchasing cadence, vendor onboarding, QA docs, IT, scheduling) that keeps the whole system moving.
Plain truth: LASAR Aviation is the entity keeping Mooney funded, operational, and in the fight. One team, one mission: keep ’em flying.

What we’ve been doing:

·       Working to stabilize the ship: AOG triage, quick wins out the door, weekly Kerrville+LASAR stand-ups.
·       Prioritizing the “grounders”: Identified the SKUs that park airplanes when they’re out of stock and locked specs, dates, and minimums.
·       Building the plan: Sequenced a Year-1 ~$3M parts build by safety-of-flight impact and lead times.
·       Tapping Kerrville know-how: Capturing invaluable knowledge and leveraging the know-how of a deeply dedicated team.
·       Tightening the plumbing: Clear change control, traceable paperwork, and purchasing tied to real shop schedules.

What’s happening right now:

·       Long-lead materials & vendor deposits are being staged in the right order.
·       Portal V1 (inventory, ordering, certs) is coming online for MSCs with real-time visibility across Mooney and LASAR warehouses, predictable discounts, and AOG priority.
·       We’re modernizing the online experience for owners and shops so parts buying belongs in 2025, not 2005.

The hard truth (and the necessary change):

In today's dollars, too many parts leave Mooney below true cost. Every box like that drains our ability to keep lights on, retain talent, and buy material. That math doesn’t work for a week—let alone a decade.

Effective immediately, Mooney-built parts will reflect a uniform 30% price increase.

This isn’t margin fluff. It funds the basics that keep your aircraft supportable:
·       Materials that show up on time
·       Certified labor that stays
·       Quality systems that catch issues before they hit your airplane
·       Equipment upkeep so we’re not nursing machines past tolerance
Pricing on supplemental/PMA items distributed by LASAR may vary by product; updated numbers will be clearly posted in the Portal and online catalog. If a price moves, we’ll explain why—in plain English.

What comes next:

·       Expand the catalog (high-impact SKUs first) and publish target restock dates
·       Bring more machining/finishing in-house to reduce cost and time
·       Maintain a fair, transparent pricing model tied to real inputs and quality
·       Publish quarterly progress reports: what shipped, what’s in production, what’s next

Your role in the story:

Time and money aren’t on our side, so we’re funneling all profits back into inventory, people, and machines to keep Mooney afloat and moving forward. This community has always been Mooney’s edge. In the days ahead, we’ll share a simple, fair way for owners and partners to lean in and directly accelerate the ramp.

Thank you for sticking with us—and for holding us to a high bar. This isn’t glossy marketing; it’s a promise: every dollar to the mission; every part to the fleet. Together with the Kerrville crew—and with you—we’ll secure the next 50 years of Mooney… one part, one airplane, one day’s work at a time.

Blue skies,
Brett Stokes and John Smoker
CEO, COO, LASAR Inc.

[EricJ]

48 minutes ago, cliffy said:

Effective immediately, Mooney-built parts will reflect a uniform 30% price increase.
 

That's the part I find least surprising.  

[IvanP]

Similar to what happened to Hartzell pricing after acquisition by Arcline. Seems to be a trend in the industry.  Let's hope that they can deliver on the rest of the promises. 

[1980Mooney]

7 hours ago, IvanP said:

Similar to what happened to Hartzell pricing after acquisition by Arcline. Seems to be a trend in the industry.  Let's hope that they can deliver on the rest of the promises. 

Very true, but Mooney didn't need a middleman to raise prices 30% across the board - they could have done that themselves. "below true cost... drains our ability to keep lights on, ... That math doesn’t work for a week".  Don Maxwell had previously posted on Facebook that he had seen the books and said that Mooney couldn't survive on making parts.  What the heck has Mooney's so called "management" and "new owners group - US Financial, Jonny, etc" been doing all this time? Surely they knew they were selling parts below cost.

And a "uniform price increase" means that they still really don't know which parts were below cost and which were appropriately priced - that is called "machete management".

Most of what is in the letter - "AOG triage, quick wins out the door, weekly Kerrville+LASAR stand-ups..  Prioritizing the “grounders”: Identified the SKUs that park airplanes when they’re out of stock and locked specs, dates, and minimums....   Tightening the plumbing: Clear change control, traceable paperwork, and purchasing tied to real shop schedules." - that is just Business 101.  I will ask again - What the heck has Mooney's so called "management" and "new owners group - US Financial, Jonny, etc" been doing all this time?

And this "Tapping Kerrville know-how: Capturing invaluable knowledge and leveraging the know-how" - that is what all the MSC's used to do.

 

[redbaron1982]

As I read this post, two thoughts came to my mind:

1. Why would a relative large company like Lasar use ChatGPT (or a similar LLM) to craft the post? Don't they have people that can write a genuine letter to its customers? You can tell that this was generated by AI because of the  "—" or the " instead of the ”.
2. When I had the corrosion issue on my first annual inspection, Maxwell ordered a new aft stub spar from Mooney. What Maxwell charged me for the spar was ~4.6k, and labor was ~20k. I assume that Maxwell adds a markup to the parts, so most likely Mooney price was lower. It surprised me how "cheap" the part was, even more considering that it was backorderd and Mooney had to manufacture a new one. Talking with Patty from Mooney I know that they did a batch and they had a few bad parts that they had to scrap. So I'm quite sure the spar was priced below cost.

[TangoTango]

1 hour ago, 1980Mooney said:

Very true, but Mooney didn't need a middleman to raise prices 30% across the board - they could have done that themselves. "below true cost... drains our ability to keep lights on, ... That math doesn’t work for a week".  Don Maxwell had previously posted on Facebook that he had seen the books and said that Mooney couldn't survive on making parts.  What the heck has Mooney's so called "management" and "new owners group - US Financial, Jonny, etc" been doing all this time? Surely they knew they were selling parts below cost.

When I read the term "true cost" I immediately jumped to misallocation of fixed costs. Mooney surely has a lot of fixed overhead at that big facility that would be much lower per unit if they could just spread it out across some volume... and with volume decreasing now that the fleet is shrinking, there probably is some reckoning that's long overdue. I could see that hiding on a P&L for a while with a big healthy dose of "next month/quarter/year will be better, and we can spread those costs out at our current price levels".

The real problem is that Mooney has a facility sized and equipped to build airplanes out of, and they're trying to support it by building parts. That has probably never been a solid long term business plan.

[jeremyc209]

49 minutes ago, redbaron1982 said:

1. Why would a relative large company like Lasar use ChatGPT (or a similar LLM) to craft the post? Don't they have people that can write a genuine letter to its customers? You can tell that this was generated by AI because of the  "—" or the " instead of the ”.

My first thought as well. I don't have a problem with using AI to rewrite things like this for clarity, but at least spend some time tailoring the output.

[EricJ]

If the "true cost" of a part is more than the market will bear in a sustainable fashion, then you can't charge that much.    I think there was just a different assessment of the business and marketplace between the two managements.   I'm not sure the new path is any smarter than the old one.   Maybe less so.

[DCarlton]

2 hours ago, 1980Mooney said:

 

 

Any idea what the total staffing head count is between Mooney and Lasar?  I assumed only handful of people were left.  Any idea how many people are left between the two?  Engineers, mechanics, and parts people—builders?  The letter makes it sound substantial but perhaps that's part of the image.  

[1980Mooney]

2 hours ago, redbaron1982 said:

As I read this post, two thoughts came to my mind:

1. Why would a relative large company like Lasar use ChatGPT (or a similar LLM) to craft the post? Don't they have people that can write a genuine letter to its customers? You can tell that this was generated by AI because of the  "—" or the " instead of the ”.
2. When I had the corrosion issue on my first annual inspection, Maxwell ordered a new aft stub spar from Mooney. What Maxwell charged me for the spar was ~4.6k, and labor was ~20k. I assume that Maxwell adds a markup to the parts, so most likely Mooney price was lower. It surprised me how "cheap" the part was, even more considering that it was backorderd and Mooney had to manufacture a new one. Talking with Patty from Mooney I know that they did a batch and they had a few bad parts that they had to scrap. So I'm quite sure the spar was priced below cost.

 

33 minutes ago, DCarlton said:

Any idea what the total staffing head count is between Mooney and Lasar?  I assumed only handful of people were left.  Any idea how many people are left between the two?  Engineers, mechanics, and parts people—builders?  The letter makes it sound substantial but perhaps that's part of the image.  

LASAR is not a large company...they are a small company. LinkedIn shows 18 employees. When they announced they were moving to Prineville a few years ago, they told the press that they expected about 25 jobs. D&B Hoovers shows revenue to be $1.2 million. Even if these numbers are slightly off, LASAR is a tiny company in the scheme of things.  No wonder they used AI to draft the letter.

[Marc_B]

Lasar website no longer has a link for Parts.  Curious if the direct to consumer parts has changed?

[1980Mooney]

2 hours ago, TangoTango said:

When I read the term "true cost" I immediately jumped to misallocation of fixed costs. Mooney surely has a lot of fixed overhead at that big facility that would be much lower per unit if they could just spread it out across some volume... and with volume decreasing now that the fleet is shrinking, there probably is some reckoning that's long overdue. I could see that hiding on a P&L for a while with a big healthy dose of "next month/quarter/year will be better, and we can spread those costs out at our current price levels".

The real problem is that Mooney has a facility sized and equipped to build airplanes out of, and they're trying to support it by building parts. That has probably never been a solid long term business plan.

You are correct - your last sentence captures it perfectly.  The only time that Mooney was able to "spread it (fixed costs) out over volume" was when they were making aircraft.  As Maxwell said previously - Mooney can't make it on selling parts alone.  If it could, then it would be humming along with Meijing still owning it.  And what about the owner investor group, US Financial, that supposedly bought 80% of the company? - why didn't they provide this finance that LASAR "claims" it will bring?

Now they have a "middleman" with lofty titles of CEO and COO.  Mooney still has people with CEO, COO and Chief Engineer titles.  What exactly does the COO at Mooney do (and what is Mooney paying for) if LASAR is "Building the plan: Sequenced a Year-1 ~$3M parts build by safety-of-flight impact and lead times.... Tightening the plumbing: Clear change control, traceable paperwork, and purchasing tied to real shop schedules."??

There is another thing that makes no sense here - perhaps business owners or those involved in a company's finances spotted it in the announcement.  Mooney International (the company) is not covering it's costs so Mooney is increasing the prices it charges for products that it makes.  That increased revenue (and margin) goes into Mooney's pocket - not into LASAR's pocket.  But LASAR claims "LASAR Aviation is the entity keeping Mooney funded".  If so LASAR will want to earn a return on that - that means LASAR needs to mark-up the price that they pay Mooney for the parts.  I wager that they will mark-up another at least 10-20% for the prices that they sell to MSC's.  So in reality prices are probably going up 50%.

5 minutes ago, Marc_B said:

Lasar website no longer has a link for Parts.  Curious if the direct to consumer parts has changed?

They may have good intentions but this could easily overwhelm them. On Facebook Mooney Pilots someone commented "The 30% increase right off the bat is a load of $h*t. They (LASAR) can’t even keep their own over priced parts in stock, what makes them think they can take on the whole Mooney catalog?"

Edited 12 hours ago by 1980Mooney

[Ryan ORL]

This sure is a cynical group.  Personally, I would rather have expensive-but-available Mooney parts than cheap-but-unavailable parts.  I only rarely need actual Mooney parts but when I do need them, it's usually something standing between me and actually using my airplane.

[Stubby]

15 minutes ago, Ryan ORL said:

This sure is a cynical group.  Personally, I would rather have expensive-but-available Mooney parts than cheap-but-unavailable parts.  I only rarely need actual Mooney parts but when I do need them, it's usually something standing between me and actually using my airplane.

I agree 100%

Call me crazy, but I don't think a 30% increase is that out of line. Especially when we already know that the current prices don't really mean a thing if their respective parts aren't even available.

[1980Mooney]

1 hour ago, Ryan ORL said:

This sure is a cynical group.  Personally, I would rather have expensive-but-available Mooney parts than cheap-but-unavailable parts.  I only rarely need actual Mooney parts but when I do need them, it's usually something standing between me and actually using my airplane.

 

46 minutes ago, Stubby said:

I agree 100%

Call me crazy, but I don't think a 30% increase is that out of line. Especially when we already know that the current prices don't really mean a thing if their respective parts aren't even available.

I think people get "cynicism" mixed up with "realism".  This continuing notion that Mooney International can continue structured as an aircraft manufacturer while only having a future as a replacement parts supplier leads to this continuous unsustainable negative cash flow. Mooney is carrying the liability of the aircraft it manufactured 2014-2019 into the later part of the next decade.  The turns into legal expense, insurance expense, filing expense.  As painful as it sounds, Mooney needs to file bankruptcy, get rid of all its liabilities, shrink down to the smallest footprint needed to just manufacture Mooney parts or maybe even license someone else to build them.  They don't need a CEO, COO and Chief Engineer.  They just need a plant manager. 

Otherwise it just drains anyone that tries to do it.  It drained the Chinese and they brought buckets of cash.  It drained the "US Financial" investors and I don't think that they brought any cash.  And it will drain LASAR too if they are unrealistic and overpromise.

Edited 10 hours ago by 1980Mooney

[Fix]

30% increase is maybe reasonable if we can get the parts we need.

But, when I ordered a part from Lasar and Mooney sent it directly to me the forgot to remove the invoice to Lasar.
Sadly Lasar added 60% on top of the Mooney price just to order that part.

Sure, Price and Demand... But 60% markup is ridiculous... and now an additional 30% on that.

I would be much more happy to give that 60% markup directly to Mooney instead of Lasar.

 

 

 

[PeterRus]

Mooney Part 914004-000

Click #1 -- LASAR is $270: https://lasar.com/hardware-bolts/machined-bolt-nose-gear-914004-000 

Click #2 -- non-LASAR: $18: https://www.altairaircraft.com/products/914004-000-mooney-texas-several-machined-bolt-nose-gear-price-per-each

Not available, but nevertheless I'd like to meet the person who slaps a $300 price tag on a bolt.. Sad, very sad.