mooney acclaim type s cruise speed

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Mooney Acclaim Type S

We spend a week with the world's fastest piston production airplane. guess what: it was a lot of fun..

Mooney Acclaim Type S Robert Goyer

There are many things to love about the turbocharged Mooney Acclaim, more than 230 of those things, in fact, and the Type S follow-on has a few more to add to the mix, bringing the total, according to Mooney’s accounting, to 242 … knots, that is.

The Continental TSIO-550-equipped Acclaim has been around for a couple of years now, and it’s been a great seller for Mooney. It was the successor to the Bravo, which was powered by a turbocharged 270 hp Lycoming TIO-540. I’ve had a chance to fly the Bravo, and it’s a nice airplane, a near 220-knot cruiser at 25,000 feet that can do around 200 knots in the mid-teens, where most pilots wind up operating these airplanes.

The Acclaim, let me say right off the bat, is a lot faster than that, and the Acclaim Type S, which features some aerodynamic improvements to the original, is faster still.

Moreover, the Acclaim has been the beneficiary of a number of notable quality of life improvements, thanks to updates on the G1000 avionics suite that is standard on all Mooneys today. (The last models of the Bravo had the first iteration of G1000.) The latest Acclaim, I just learned today, is now available with Garmin’s terrific Synthetic Vision Technology (SVT). Unfortunately, you’ll have to read about that in a future story.

On the Acclaim Type S, Mooney asks the Continental engine to deliver just 280 hp, this from an engine type that cranks out 310 horses in at least one other current airplane. Given the Mooney’s sleek lines, 280 horses is plenty. The airplane is very fast, as fast as some turboprop twins, in fact.

It’s interesting to note that while the Acclaim competes with new designs in the form of the Cirrus SR22 G3 Turbo and the Cessna 400, the Mooney does almost everything in a very different way from those models. With the Acclaim you get a relatively compact, all-metal, retractable-gear airplane that appeals to people who are looking for truly personal transportation. Many writers and owners before me have compared the airplane to a sports car, and the comparison is certainly apt. You sit low in an Acclaim, as you do in a Lotus. Rather than “sitting in” the airplane, it’s more like you’re wearing it. Some passengers will love it. Others won’t. Like just about everything else with the Mooney, it’s a very subjective thing.

When Mooney introduced its Type S Acclaim last fall, it said that it indisputably had the fastest piston single in the world, with a top cruise speed of up to 242 knots, an improvement of nearly 10 knots over the original Acclaim. It had achieved this kind of speed increase by working into the design a number of aerodynamic enhancements, though it declined, like a Nascar team working under cover of night, to go into detail about it. For the record, the competition is the Cessna 400, which is just about as fast, though I haven’t heard Cessna arguing that its airplane is faster than the Type S. Some 400s are probably a knot or two faster than some Acclaims.

These days Mooney is talking more freely about the aerodynamic mods, and though they aren’t the stuff of great genius, they have the unusual effect, unlike many such mods, of actually doing what the company claims they will.

What are they? The most noteworthy (and if I had to put money on it, the most effective) is the addition of a new three-bladed Hartzell prop. There’s a new, smaller but still very effective air inlet, flap gap seals, and cleaned-up gear doors and flap hinges. If you’d asked me before the fact if these changes would have made a 7-knot difference in speed, I’d have bet against it. But I’d have been wrong.

Nope, the result of the cleanup is an airplane that is noticeably faster than its predecessor by a good margin. I never saw the 242 knots that Mooney claims, but I’m sure some examples can do it. During the week I was flying the airplane, it was still pretty hot out, and even at 25,000 feet, it was considerably warmer than standard. On the day that I donned the mask and climbed the Acclaim up that high, I was able to wring 236 knots out of it at the best power setting, whereas the book said that I should have been able to get 240 knots true at the warmer than standard temperature.

It seems absurd, I should add, to apologize for 236 knots, so let me point out that 236 knots made me very happy indeed. And at 50 degrees lean of peak, I was still seeing 230 knots at 21 gph.

Now, if I were to operate an Acclaim on a regular basis I doubt I’d fly it up at 25,000 feet very often, except perhaps to take advantage of great tailwinds. I’m not alone in this and I have the same reasons as other pilots of turbocharged airplanes: I hate wearing a mask and, despite the airplane’s excellent climb performance (800-plus fpm all the way up), it does take a while to climb to FL 250, especially when ATC steps you up along the way, as they are sure to do in many parts of the country. But that said, once you’re up there, seeing 230-anything, and on a good day 240-plus, on the true-airspeed readout on the G1000 is a sweet thing to behold. And it’s no mirage. I would, in fact, flight plan for something in the neighborhood of 232 knots were I going that high. This is one smoking airplane. With a respectable tailwind, you’re looking at 270 knots or better.

But the biggest reason I’d stay down in the mid-teens is because the Acclaim does exceptionally well there. Heading from Midland, Texas, back home to Austin on one flight, I was at 17,500 (yes, VFR and almost completely alone in my airspace there). At that altitude on that day I was seeing 222 knots true on the display with, again, right around 21 gph fuel flow at 50 degrees lean of peak. And you can do much better in terms of fuel consumption, if you’re willing to slow down a bit. At 16,500 on the way out to West Texas, I pulled the power back to 26 inches and 2400 rpm and got right around 205 knots at 18 gph with a total range of better than 1,000 nm and a fuel efficiency of better than 12 nm per gallon. Try that in a Suburban. And if I’d settled for even less speed and wanted to stretch the leg out, I could have easily flown from Central Texas to Southern California nonstop with the standard 100-gallon tanks, no less. The airplane is available with 130 gallons of fuel, though it’s an option that not many customers opt for.

A feature that comes on every Acclaim are speed brakes, and they make flying the airplane a lot easier in a few different ways. Coupled with the three big speed brakes on the belly of the airplane (often referred to as landing gear), Acclaim pilots have some great tools to help in getting the airplane heading down when it’s time to descend. And they allow you to do it without building up too big a head of steam, while still letting you keep the power reductions incremental and gradual. If you fly the airplane at the flight levels, you’ll need the help. Few controllers seem to understand the difference between a pressurized airplane and a non-pressurized one. The difference, of course, is about 1,000 fpm in the rate of descent. The key in the Mooney is to think ahead, to beg for lower early, to use the speed brakes right off the bat and to reduce power judiciously as you descend to keep the speed from building too high. Even when I was given unrealistic sounding crossing altitudes on a couple of occasions, I was able to make them without having to descend at much more than 1,000 fpm. But you’ve got to plan ahead.

Mooney at Heart

The speed brakes also help in one other respect, in landing. You’ve probably heard that Mooneys are hard airplanes to land, and it’s true. Unless, that is, you do things right, in which case they’re easy to land. The key, as you know if you’ve flown them, is to control your airspeed. On landings where I did this, I was overjoyed with the result. On landings where I was a little fast, the results weren’t pretty. By using the speed brakes, however, the airplane tends to float a lot less. By the end of the week I was using the blades on every landing. With them, speed control is still important, but slightly less so.

In all other ways, the Acclaim is a Mooney, and that means that people who love them adore them and people who don’t wonder about the ones who do.

As I said, the airplane is compact, and while the shoulder room is generous, the overall cabin size is cozy, as is the case for the back seat too. The interior, on the other hand, is elegant, verging on luxurious, with nice leather with contrasting piping. It’s a nice place to while away the hours as the terrain passes below you at an impressive rate.

As with all the Mooney models, the Acclaim comes with some impressive options, including a TKS anti-icing package that is approved for flight into known icing. You can also get air conditioning, which is something I pined for during my week with the airplane in the late Texas summer (which feels a lot like the worst summer day anywhere else). The addition of those two options, I might add, while contributing mightily to safety and comfort, combine to cut the useful load tremendously. So many buyers choose to do without them, putting up with the heat on warm days on departure and arrival — it’s nice and cool up high, remember — while practicing prudence when it comes to the icing issue. Those who live in the ice belt, not surprisingly, are Mooney’s best customers for the TKS, which for much of the year can be flown with little or no fluid in the tanks.

I think that’s a good way to think about the Acclaim, as an unparalleled one/two-occupant long-range rocket, but maybe more importantly as an excellent regional airplane. This is very much, in fact, how I think of turboprops and how charter companies make use of them. One of the Mooney employees who regularly flies a company Ovation 3 airplane around the Southwest on the way to and from Big 12 football games — tough gig, I know — says that the airlines simply can’t touch the Mooney for block to block times, not to mention overall convenience. And I believe it.

On a trip out to West Texas, the Mooney delivered me in comfort and high style in just a little longer than the airlines would have, but in a much shorter time when you factor in the lines and built-in wait times of airline travel. And the schedule was all mine.

It’s an appealing way of travel on many levels, and I found myself quickly getting used to the speed, continental styling and turbine level systems of the airplane. Also, after a good flight in the airplane, I felt a real sense of accomplishment, what with managing oxygen, speed brakes, landing gear, and running the beautiful G1000 flight deck. It’s a lot more than mere transportation, that’s for sure, and Mooney customers genuinely appreciate this aspect of ownership, in addition, it goes without saying, to the speed.

On the fence next to the taxiway leading out of the Mooney production ramp, there’s a sign that reads, “Fasten your seat belt.” Some might take that as a simple safety reminder to the pilots heading out for the runway at Kerrville Municipal. But the real meaning, I’d venture to say, is this: “You’re in a Mooney. Prepare to go fast.”

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Mooney M20TN Acclaim Type S

By Plane and Pilot Updated February 22, 2016 Save Article

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Acclaim Type S Cruise Power Settings

By Joe Zuffoletto September 5, 2011 in Modern Mooney Discussion

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Joe zuffoletto.

After flying a beautiful 1998 Encore for the past 11 years I decided it was time to trade up, so I'm now the proud owner of a 2008 Acclaim Type S. Wow, what a fire breather!

I'm looking for advice on cruise power settings, both best power and best economy, from more experienced Acclaim owners. Or should I just fly it by the numbers on the visor? LOP or ROP? The only advice I've received so far is to power back to 30.5", leave the prop full forward and let 'er rip, and dial in LOP or ROP as preferred. Not sure about that and I'd like to hear more opinions from real-world Acclaim drivers.

Thanks in advance,

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May 17, 2020

Hi, guys. I'm still around and poke my nose in here from time to time. I'm loving my RV-8 - it's the perfect plane for me at this stage of my flying adventures. The Acclaim went to a great n

September 5, 2011

Greetings, After flying a beautiful 1998 Encore for the past 11 years I decided it was time to trade up, so I'm now the proud owner of a 2008 Acclaim Type S. Wow, what a fire breather! I'm looking

October 23, 2011

Joe ... brother Dave here.  After a long talk with TCM, they feel pretty strongly that the issues with the cylinder longevity is directly related to the breather tube that terminates into the tailpipe

Parker_Woodruff

Absolutely fly LOP. Congrats on the upgrade.

I would suggest the engine management course from Advanced Pilot.  A client of mine with serial number 110 took it and reports it is very worth while.

I have no Acclaim experience but will second the recommendation for the APS class Clarence mentioned.  I took it 4 years ago, and it was the best money/time I've spent as an owner.  They will give you the education you need to intelligently operate any aircraft engine so that it will give you a long, happy service life.  Once you take it, you'll pretty much never need to look at an OEM recommendation for power settings again.

That's a beautiful Acclaim.  You got the one with the "Bandit" paint scheme that has been on Controller for awhile it looks like.

I think I must be in a skeptical mood this morning, so take what I say with a grain of salt.

First, I have attended the APS.  It was very good, but notably short of advice on how to run a turbocharged engine LOP.  I am not saying there was no advice on that, just not nearly as much time as they spent on big bore normally aspirated engines.  Further, there was practically no time spent on small bore turbos.  Yours is not exactly a small bore turbo, mine is.  But the 231 engines like mine are notably finicky about running LOP, and so far I have not had alot of luck trying to run LOP, which leads me to my next point.  I am coming to the conclusion with my engine, that LOP is a great theory, but my engine won't do it, and trying to force it is probably not good for the engine.

There is not much information out there on the Acclaims, because they were not in production long before the factory shut down.  But the one piece that has concerned me (I have been looking at them and thinking about getting one) is the scuttlebutt that there have been quite a few Acclaims that have needed a TOH at between 200 and 400 hours SNEW.  The MSC I take my aircraft to (Willmar) has said it depends on what training the pilot has gotten about how to run the engine.  That is all I know.  I can tell you if I had the privilege of owning an Acclaim, I would want to find out what method of running them is causing the TOH's.  I think it is the "firebreathing dragon" method. 

andysmith11

As per other posts, not a lot of detailed info around on running ROP/LOP on the Acclaim Type S. I was trained to pull MP back to 30.5" as you mentioned, with the prop either at max RPM or pulled back closer to 2400 RPM (supposedly matches RPM efficieny with MP). Then run ROP or LOP as preferred. I've heard the rumor about TOH at 200-400 hours too, but I have run almost exclusively LOP other than engine break-in and have almost 400 hours on the engine with zero problems. Now, I am hitting the high end of the rumored window, so we'll see what happens. I burn ~16.5 gph LOP, max CHT is 330 degrees or less, and max TIT is just over 1600 degrees. I generally see about 195 TAS between 10,000-12,000 ft That ramps up nicely as I go higher. The one thing I've found is the fuel/speed benefit of ROP vs LOP in the Acclaim S doesn't make sense to me (potential maitenance costs from ROP aside - given the unknowns). I burn an additional 4-5 gph running ROP and only gain about 7 kts running ROP vs LOP, so for me, the extra costs of fuel for a 7 kt improvement in speed is just not worth it.

The couple of things I try to be very finicky about is pulling power back gradually on descent/approach. I look for 1" of MP reduction per minute. The Acclaim will force you start thiniking in terms of time and not distance quickly. The other engine management technique is a 5 minute cool down of the turbos with the engine at idle. One question I've had about this, and have never gotten an answer I felt was a solid answer is how the temperature of the internal rotating parts of the turbo behaves relatively to TIT. I find that in the last ~2 minutes of the cooldown window, the TIT levels off. I get the concept that the internal rotating parts of the turbo can be hotter than the TIT, but my question is how does the tempture of the internal rotating parts converge with the TIT? In other words, if the TIT levels off, are the internal parts of the turbo still cooling down. I've taken it on a bit of faith that the 5 minute cooldown window is the result of some analysis of these factors, but have yet to have an explanation I feel really confident with.

btw...congrats on a sweet new ride.

Andy,  The folks at APS will tell you that idling your engine for a 5 minute "cool down" is a complete waste of time.  What they've shown is that your engine is about as cool as it's going to get when the wheels touch the runway upon landing.  After that, it starts to heat up during the taxi back to the hangar.  It really starts to heat up when you stop in front of the hangar to allow it to "cool down" as there is very, very little air flow through the cowling at that point.

BTW, where are you based in Houston?

Thanks to everyone for your feedback and comments. Has anyone taken the APS online course, or is it essential to go in person?

jlunseth, you're right... I picked up the BMW Acclaim that has been on Controller the past few weeks. I was initially skeptical about the "bandit" paint scheme but that all went away when I saw the plane in person. The colors, both the blue and gray, are truly unique and look great together. And the shade of blue is very rich and unlike any I have ever seen.

I was up in Benson, Minesota recently (KBBB) for some training in my new to me Mooney Missile, and there in the hanger next door was another Mooney Acclaim Type S.  Bruce Jaeger gave me the training and knows about engine management.  He put me through some ground school and at one point showed me the picture of an Mooney Acclaim engine and exaust system bright orange from being run too hot - he stressed that this was one of the reasons for the burned up cylanders and Top Overhauls within a few hundred hours many Accliam's face.  His website is www.jaegeraviation.com , give him a call, fly out there (Wilmar), and get some proper training.  He's an expert Mooney Instructor.  PM me for his driect contact infromation if the website is not sufficient. 

I would suggest the Willmar people also, either Bruce, who now does training for the most part, or Brian Negen who now runs Willmar Air Service, 320-285-4844 .  Brian does not do training but I am sure he would take a few minutes to talk to you about power settings.

I have not taken the online course, but what the in-person course provides that I think is invaluable in persuading people where they should be running their engines, is the ability to watch an engine run on their test bed and see the graphic results as various parameters are changed, particularly mixture.  To call it a "test stand" is a little bit of an understatement and it is truly sophisticated.  Much more impressive to see that happen than reading material.  The other thing the in-person course permits, is the ability to ask questions, and to hear other people ask questions, about what is happening with your engine and how you should be running it.

Its a fun course.  I flew down from Minnesota.  It started first thing in the a.m. and we went pretty much non-stop until Sunday noon.  Covered alot of material and alot of questions about engine management were answered. 

That's great information! Willmar Air Service told me Bruce retired when I called a couple months ago. I'm glad to hear he's become a full-time Mooney instructor. He did the pre-buy on my 1998 Encore and is indeed a very sharp Mooney guy. I'll definitely contact him. Many thanks.

Quote : jlunseth That's a beautiful Acclaim.  You got the one with the "Bandit" paint scheme that has been on Controller for awhile it looks like. I think I must be in a skeptical mood this morning, so take what I say with a grain of salt. First, I have attended the APS.  It was very good, but notably short of advice on how to run a turbocharged engine LOP.  I am not saying there was no advice on that, just not nearly as much time as they spent on big bore normally aspirated engines.  Further, there was practically no time spent on small bore turbos.  Yours is not exactly a small bore turbo, mine is.  But the 231 engines like mine are notably finicky about running LOP, and so far I have not had alot of luck trying to run LOP, which leads me to my next point.  I am coming to the conclusion with my engine, that LOP is a great theory, but my engine won't do it, and trying to force it is probably not good for the engine. There is not much information out there on the Acclaims, because they were not in production long before the factory shut down.  But the one piece that has concerned me (I have been looking at them and thinking about getting one) is the scuttlebutt that there have been quite a few Acclaims that have needed a TOH at between 200 and 400 hours SNEW.  The MSC I take my aircraft to (Willmar) has said it depends on what training the pilot has gotten about how to run the engine.  That is all I know.  I can tell you if I had the privilege of owning an Acclaim, I would want to find out what method of running them is causing the TOH's.  I think it is the "firebreathing dragon" method. 

I think that means just running it at max power without any regard to CHT or ICP in order to get the 242 KTAS claim at altitude... if owners are routinely running very high power at 25-50 ROP to get those speeds, then cylinders will not be long for this world!

GeorgePerry

What were your impressions of Mark and Delta Aviation?  Good transaction?  Flexible on sales price?

George: As it turns out, the seller and I live across town from each other here in Denver. I flew my Encore to his airport to meet for a showing and we hammered out a deal to trade airplanes on the spot... turns out he was in the market for an Encore! We're both happy with the deal and our brokers were barely involved (mine was Jimmie Garrison, All American Aircraft). The stars were truly aligned.

I've owned an Acclaim S for about 18 month, and I've been flying turbocharged for thirty years. Here's what I have gleaned:

First, in the Cessna 340 with Continentals we always flew ROP. Didn't help; the airplane was always a maintenance hog. (But I loved it anyway.) In the original Malibus  with Continental, we started flying LOP, and we never had a problem with that airplane. That was with only a TIT gauge. No individual cylinder EGT or CHT gauges. In the Acclaim, I have flown ROP and LOP, and I agree with a previous writer who observed that the difference in fuel consumption could not be justified by speed difference. As far as what the engine likes, I notice that in the summer at 12,000 feet the cylinder heads will get up in that 380-90 range at 29" and 2500 RPM (and that is at 100 ROP--I think 50ROP is crazy), but you will take 20-30 degrees right off the CHT when you go lean of peak. Also, the cylinders seem very well balanced in my airplane, which is to say that when I go 50 LOP on the TIT gauge, each cylinder is at least 30+ cooler on the individual EGTs. So I know that I am LOP on every cylinder. That was always one of the big bugaboos years ago, that when LOP one or more cylinders would be at or near peak. Try this in your airplane and see.

Bottom line on the LOP question is that the book calls for it,  Contiental  calls for it, all CHTs and EGTs show engine cooler, and my most recent annual (last week) was a clean engine with good compressions. (Note: one cylinder replaced a year ago under warranty for bad compression.) Engine now has about 525 hours.

The prior owner always flew the airplane at 26" and 2500 RPM LOP. The flight instructor at Willmar who did my checkout was a big believer in that too, though others in Willmar prefer 27" and 2400 RPM LOP. I detect no difference except noise. My instructor also preached that for high speed cruise to run 29"/2500 ROP as it was only a couple of knots slower than 30.5" and that 30.5 was hotter. Heat bad.

Recently, I have taken to flying at 29" 2500 RPM and LOP. As I said, cool and airplane seems to like it.

Finally, a word of caution. Watch the exhaust transitions into the  turbos . They have a propensity to crack. Should be carefully inspected at each oil change. My airplane had one crack when relatively new, and again in the last year. I posted the story and pictures on this forum--search my name and you'll find it.

I think you can pull off two inches per minute in descent. I do, and (touch wood) no issues yet. That's what we did for years in the 340 too. And the Mojave (though little could hurt those big bad  Lycs ).

Best luck. Fly safe. Don't trust the  speedbrakes --they fail just when you going to impress the Citation driver on the parallel approach.

Quote : Daniel First, in the Cessna 340 with Continentals we always flew ROP. Didn't help; the airplane was always a maintenance hog.... Best luck. Fly safe. Don't trust the  speedbrakes --they fail just when you going to impress the Citation driver on the parallel approach.  

Thank you for your extensive reply. I also had a phone conversation with Bruce Jaeger who's also a LOP proponent at conservative power settings so I have a lot more to go by now. Tried his suggestions (which are similar to yours) during a 2-hour flight early this morning and really liked what I saw.

I'll keep an eye on those speedbrakes. My Encore had them as well and I was lucky enough to suffer only one failure in 11 years.

Keep the blue side up!

Bruce had flown the Accliam Type S that was sitting in the hanger with the owner during the previous week from Washington (state, not DC).  Also, the owner was thinking of placing a four blade composite prop on it for testing and a possible STC.  Regardless, Bruce has experience in the Acclaim Type S - Also, just as mentioned in other posts, he showed that by backing off power and RPM, you lost maybe two knots but a lot of heat and fuel burn.  EDIT - Well we posted at the same time - I'm glad you spoke with Bruce.

George - I'll shoot you an email, but Tim Lunquist purchased the Wilmar sales depatment and now runs Strategic Aircraft LLC.  I can give you his number as he can be on the lookout for you, and usually has people interested in selling their aircraft if the right buyer comes along - those not listed on any of the avaition websites - controller, trade-a-plane, etc . . .  Tell him what you are intersted in, and who knows, the perfect bird may be waiting for you upon your return stateside.

Quote : Seth Tell him what you are intersted in, and who knows, the perfect bird may be waiting for you upon your return stateside. Take care, -Seth 

Quote : aviatoreb

Hi Daniel,  Why did you always fly ROP in the 340?  Was it something special with that engine.  I ask because I have a rocket and you may know that the rocket conversion uses the exact engine and prop from the C340.

I hear you on the speed brakes.  My speed brakes are at the factory right now getting "retreaded" the rubber got old.

Quote : Daniel Hi Daniel,  Why did you always fly ROP in the 340?  Was it something special with that engine.  I ask because I have a rocket and you may know that the rocket conversion uses the exact engine and prop from the C340. I hear you on the speed brakes.  My speed brakes are at the factory right now getting "retreaded" the rubber got old.

Quote : Parker_Woodruff

Yup.  Lots of his sales happen before the plane makes it to the online classifieds.

Quote : Seth this was after the prebuy that had me walk away from a 252

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Mooney Acclaim Ultra: Tops in Raw Speed

Mooney found a few more knots in the ultra and gussied up the long body with a second door, nxi avionics and a posh interior..

A nerdy parlor game for aviation obsessives is to ponder how much further Mooney can stretch its decades old tube-and-sheet design into yet another new product. In this report, we’re looking at the M20V Acclaim Ultra, and that leaves four more alpha designators for something new.

Although it’s really an incremental upgrade to the long-body M20 series, the Acclaim Ultra was a major certification project for Mooney at a time when we’re not seeing many of those—from anyone. The results inarguably make the Acclaim Ultra the fastest four-place certified single-engine piston airplane and not just by a little. The Acclaim goes head to head with both its normally aspirated sibling, the Ovation Ultra (see February 2018 Aviation Consumer) and both Cirrus models, the SR22 and SR22T which, together, constitute the current market leaders. That puts the Acclaim into a niche within a niche—a slice of buyers who want speed, but care less about cabin size or payload. Pricewise, at $789,000 base, the Acclaim invoices below the typical Cirrus models.

Long Bodies

The M20V traces its DNA to Mooney’s first all-metal models that then and now combined a hell-for-strong welded-steel cabin cage with a traditional riveted monocoque after section. The Ultra twins owe their stretched cabins to one of Mooney’s ill-starred dead ends: the Porsche-powered PFM. Although the engine was disastrous, the airframe endured and became what’s known as the long-body airframe.

That design matured into the Lycoming-powered Bravo and, in 1994, the more successful M20R Ovation. A combination of market timing, a good economy and credible performance made the Ovation a hit for Mooney. But the company’s 1997 attempt to follow that with a revival of the turbocharged short-body M20K, the Encore, was another anemic seller.

In 2006, Mooney addressed that by essentially turbocharging the Ovation with Continental’s 280-HP TSIO-550-G. This became the Acclaim and a couple of years later, with drag cleanups, it morphed into the Type S, which Mooney rightfully claimed was the fastest piston single.

The 2008 downturn ended Mooney production and, except for parts support, the company once again went into stasis until the China-based Meijing Group bought it in 2013. An infusion of cash funded another soon-to-be stalled project, the M10 trainer, a major redo of the long body and modernization of the factory.

Cosmetically, the airframe doesn’t look much different, save for the new door on the pilot’s side. But this proved a major certification project for Mooney, requiring two years to massively rejigger the welded cage to carry flight loads around the new door opening. And thanks to the composite experience gained through the M10 project, the forward cabin is now skinned with a fiberglass composite shell that may eventually evolve to carbon fiber.

The shell, which is clipped to the steel cage, has implications for assembly efficiency because it allows technicians unrestricted access to install wiring, hardware and fixtures before the cabin is enclosed. That squeezes hours out of the build time and chips away at production costs.

For pilots, the new cage and shell offer stiffer composite doors whose openings are four inches wider and an inch-and-half taller. The doors also get new latching mechanisms and tasty brushed aluminum handles.

The Same But Different

The airplane sports dozens of less obvious improvements, including a carbon fiber cowl, gear doors and wingtips and drag cleanups, including a gap seal for the flaps. Mooney has always been obsessive about flush riveting and still is. Lee Drumheller, who sells Mooneys for Fort Lauderdale’s Premier Aircraft Sales, likes to point out the flush-riveted aerodynamic housing around the fuel vents. “No one else does that,” he says.

Mooney’s production chief, Rob Dutton, says the company has nicked hundreds of hours out of production time, but the airplanes are still a complex build. The wing is a giant, single-piece assembly with a riveted spar that would do a suspension bridge proud. The M20s still have wet-wing fuel tanks, but now they’re sealed with improved compounds intended to last longer before resealing.

The control circuitry is the same steel tubes Mooney has always used, yielding a precise if occasionally stiff control feel. The gear system is similarly tube driven via an electric motor in the cabin center section. Along with the Beechcraft design, this system has proved to be the most reliable in general aviation and is tolerant of less-than-perfect maintenance. Same for the flaps. They’re electrically activated with a ready-to-the-hand flap-shaped toggle on the panel with presets for takeoff and landing.

And while we’re on the panel, both Ultras have a new version of it that includes reorganized switchology with rockers rather than toggles. Critical items—master, alternator field and emergency bus—have red rockers on the far left, while everything else is black. Exterior lights are on the overhead; not my favorite. The panel is well organized, but because of its limited size, some switches are obscured by the yoke.

As does about every other new airplane, the Acclaim Ultra has Garmin’s G1000 NXi. (See February 2017 Aviation Consumer for a full review.) This system has faster processing for a quicker startup and almost instant graphics refreshing. The displays are brighter and crisper and Garmin seems to have simplified the operating logic.

The NXi is fully coupled to the GFC700 autopilot, with a vertical control panel situated between the two display screens. The autopilot has envelope protection for overbanking and overspeed, but it doesn’t have the blue bail-me-out righting button pioneered in the Cirrus Perspective version of the G1000. The GFC700 has a reputation as the best new autopilot in GA and it’s deserved. It allows flexible aircraft control and the ride is silky smooth.

The Ultras are so loaded up that there aren’t many options, avionics wise or otherwise. For ADS-B In and Out, the airplane has the GTX345R along with the GDL69A for XM data. For $16,720, a buyer can add the GTS800 active traffic system, but Drumheller says few buyers do because ADS-B traffic performs so well.

Also on the option menu is FIKI-approved TKS and air conditioning. But because of the weight hit, that’s an either/or, not both. The AC is a $28,900 option with a 66-pound penalty. TKS weighs 95 pounds fully charged and adds $64,990 to the invoice. Surprisingly, Drumheller says neither option is particularly popular, especially in his southeastern territory where icing is less of a concern. And with the second door, holding it open for a cooling breeze during taxi may be a suitable alternative to AC. For an additional $10,000, Mooney offers what it calls Fill and Fly. It covers all the maintenance and consumables except fuel for three years or 300 hours, whichever comes first. That includes annuals and adding up the numbers, it strikes me as a good value. Even a new airplane can easily have a $3000 annual.

No Heavy Hauler

Mooney’s turbocharged models have never been payload workhorses and neither is the Acclaim Ultra. With AC, the demonstrator I flew had an empty weight of 2511 pounds for a useful load of just 857 pounds on a max weight of 3380 pounds. Fill it with 89 gallons and the airplane has a payload of 323 pounds. Without the AC, it would be 389 pounds. That makes it a two-people-with-baggage airplane. Down fueled to, say, 50 gallons, you can put three people into the airplane, with moderate baggage. That’s three hours at middling power settings or four at economy speeds.

Obviously, this is a significant compromise against the Cirrus SR22T, which claims best-case useful loads of 1248 pounds. In the real world, it’s less than that. But with three hours of fuel, plus a reserve, the Cirrus can carry four people. The tradeoff is the Acclaim gets there a little faster and/or goes a little farther because of its higher cruise speed.

Oxygen—a 77 cu. ft. system from Precise Flight—is standard equipment on the Acclaim, while it’s an option in the Ovation. That assumes owners will want to climb into the high teens or even up to the airplane’s maximum certificated altitude of 25,000 feet. Some owners clearly do that, but on our trial flight, Drumheller pointed out that the Acclaim speeds along handily at 12,000 feet, sans sticking a plastic tube up your nose. There’s something to be said for that.

The M20V gets that performance the same way the Ovation does, with Continental’s IO-550 engine, the de facto standard these days for high-performance aircraft. The Acclaim’s TSIO-550-G has two intercooled Kelly Aerospace turbochargers. The specs claim the engine is turbonormalized, but I’d call it ground-boosted, delivering up to 34 inches of boost.

While the Ovation gets 310 HP from the IO-550, the Acclaim’s version is derated to 280 HP. If that sounds like the Ovation will out-climb the Acclaim, it will at sea level on a standard day, by a couple of hundred feet a minute. That advantage fades when the density altitude gets to about 7000 feet. The Acclaim maintains its rate; the Ovation doesn’t.

Flight Impressions

Lee Drumheller says the Ultra’s pilot-side door is a potent sales tool and it’s easy to see why. It eases ingress and when both doors are open, the cabin is airier and more comfortable, even if a little contortion is still necessary. The back seats are tight until the front seats are slid forward to the normal flying position. The new seats—built and upholstered in-house—are done up in leather similar to luxury sedans.

Flight handling of Mooneys hasn’t changed much since the Bravo days. Compared to a 201, the long bodies are stiffer in pitch due to the engine hanging so far forward. It takes a tug to pop the airplane loose on takeoff and a touch to keep the stall lady from squawking.

For landings, Drumheller reminded me that the way to land a long body is to neutralize the heavy forward pitch moment by running the electric trim full up during the flare. That produces near-perfect touchdowns every time.

The Acclaim climbs briskly at about 1100 to 1200 FPM to as high you want, with good visibility over the nose at 120 knots cruise climb speed. Although Mooney lowered the glareshield in the new models, the view forward isn’t as expansive as a Cirrus or a Diamond. That’s a consequence of the small frontal area that gives the airplane its speed.

And the speed is impressive. We climbed to 13,500 for a speed check—about 10 minutes—and noted 206 KTAS, leaned 50 rich of peak at 21.9 GPH. That’s a little slower than the POH numbers, but also not a practical fuel burn. On the economy side, at 50 degrees lean, the Acclaim trued at 172 knots on 11.1 gallons. That equates to seven hours of endurance and nearly 1200 miles of still-air range, with reserve.

If you want speed and economy, you’ll have to take the Acclaim high. At 25,000, it can do 216 knots on 16 GPH, for a still-air range of 1000 miles-plus. But only with two people and light bags. That’s probably the buyer Mooney will have to find for this airplane and/or people who just don’t like the Cirrus for whatever reasons. The Mooney offers a $100,000 lower price tag for comparably equipped airframes, but for someone who can afford to write a check for these aircraft, I’m not sure if price sensitivity is an issue. Drumheller says it is not between the Ovation and the Acclaim. Buyers who want to go fast just want to go fast and they’ll pay for the hardware to do that.

Acclaim: Faster At All Altitudes

The Acclaim’s performance profile, top chart, is nothing if not flexible. It’s faster at all altitudes than anything in the four-seat high-performance class, although it gives up some climb performance to the Ovation at lower altitudes.

With tanks full, it’s a two-place airplane with a moderate baggage load. Three people will be a push, leaving payload enough for about 720 miles of still-air flying with a 45-minute reserve, as shown in the chart below. Those numbers assume best economy cruise below the oxygen altitudes.

For owners who don’t mind using a cannula or mask, the Acclaim’s performance reward is 230 knots-plus in the flight levels, where it leaves the competition far behind.

More Investment In Kerrville

Given Mooney’s string of bankruptcies, fire sales and musical CEOs, a buyer about to write a check for most of a megabuck for a new airplane might logically ask: Are these guys gonna survive?

The answer may reside in an unlikely place: A fenced-in cage at the back of Mooney’s main assembly hangar in Kerrville. From within comes the parts support for a fleet of more than 11,000 Mooneys, back to nearly day one.

Although that parts flow has been better in some years than others, support for the fleet has never dried up entirely and Mooney sales manager Jeff Magnus says the Meijing Group wants to keep it that way. Meijing, a China-based real estate developer, along with other investors, bought Mooney in 2013, renaming the company Mooney International.

The company admits to a capital infusion of at least $150 million, to include development of the now-shelved M10 project, factory improvements and the certification of the M20U and V models. It also funded a Chino, California-based design and development shop, which has since been shut down.

Magnus says the company is in the aviation business for the long haul and sees a profitable future when the long-awaited Chinese general aviation market potentiates. This remains an aspirational goal. A couple of M20s prepped for shipment to China were turned back into the U.S. market simply because China couldn’t readily process the certifications.

For the time being, the company is sustained by multiple revenue streams from spare parts and support, outside contract manufacturing for other aerospace companies and its own aircraft manufacturing.

In the current flat market, production at Mooney is about one airplane a month, but it hopes to reach as many as 30 a year within a year or two. “We think 50 a year is doable. The market can absorb that and that’s a sweet spot for us,” Magnus says. The longer view sees demand in China, if not for the M20 then for something else.

One something else was supposed to be the clean-sheet composite M10, a program that envisioned a fixed-gear trainer and a retractable cruiser. Mooney has indefinitely shelved that project in the face of weak potential demand.

The positive offshoot was that composite capability was moved to Kerrville and leveraged into building the composite cabin shell for the M20U and V. And Magnus says work done at Chino may yet find applications. “From the Meijing Group’s point of view, it just didn’t make sense to introduce three new airplanes. In a couple of years, you may see something similar to the M10 coming back,” Magnus said.

Meanwhile, he says the factory will begin supporting upgrades of older models with glass panels—Dynon is under consideration—and modern interiors provided as kits. Such packages, he says, would be provided to Mooney service centers for field installation.

Click here to see a video review of Acclaim!

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Best of the Best 2007: Personal Aircraft: Mooney Acclaim

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Mooney Acclaim

The first thing you will notice about any Mooney aircraft is its tail. Slanted forward instead of backward, as most planes’ tails are, it conveys the impression that the plane is moving at a tremendous speed whether it is flying or sitting on the tarmac. The new Mooney Acclaim offers more than just the impression of speed, however.

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The turbocharged Acclaim, the latest single-engine piston aircraft from the Mooney Airplane Co., is the firm’s fastest yet. When the plane debuted in April 2006 at the Sun ’n Fun air show in Florida, then-CEO Gretchen Jahn, who had flown it there from the Mooney factory in Kerrville, Texas, reported that at 25,000 feet she was cruising at 271.6 mph. That would make the Acclaim just a bit quicker than the Columbia 400, which has a cruise speed of 270 mph and is, Columbia claims, the world’s fastest single-engine piston plane. Regardless of which company holds the top spot, the Acclaim is a bullet of a piston.

To achieve that speed, Mooney engineers gave the aircraft a number of aerodynamic advantages. While the Columbia 400 has fixed landing gear, the Acclaim’s gear retracts in flight, to reduce drag. New winglets create a small upsweep at the tip of each wing, cutting drag further. Mooney added twin turbochargers and dual intercoolers to the brawny yet smooth-running Continental TSIO-550-G engine. The interior has four leather seats, a Garmin G1000 avionics suite, and built-in air bags. With anti-ice equipment and air-conditioning installed, the Acclaim sells for about $650,000. Deliveries have begun, and as of April the backlog extended into the fourth quarter of this year.

Mooney has sold more than 11,000 airplanes since it was founded in 1929. Over the decades, the company has grappled with financial problems and has changed hands several times. It currently is a private entity owned by a group of investors who, according to new CEO Dennis Ferguson, are providing the financial stability needed to keep Mooney at the top of its game.

Mooney Airplane Co.

800.456.3033

www.mooney.com

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Mooney expands the acclaim’s speed envelope.

In the promotional poker game of which is faster, the Columbia 400 or the Mooney Acclaim, Mooney says it has just upped the ante. It announced this week that it has done some aerodynamic tweaks on the Acclaim which will give it a top speed of a blistering 242 knots, 5 knots faster than its previously claimed 237-knot top speed. What tweaks? Mooney says a series of refinements trimmed drag from the airframe, but we wont be surprised to see substantially smaller cooling inlets on the cowling, to start. The gussied up version is called the Acclaim Type-S. Although we havent seen the new model, our sister publication, Aviation Consumer , conducted a flyoff between the Acclaim and Columbia and found that even the sluggardly version of the Acclaim was faster. See the full report in the magazines October issue at AviationConsumer.com .

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• Mooney Acclaim Type S

Background and History on the Mooney Acclaim and the Type S Version The Mooney Acclaim Type S is a single engine airplane that is built by Mooney International Corp in Kerrville, Texas USA. The aircraft is also built in Kerrville and then shipped to China to be assembled by Henan Soaring Aviation Corp in Zhengzhou, Henan, China for customers in Asia / China. The airplane was originally called the Mooney Acclaim by the company before performance upgrades were made that brought forth the "Type S" name. The Mooney Acclaim was officially launched by Mooney Aircraft Company at Sun-n-Fun April 2006 in Lakeland, Florida. Mooney gained a type certificate from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on October 15th, 2006 for the aircraft. The aircraft replaced the Mooney Bravo in Mooney's aircraft lineup. The Acclaim was built upon the Bravo's performance and the aircraft increased the performance bar for Mooney airplanes. The aircraft was a continuation of the M20 series aircraft that Mooney produced. The Acclaim has a similar airframe as the Mooney Ovation 2 / Ovation 3 (M20R) airplanes. The Mooney Acclaim became one of the fastest single engine airplanes at the time, with a cruise speed of 232 to 235 knots at 25,000 feet. The speed of the Mooney Acclaim matched the speed of the Columbia 400, which today is the Cessna TTx. The aircraft originally sold for a list price of $495,000 USD (without options).

The Mooney Acclaim Type S In October 2008, Mooney launched the Mooney Acclaim Type S, a Mooney Acclaim with aerodynamic performance modifications. By improving the Hartzell propeller and creating other performance modifications, Mooney was able to make the Acclaim the fastest production single engine airplane ever built. The new Acclaim Type S hit a new speed record of 242 knots at 25,000 feet, making it the fastest in-production single engine piston airplane. At 16,000 feet the aircraft can achieve speeds of 220 knots. The Mooney Acclaim Type S was originally offered by Mooney in 2008 at a price of $599,500. The aircraft was sold along side the Mooney Acclaim and original Acclaim aircraft could be upgraded to Type S status / performance.

Above Photo of a Mooney Acclaim by  Robert Frola on Wikimedia Commons . Photo released under the  GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 .

Mooney Aircraft Company Shuts Down Production of Aircraft In November 2008 the Mooney Aircraft Company stopped production of all aircraft, including the Mooney Acclaim & the Acclaim Type S. Due to the U.S. financial collapse of 2008 / 2009 the company was unable to continue production. Before production was ended, Mooney had produced well over 112 Acclaim airplanes.

Mooney International Corp Takes Over In October 2013 the Mooney Aircraft Company was acquired by Soaring America Corporation. Soaring America is a USA based subsidiary / is related to Henan Meijing Group Co Ltd or Meijing Group. Meijing Group is a Chinese based real estate / property management company. Meijing Group is the new primary owner of Mooney. A new company, Mooney International Corp, was set up to take over all the operations of Mooney Aircraft Company. On February 7th, 2014 Mooney International announced that production of the Mooney Acclaim Type S would be restarted and the production line would be started on February 26th, 2014. The company did not announce if the regular Mooney Acclaim would be available. Mooney International auctioned off the first aircraft off the line, an Acclaim Type S, with all proceeds going to the new Mooney History Museum. The aircraft was delivered to the winning bidder at EAA Airventure (Oshkosh) 2014. The new Mooney International Corp is committed to selling aircraft in China as evidenced by the company's actions. The CEO of Mooney, Jerry Chen, said the following regarding China, "China is an important market for us," says Chen. "After years of strict military control, the country is getting serious about permitting private flights within its borders." In 2014 China announced that they would allow general aviation flights in its airspace. The new Mooney International has a new office location in Chino, CA where Soaring America is located. Mooney International has also set up an office in Beijing, China and on September 29th, 2014 the company announced that Reignwood Group and Xinzhichen Trading had ordered 35 Mooney Acclaim Type S airplanes. All of these orders will be sent to Henan Soaring Aviation Corp in Zhengzhou, Henan, China to be assembled. The aircraft is built / flight tested in Kerrville, Texas and then packaged and shipped in a shipping container to be reassembled in China. Henan Soaring Aviation Corp is likely linked to Soaring America Corp which is linked to Mooney International Corp. Mooney also gained 10 orders at the 2014 EAA Airventure Oshkosh. Eight orders are from customers in the United States. With these new orders, Mooney International has brought the Mooney Acclaim Type S back in production and has brought the Acclaim to a new market.

An Overview of The Features of The Aircraft The Mooney Acclaim Type S is known for its performance . The aircraft is powered by the Continental Motors TSIO-550-G series turbo-normalized engine. The piston engine produces 280 brake horsepower (BHP). The Mooney Acclaim Type S has a Hartzell three blade propeller. The Acclaim can seat up to 4 passengers and has a useful load of 1,000 pounds. The interior is small when compared to other general aviation aircraft. The range for the aircraft is impressive with a range of 1,445 nautical miles with the standard fuel tanks and 1,852 nautical miles with the optional fuel tanks. The avionics on-board the Acclaim are powered by the Garmin G1000 avionics suite with a fully integrated autopilot available. Some of the older Acclaim aircraft may not have all the avionic features that the newer Mooney Acclaim Type S has. The official aircraft model name for the aircraft is the Mooney M20TN. M20TN is what the FAA and other agencies officially call the airplane. Full specifications for the plane are located here .

As of January 2015, Mooney is selling the Acclaim Type S for $733,900. This represents a 22.42 percent increase from the original Type S 2008 price. Some media outlets are reporting that Mooney has sold / is selling the airplane for 3 million yuan or $482,100 United States Dollars in China at Henan Soaring Aviation.

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Mooney M20 Acclaim Ultra - Price, Speed, Fuel Burn & Specs

March 8, 2023

This article may contain affiliate links where we earn a commission from qualifying purchases.

‍ Key Takeaways

• The Mooney M20 Acclaim Ultra is a four seat, general aviation aircraft, and the most recent member of the Mooney M20 family to roll off the production line.
• Still in production, a brand new Mooney M20 Acclaim Ultra costs between $760,000 and $900,000 depending on the options chosen
• By contrast, a used Acclaim Ultra costs between $700,000 and $800,000 depending on age, condition and other factors
• The Mooney M20 Acclaim Ultra has a top speed of 242 knots, a cruise speed of 175 knots and has a maximum range of 1275 nmi
• Its single Continental TSIO-550-G engine burns approximately 18 gph on average

‍ The Mooney M20V Acclaim Ultra is the fastest single-engine four-seater plane on the planet. This guide looks at its features for prospective buyers.

The Acclaim Ultra rolled out in 2016 and currently costs between $780,000 and $900,000 new or $700,000 to $800,000 used. It has a max speed of 242 kn, a cruise speed of 175 kn and a maximum range of 1275 nmi. It is powered by a single Continental TSIO-550-G that burns 18 gallons of fuel per hour.

As an experienced flight instructor who teaches in single and multi-engine airplanes and a corporate pilot, I frequently fly various members of the Mooney M20 family, including the Acclaim Ultra,in addition to other GA and corporate aircraft.

Table of contents

‍ mooney m20 acclaim ultra background.

It is easy to mistake the fastest single-engine four-seater Mooney M20 Acclaim Ultra as just the latest iteration of the M20 line that began in 1960. But it's not. Mooney Aircraft, the manufacturer of the Acclaim Ultra, changed enough of the structural design and the production process that it had to undergo recertification with the FAA.

The Acclaim Ultra, which rolled out in 2016 and remains in production, has been redesigned to be aerodynamically refined, structurally robust, and ergonomically superior. The changes resulted in production cost savings, reduced weight, and better performance.

The final result is a plane that is quicker to build and flies further faster while carrying more.

Based on the long body airframe of the M20 lineage, the Acclaim Ultra uses a welded steel tube cage combined with a semi-monocoque rear fuselage to deliver added strength and reduced weight. Aside from aerodynamic considerations that drive the new design, ergonomics of egress and ingress changed how structural designers reimagined the fuselage and cabin.

With two doors now, one for each front-row occupant, the steel tubing in the previous fuselage had to be redesigned to transfer stresses and force distribution around the brand new second door. The significantly larger doors meant that the force-carrying members of the fuselage had to be repositioned and strengthened to handle the torsion and bending moments of the airplane that is meant to go faster and carry more.

The steel structure is covered with a single-piece composite shell that was clipped to it, resulting in a smooth, aerodynamic outer layer that allows the Mooney to slip through the air with a lower drag coefficient. This is further enhanced by the practice of flush riveting in areas where they still use sheet aluminum.

The result of the new doors and the extra rear windows, combined with the new version of previously-popular paint schemes, resurrected the race-bred aesthetics of Mooney’s heyday.  But all the structural and aerodynamic changes do affect how the plane feels in your hands.

The Mooney M20V Acclaim Ultra is fast, no doubt, but it's also not as agile as its predecessors. To keep the CG within range, the engine was hung a little farther forward, changing the feel of the airplane, especially noticeable when pulling back the yoke on rotation. Compared to the older M20 variations, the M20V Acclaim Ultra needs a positive yank to unstick it from the ground.

This is by no means a bad thing. The older Mooney’s tended to leap into the air before they were fully ready. That didn’t matter so much on cold days, but on high-density-altitude days, it used to be a problem. Setting the trim for take-off helps considerably.

Roll sensitivity remains solid. With enough practice, course corrections just require you to think it for the plane to bank one way or the other. That’s how sensitive they can be. And up at altitude doing 240 knots, that’s how you want it if you are hand-flying the speedster. Don’t be ham-fisted with this plane.

Pitching up for a 120-knot cruise climb can get the deck angle pretty high, but it will result in an over-1000 fpm climb rate. It is possible to get up to 1,800 fpm depending on how cold it is outside and how light you are.

Even being one of the heavier of the variants, the M20V still manages to be the fastest, and that’s because of its streamlined lines and clean surfaces. You have to fly this aircraft by the numbers, otherwise, it will get ahead of you.

What most forget is that they have two things working against them on the way down. Unlike a normally aspirated piston engine that is aerodynamically dirty, the Acclaim Ultra takes a long time to bleed off its speed. That’s made worse on the descent phase of the flight. The first problem is that you can’t just pull the power back to idle. It will shock cool the turbos and the engine.

The second problem, as with all M20 variants, the Acclaim Ultra is as slippery, if not more so, than other Mooneys. This is where the speed brakes come in handy. They have no limitations and you can deploy them at any time, even with your cruise power still engaged. Just don't engage them too close to the ground if you haven't already stabilized the plane.

A good practice for the descent is to pull back the MAP by an inch and let the nose drop at the top-of-descent, then deploy the speed brakes. Keep reducing the throttle by an inch every thousand feet and the temperature will drop gently. The speed brakes that come with the Ultra are a good way to save your engine and bleed the excess energy to set yourself up for a stable final approach.

The larger cabin now features increased leg and shoulder room for all four passengers while converting the once-steam gauge-driven dash into a glass cockpit with full avionics and coupled autopilot.

The Mooney M20V, like its predecessors, is not pressurized but has the capacity to effortlessly climb to its ceiling of 25,000 feet. This is because of Continental’s turbo-supercharged engine that delivers 280 horsepower for much of the climb phase.

Both the M20V and the M20U Ovation Ultra that was released at the same time have had a somewhat tumultuous production history. First put into production in 2017, production of the types ceased in 2019 due the company having financial troubles, though production restarted before the year was over. Since then, Mooney has struggled to gain new orders of both types, even if deliveries continue to be made to willing customers.

What Are The Specifications of Mooney M20 Acclaim Ultra?

How much does the mooney m20 acclaim ultra cost.

There are three price categories for the Mooney M20V Acclaim Ultra. The first two are ascribed to brand-new airplanes, priced by the factory. The low end of the price range is $760,000. For this price, you still get the full glass cockpit and the autopilot.

The upper end of the price range gets you the factory's full spec version which runs close to $900,000. This includes factory air conditioning, long-range tanks, long-range oxygen systems that will allow you to stay up at 12,500 feet or higher for longer, and de-ice systems that will get you FIKI-certified.

The de-icing system that does raise the factory price considerably allows you to fly up to three hours in known icing conditions. Its unique design, not following the typical bleed air heating or the inflatable boots, glycol that is pumped out to the prop, the wings, and the empennage through tiny holes and spread across the surface. This prevents ice from forming.

The third price category is for a used Mooney M20 Acclaim Ultra. It’s not always easy to find between $700,000 and $850,000. There are two reasons for the high price in the secondary market. The first is that there just aren't many of them on the market, but that could change as the lower serial numbers begin to show up in the secondary market as their tenth anniversary rolls around.

Operating Cost

To calculate the costs to operate the Mooney M20V Acclaim Ultra, we will assume that the average fuel burn is 18 gallons per hour and that the price of 100LL is $6.50.

Direct operating Costs, DOC, for the Acclaim Ultra include hourly fuel and oil burn. Hourly fuel costs are (18 GPH x $6.50) $117.00 per hour.

Most Acclaim owners reckon that they burn oil at a rate of about a quart every five hours. At $10 per quart, the hourly cost for oil is $2.

Consider oil changes every 25 hours to keep your engine in good shape. With an 8-quart sump, a new oil filter at each oil change, and workmanship, it will cost $250 every 25 hours, or $25 per hour.

With these three items, the Mooney M20V Acclaim Ultra’s Direct Operating Cost is $144.00 per hour.

In addition to DOCs, you will also have fixed costs that accrue regardless of the number of hours of flight time you place on the aircraft.

The largest fixed cost item you will face is the insurance premium. Assuming you purchase the Acclaim for $900,000 and you are a qualified pilot, as far as the insurers are concerned, then your premium for hull and liability will be $22,500. It could go up as high as $30,000 if you are less than fully qualified.

Assuming you flew the Acclaim Ultra 500 hours a year, your insurance cost breaks down to $54 per hour.

Hangaring the airplane will add another $7200 for a typical T-hangar or maybe a shared spot in the main hangar on your field. That adds up to $14.4 per hour.

In addition to the direct and fixed costs that you will incur when you own the Acclaim Ultra, you will also have to create a kitty for the maintenance and work that will have to be conducted over the course of usage.

The biggest line item to think about is the engine. The engine on the Acclaim Ultra has a recommended TBO of 2,200 hours. Across a wide range of aircraft owners, the Continental  TSIO-550-G costs $48,000 to overhaul and $68,000 to replace.

The first two TBOs can expect a simple overhaul while you should expect to replace the engine at the third. That’s a horizon of 6.600 hours that will see two overhauls and one new engine. This will result in a total cost of $164,000 over 6600 hours of use. That’s $25 per hour.

The prop will also need to be overhauled every two years or 2,000 hours. The Hartzell scimitar prop costs $9,000 for a brand new one, and $3,000 to overhaul. Assume having to change out a new prop every 4,000 hours while overhauling it every 2000 hours. As such, over 4,000 hours you will purchase one new prop and overhaul it once.

However, since you will fly only 500 hours a year, while the prop needs to be overhauled once every two years, you would have only flown 1000 hours before timing out. As such, figure overhauling the prop three times and replacing it once every four years. This costs a total of $18,000 for 2,000 hours or $9 per hour.

Whether you rent the aircraft out, you should consider getting a mechanic to do a 100-hour inspection as well. It will be a good time to have the oil changed and look around and take care of anything that comes up.

A typical hundred-hour for a Mooney M20V Acclaim Ultra will cost $600, including the oil change. That’s $6 per hour.

While we are talking about maintenance, set aside $1,500 for unscheduled maintenance every year. That’s $3 per hour.

To keep the aircraft airworthy, Annual Inspections are required and it has to be signed off by an IA. Annual Inspections which will include any Service Bulletins or Airworthiness Directives can cost up to $2500 a year. That’s $5 per hour.

Also, put aside $500 for subscriptions and charts. That’s $1 per hour.

Consider painting your airplane once every five years. This is approximately $15,000 and works out to be $10 per hour of flight time.

In total, your hourly cost to operate the Mooney M20V Acclaim Ultra is $271.40 (this includes DOC, Fixed Costs, and maintenance reserves.)

How Fast is The Mooney M20 Acclaim Ultra?

The Mooney M20V Acclaim Ultra is the fastest plane in the Mooney lineup, and the fastest piston engine aircraft on the planet flying at a max speed of an impressive 242 knots and a cruise speed of an impressive 175 knots. The Mooney relies on its powerful Continental TSIO-550-G engine to develop the most power it can while using the three-bladed scimitar prop to convert much of the 280 horsepower to thrust.

In slower single-engine airplanes that use the same six-cylinder engine, much of the speed loss results from the poor conversion of power to thrust that uses a two-bladed conventional prop. This is in addition to the aerodynamic efficiencies that have already been mentioned.

The power of the twin-turbo with double intercoolers provides 35 inches of manifold pressure at sea level when the throttles are fully advanced, so be careful not to over-boost. There are no wastegates on the Mooney so you could damage the internals if you make it a habit of over-boosting.

Instead, advance the RPM to full forward, hold the brakes, and advance the throttle to 30.5 inches of MAP before releasing the brakes for the take-off roll. When it gets to FL250, it can still maintain 30.5 inches of manifold pressure, allowing for its max speed of 242 knots or cruise speed of 175 knots in standard conditions.

For the climb segment, with the power at 30.5 inches and the RPM at 2500, the Acclaim Ultra will climb at 1200 fpm if you pitch for 120 knots. With that kind of performance, it is hard to think of the Mooney M20V Acclaim Ultra in the same way you think of most GA aircraft.

It takes about 10 minutes to get to 12,000 feet and, with a fuel flow of 22 gallons per hour, achieve 210 knots (true). If you just want to go fast and are not willing to go through the trouble of hooking up the oxygen, then you can still tap into the speed, but you will have to accept the high fuel burn at lower altitudes. For economy and speed, the Mooney demands that you fly it at FL250.

At the ceiling, you can bring the fuel flow back to 15 gallons per hour at 50 degrees lean of peak and still get 218 knots. You can take it up to 240 knots at FL250 if you set it to 2500 RPM and 30 inches MAP and lean it out to 18 gph.

How Much Fuel Does The Mooney M20 Acclaim Ultra Burn?

The M20V Acclaim Ultra comes with tanks that you can top off to 100 gallons. There are long-range tanks that you can opt for that will extend the legs of an already respectable maximum range of 1,200-plus nautical miles.

However, the Acclaim Ultra is already a little thin as far as being able to load all of its four plush leather seats. With full fuel taking up 600 pounds from its 3,280-lb MTOW, that leaves 2,680 pounds of aircraft, passengers, and baggage.

The Mooney Acclaim Ultra weighs 2,225 empty. It’s a little heavy compared to its predecessors due to its factory air, the de-ice tanks, the added steel tubing to accommodate the pilot’s-side door, and so on. As such, what’s left is just 435 pounds that you can use for people and bags. This is not enough to take four people on a twelve-hundred-mile trip.

With two average-size adults, weighing a total of 380 pounds, that gives you 55 pounds for luggage if you decide to carry full fuel.

With 100 gallons of fuel, only 92 gallons are usable. This is where the Mooney’s high ceiling comes in handy. The take-off and climb phase that gets you to 12,000 feet has a typical fuel burn of 12 gallons. For this, you will have to be running the mixture at full rich with manifold pressure at 30.5 inches and RPMs at 2500. When you level off at 12,000 feet, setting the MAP to 30.5 inches, you will get a fuel burn of 22 GPH.

Figure that the descent and landing phase will take up about 8 gallons of fuel. That’s 20 gallons out of 92. Assume also that 16 gallons will be your IFR reserve, and that’s what you should have, at the very least, when you land. That leaves you with 54 gallons of fuel for your en route phase. Flying at 12,000 feet and burning 22 gallons per hour giving you 2.45 hours of endurance with IFR reserves.

At 210 knots (true) you will only be able to get 515 nautical miles, assuming still air conditions.

The endurance and maximum range picture is significantly different, however, if you fly the Acclaim Ultra at FL250. It gets you to 241 knots for the same payload while the fuel burn can be leaned back to 18 GPH.

Taking into account the extra 6 gallons it would take to get you to FL250 and the slightly longer descent time on the back end, you would have 50 gallons for cruise, giving you an endurance of 2.8 hours at a fuel burn of 18 GPH. This will result in about 588 nautical miles in still conditions.

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Joe Haygood

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