Last week at a special event in Texas, Mooney unveiled its two new models, which were a closely guarded secret for the past year. The new Acclaim Ultra and Ovation Ultra look very much like the M20s of yore but feature something entirely new: a second door! The door was made possible by the replacement of the sheet-metal fuselage skin with a beautiful, sleek and rivet-free fiberglass shell—the underlying structure of the plane is, as it’s always been, welded steel tubing, for a highly crash-worthy occupant protection cage. The new planes—the turbocharged 242-knot Acclaim Ultra is slated for certification by Sun ’n Fun time and the Ovation should follow a couple of months later–boast a beautiful new interior, a newly redesigned G1000 panel, bigger windows and much more. Look for a full report in an upcoming issue of Plane & Pilot . . . soon!
