Mooney
| Mooney Airplane Company
|
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| legal form | Corporation |
| founding | 1929 |
| Seat | Kerrville , Texas , USA |
| Branch | Aircraft construction |
| Website | mooney.com |
The Mooney Airplane Company, Inc. is an American aircraft manufacturer from Kerrville , Texas .
history
The company was founded in 1929 as Mooney Aircraft Corporation by Albert ("Al") and Arthur Mooney. It has run into financial difficulties throughout its history - Mooney first went bankrupt in 1930 - and was repeatedly bought out by other companies. After World War II, founded Al Mooney 1946 on single-engine, piston-driven, four-seat aircraft specialized Mooney Airplane Company, Inc. He began producing a small, single-seat machine ( Mooney M18 Mite ), the first (bhp 26) with a 19 kW , water-cooled, four-cylinder Crosley in -line engine , which was soon replaced by a 48 kW (65 hp), air-cooled Lycoming boxer engine. Probably the best-known Mooney series is the M20 , which was developed by Al Mooney in 1955 and built in Kerrville, Texas until 2019. The tail unit and the wings of the M20 were initially made entirely of wood and covered with fabric. It was not until 1961 that the first all-metal version, the M20B, was built.
The common feature of all Mooney designs is the trapezoidal vertical stabilizer , which is slightly inclined forwards . The elevator trimming of the Mooney M20 is not done - as with most aircraft - only via the elevator, but the elevator and thus the entire horizontal stabilizer is adjusted.
In November 2008 the production of aircraft was stopped until further notice. Numerous employees were laid off. In spring 2014, production in Kerrville started again with 140 employees.
In November 2019, the company announced that it had stopped production and laid off all employees.
On December 2, 2019, the company was officially reopened with a few employees, only to be closed again on January 6, 2020 with the dismissal of all employees without paying the agreed wages.
Record aircraft
The company history of Mooney is accompanied by world records time and again. Al Mooney developed the first single-engine, piston-powered aircraft with a pressurized cabin, the M22 Mustang . He manufactured the first production aircraft that could reach a top speed of over 200 mph (approx. 320 km / h) with a 200 HP engine and set the speed record for a transatlantic crossing in a single-engine, piston-powered aircraft with a turbo-charged M20K-231 . Mooney's aircraft have always been considered by pilots to be very reliable, fast, efficient and comfortable touring machines.
The speed of 320 km / h was reached in 1977 with the M20J 201. The fastest piston-powered aircraft ever manufactured by Mooney was the M20M Bravo DX with a maximum cruising speed of 220 kt (407 km / h). The Mooney Acclaim with max. 237 kts (440 km / h). An Acclaim S with a maximum speed of 242 kts has recently also been offered. The engine here has two turbochargers. The Acclaim S is currently the fastest single-engine piston-powered production aircraft with retractable landing gear.
Others
The fans and supporters of Mooney aircraft call themselves Mooniacs .
Development of the Mooney company logo
Web links
- German Mooney community
- List of German Mooney owners
- List of aircraft types / IM # Mooney
- EMPOA - European Mooney Pilots and Owners Association
Individual evidence
- ↑ Dave Hirschman: Mooney 'hibernation' ends. In: News and Video. AOPA , April 6, 2015, accessed on September 11, 2015 .
- ^ Samuel Pichlmaier: Mooney Aircraft: traditional manufacturer Mooney gives up. November 13, 2019, accessed November 13, 2019 .
- ↑ Air-Britain Aviation World, March 2020, p. 64.
- ^ Mooney website about the Acclaim, viewed Nov. 15, 2007 at 10:41 UTC