Acclaim is a great aircraft. Reduce the fuel and you increase useful for pax. My goodness with 102 gallons on board you can fly 6+ hours with reserves. 17 GPH or so and 200KTAS in mid to lower teens and you have room for three easy and 600nm with reserves...

He'll need good transition training. As has been said fly by the numbers. If you learn to land a long body Mooney you can land anything. Fly it by the numbers.

Cross country it is a machine! Sorry to the naysayers it but it's fast and a great business machine. Mike Elliot would be a great FL instructor. I put 1000 hours on my 550 in three years. Wow was that fun...

Questions PM.

Tom H. you're a bad boy for reminding me of my favorite bird...

Fly safe,

I misquoted price. It is 275K plus his F33A. It is in Trade A Plane. The Acclaim type S with 937 HRS, in Fort Lauderdale.

Will he have a chance to test fly it, or something similar. I really wanted a Mooney...until I flew one. I really liked the Mooney, but cabin comforts just wouldn't work for my family. The windows are a bit smaller, and you do feel like you are sitting on the floor. I was also not a fan of the one and only door being the ONLY way to egress the Mooney.

So Bonanza it was.

Please ask your friend to consider these items as well. It was a great flying plane, but the cabin was what pushed me away.

I hear you Chuck - some days I miss our old long body Mooney as I recall those same benefits you noted. Crazy how things come about but we are delivering a new Cirrus G5 this week.

Looks like Chinese Mooney agrees with you on the one door issue.

I misquoted price. It is 275K plus his F33A. It is in Trade A Plane. The Acclaim type S with 937 HRS, in Fort Lauderdale.

Why would he not just put a 550TN his 33? It would be less money and probably the same or better performance with money left over to fly.

I really don't know how you improve on the 33 if all you need is a 2 + 2 airplane.

Mabe because the 2008 will have a G1000, GFC 700, factory Oxygen among other reasons to consider. Deb will never be as fast or as efficient as an acclaim. I've had 4 guys in an Ovation and could have in an Acclaim off a 3000' strip. All depends on his mission and desires.

He has run the numbers with the avionics/performance in the Mooney. G-1000, synthetic vision, weather, traffic etc. The F-33A will never fly at 25K feet @ 230 kts. With that said I flew a F33A, and a C33A and now a Baron and have no interest in a $400K airplane, or a glass cockpit. I am just trying to do Re-Con for my buddy.

I'd try to find some people with experience and see how high folks actually fly.

FL250 is awful cold and unforgiving.

I recently transitioned out of a 2008 acclaim type S. I had approximately 300 hrs or so when I purchased it, and transition was pretty smooth from my piper Comanche. Landing is definitely more tricky as prop strikes are a common occurance. The top overhaul at that many hours is spot on, and many needed them in the 300 to 400 hour range. I flew mine at around 17k and trued out at 190 knots burning 14.6 GPH LOP. They run absolutely beautifully LOP with very cool cylinder temps. I loved that plane and miss it very much. It is a 2 passenger plane when full fuel and baggage. I flew it non stop regularly from Wisconsin to Ft myers Fl. I got tired of the oxygen, and now fly a piper mirage, which is pressurized. I cruise at about the same speed, but now higher, and burning much more fuel at 21 GPH. The lycomimg just isn't happy running LOP. Would love to pick up another acclaim some day. Did I mention how much I loved that plane?

In a emergency, you can exit via luggage door, there is a release on the inside, FYI.
If you drive a Corvette you'll love the cabin, if you drive a SUV you won't

Get a malibu. 190/14gph no problem.

I love the type. I've had three. If it wasn't missing an engine and lacked pressurization, I'd still be flying them. It is to piston singles what the Aerostar is to piston twins.

Hundreds of hours back and forth from LI to Ft. Lauderdale in the 90's. It was the first plane I ever bought (M20K 231), I heard how slippery it was, prop strikes, you'll put your eye out kid...

Piss on that. It'll do exactly what you tell it to. I got caught in my first and only thunderstorm in that ship. I got hit three times by lightning over Ocala, FL in it (dumb mistake, I was 23 and the ink still wet on my instrument ticket). I was getting up drafts and down drafts that were pegging out my VSI first this way, then that way, then this way again. Mooney is built like a freakin' tank. Flew it through rain so heavy it took paint off the leading edges. Airframe couldn't care less. It's also the first bird I ever launched into the soup by myself in. Docile as a pussycat. First engine out in one. Glides as long as you need.

Miss my Mooney every time I see one. Bonanzas are ok, and I respect that they appeal to a different sector of pilot.

Tell your boy to go get it, or even better yet, tell him to skip it and get an Aerostar. My only beef with the Mooney was that it got real quiet when the motor stopped...

Craig,

Miss my Ovation 3, wish it had been an Acclaim. At least I'm still flying 1/3 of a Mooney.