Old Airframe Cleanups

It's worth remembering the Mooney 201 was pretty much a cleaned up
Mooney Executive. All of the minor things added a nice amount of
airspeed to the basic airplane.

We've looked at the newer Mooneys that get hauled along the sky behind
an IO 540. Our 201 uses an IO 360, and cruises really nicely at 9 GPH.
I think the increased engine size doesn't much help our typical
flight. I do think we have to cancel 8% or so of our far in advance
planned trips, and wonder if the newer airplane's range, altitude, and
the like would change that much. But going from 8% to 4% cancellations
is probably not worth the incremental cost,



On Jun 21, 7:45 pm, john smith wrote:
When one looks at the small gains in airspeed from each existing speed
mod kit, you have to say that, for the most part, the original designer
got it right.

Having said that, I still would like to see the manufacturers do factory
cleanups of existing designs, still in production.

The Bonanza is a very clean design, but I can't help but wonder if there
are a few more knots to be eaked out by redesigning the nose bowl. Those
big air inlets designed in the 1940's and 1950's just don't look right.