My M20j almost kept the Cirrus SR22 in the rear view mirror!

[aaronk25]

Was on ifr from Chicago area to home base Rochester mn on a 310 heading when I got a call from center that asked me for my heading. I told them 310. I was 6000 (sunny day) I then heard center call a SR22 behind me and ask his heading and he said 310 also. Figuring he was right behind me and recognizing the controllers voice (I travel this route frequently and she's really nice and laughs a lot) I said "this is mooney 1ad is that Cirrus catching me" the controller said "just by a bit". I said "I'll step on it", which got a chuckle from the controller.

I was already running at the fastest economical Lean of peak setting, which on my bird with no step, no extra antennas, perfectly rigged is 2600rpm, 9.9-10 gph, peak to just a couple degrees LOP with cht at 377 yields 159kts.

I needed some more speed so I pushed the prop toward to 2700rpms and 100rop and ran 166kts for about 8 mins or so until the chts got to 400 and I decided that was enough. The controller then cleared the sr22 up to 8000 to go over me. I asked the controller what the sr22 speed was and she said about 8 kts faster.

I didn't think this was to bad for a plane with 100 less ponies under the hood.

I'm the president of our flying club and we have a 2005 sr22 in the fleet and we normally see 15gph at 174kts. It will do mid 180s at 20gph. For sacrificing just a little less speed the mooney is amazingly efficient. I smile when I see 10gph and darn near 160kts. Amazing. I normally run 9.2 at at 153-154kts. Or 8.5 at 150kts....lots of fun.

[201er]

That's awesome! If you were gonna play fair, you'd be up against an SR20, not 22.

[unicom]

The M20J is one of the most efficient aircraft in many respects. Crossing the Atlantic 2 years ago between Goose Bay and Narsarsuaq, I was followed by a Cirrus SR20, which of course could not catch up.

After I refuelled, I was ready to continue to Keflavik and asked the Cirrus Pilot if he was willing to meet after we land in Iceland. He then said: "sorry, can't make it to Keflavik, I need to fuel stop in Kulusuk and spend the night in Greeland. My fuel tanks are 56 Gallons against 64 Gallons for the M20J..."

My M20J made me save one night in Greenland which is on an average close to $300. If I had Monroy tanks installed I could even have done Goose Bay - Keflavik direct saving the enormous cost of the avgas in Greenland and most likely beat any SR22 on that route :-)

[Cabanaboy]

I heard this on MYR Approach one day, Diamond N**** you got a Mooney overtaking you by 50 knots.......

[carusoam]

Nice data gentlemen.

As the price of fuel climbs, we'll be happier to have Mooneys than anything else...

Best regards,

-a-

[PTK]

Nice data gentlemen.

As the price of fuel climbs, we'll be happier to have Mooneys than anything else...

Best regards,

-a-

Excellent point Anthony! I notice it now. More and more airplanes are becoming hangar queens!

[jetdriven]

One time I was flying a Cessna 402 in Texas and had a Mooney Rocket overtaking me by 30 knots, and I was set to "top of the green" power.

[Omega703]

upon contact with north las vegas tower last week, "bonanza xyz, you have a mooney overtaking you by 60 knots, fly heading 360, you'll be number two behind him"

To be fair, I was in the descent, but I didn't tell that to the bonanza.

[Dale]

I was flying back from North Carolina last month to North Perry airport in Hollywood Florida. I was IFR at 10,000 feet and was on with Jacksonville center. A Cirrus sr22 was also on with Jacksonville center and he was a few miles ahead of me at 8000 feet heading to the same airport. I picked up the cirrus on my mx20 traffic system and was overtaking him. After a little while, I had caught up to him and had a visual on him to my lower left. I passed the Cirrus and he came in behind me at North Perry. I think that was a little unsettling for the Cirrus pilot.

[Z W]

The Sunday at the end of Sun n Fun last year, I was flying from Florida back to Missouri, IFR at 8000 ft. I had about a 15 knot headwind, but it was worse higher up, and a nice smooth ride at 8000 at about 150 kts ground speed. The skies were full of bugsmasher-type planes, the weather had been bad and kept the VFR guys I think stuck on the ground at Lakeland. They were popping up everywhere and ATC was extremely busy.

I had a Cirrus (can't remember if it was a 20 or 22) and a 182 following right along behind me as I passed over Talahassee, both down at 6500 or 4500. They were complaining about turbulence to ATC and asking how the winds were at 8000. ATC asked, I told them about 15 knots, and the Cirrus, grumbling, said he would just stay down low. I left them both way behind.

We should be careful telling these kinds of stories, though. There's some guy on another forum somewhere laughing about how he blew by a Mooney in his TBM 850 the other day, although I wouldn't want to trade him fuel and maintenance bills for the year.

[jetdriven]

The Bonanza guys always laugh at my 201 and say theirs is faster. Well, my wife passed up a 250 hp Bonanza K35 at the last air race (beat him by 4 MPH) , and at Galveson we were only 12 MPH slower than a 260 HP modified N35 Bonanza.

When I mention they should stop beating up on 200 HP airplanes and take a shot at the Ovation (the real direct comparison to a Bonanza), they get real quiet. Theoy ought to. An Ovation 2 is 20 knots faster than the fastest V35B or A36.

If you really want to pull the Acclaim out of the shed, it handily whips the fastest TNIO-550 Turbo Bonanza, along with the 58P Baron, and even a King Air 90.

[aviatoreb]

One time I was flying a Cessna 402 in Texas and had a Mooney Rocket overtaking me by 30 knots, and I was set to "top of the green" power.

I was right seat in a C402 several months ago and I was really impressed to see it was pulling 165IAS at 8k on 20-21gph (per side! that's the gotcha) which I rough out to 191TAS. That's a lot faster than I thought it could be and comparable to the best I can do at that altitude and fuel flow - but mine one one engine. Engines are almost the same TSIO520 with comparable fuel flow-power settings.

[Vref]

The Bonanza guys always laugh at my 201 and say theirs is faster. Well, my wife passed up a 250 hp Bonanza K35 at the last air race (beat him by 4 MPH) , and at Galveson we were only 12 MPH slower than a 260 HP modified N35 Bonanza.

When I mention they should stop beating up on 200 HP airplanes and take a shot at the Ovation (the real direct comparison to a Bonanza), they get real quiet. Theoy ought to. An Ovation 2 is 20 knots faster than the fastest V35B or A36.

If you really want to pull the Acclaim out of the shed, it handily whips the fastest TNIO-550 Turbo Bonanza, along with the 58P Baron, and even a King Air 90.

The Bonanza guys always laugh at my 201 and say theirs is faster. Well, my wife passed up a 250 hp Bonanza K35 at the last air race (beat him by 4 MPH) , and at Galveson we were only 12 MPH slower than a 260 HP modified N35 Bonanza.

When I mention they should stop beating up on 200 HP airplanes and take a shot at the Ovation (the real direct comparison to a Bonanza), they get real quiet. Theoy ought to. An Ovation 2 is 20 knots faster than the fastest V35B or A36.

If you really want to pull the Acclaim out of the shed, it handily whips the fastest TNIO-550 Turbo Bonanza, along with the 58P Baron, and even a King Air 90.

Long time no talk...yes Byron, I agree nothing beats the mooneys efficiency..however the cheapest Ovation is about double the price of V35..also....

However for multi role purposes...one could discuss. In Europe bonanza's have become on the same price range then M20J's...I agree you pay a price for the fuel flow...with a cost close to 3 euro/Liter it explains why ....