Mooney Acclaim Type S

exceptionally well there. Heading from Midland, Texas, back home to Ausin on one fight, I was at 17,500 (yes, VFR and almos completely alone in my airspace there). At that altitude on that day I was seeing 222 knots true on the display with, again, Mooney Acclaim Type S - FLYING Magazine https://www.flyingmag.com/pilot-reports-pistons-mooney-acclaim-type-s/[2/27/2023 1:02:16 PM] right around 21 gph fuel fow 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 Wes 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 efciency of better than 12 nm per gallon. Try that in a Suburban. And if I’d settled for even less speed and wanted to sretch the leg out, I could have easily fown from Central Texas to Southern California nonsop with the sandard 100- gallon tanks, no less. The airplane is available with 130 gallons of fuel, though it’s an option that not many cusomers opt for. A feature that comes on every Acclaim are speed brakes, and they make fying the airplane a lot easier in a few diferent 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 seam, while sill letting you keep the power reductions incremental and gradual. If you fy the airplane at the fight levels, you’ll need the help. Few controllers seem to undersand the diference between a pressurized airplane and a non-pressurized one. The diference, 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 of the bat and to reduce power judiciously as you descend to keep the speed from building too high. Even when I was given unrealisic 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 fown 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 fas, the results weren’t pretty. By using the speed brakes, however, the airplane tends to foat a lot less. By the end of the week I was using the blades on every landing. With them, speed control is sill important, Mooney Acclaim Type S - FLYING Magazine https://www.flyingmag.com/pilot-reports-pistons-mooney-acclaim-type-s/[2/27/2023 1:02:16 PM] 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 contrasing 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 fight 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 wors 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 bes cusomers for the TKS, which for much of the year can be fown with little or no fuid 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 fies a company Ovation 3 airplane around the Southwes 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. Mooney Acclaim Type S - FLYING Magazine https://www.flyingmag.com/pilot-reports-pistons-mooney-acclaim-type-s/[2/27/2023 1:02:16 PM] On a trip out to Wes Texas, the Mooney delivered me in comfort and high syle in jus 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 syling and turbine level sysems of the airplane. Also, after a good fight in the airplane, I felt a real sense of accomplishment, what with managing oxygen, speed brakes, landing gear, and running the beautiful G1000 fight deck. It’s a lot more than mere transportation, that’s for sure, and Mooney cusomers 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, “Fasen 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 fas.” Robert Goyer More FromAIRCRAFT