Questions about Mooney Ovation 2

Darkfixer wrote:

No grass field landings? Can you land it on shorter fields like less than 800m?

Very rare

If you have 310hp Midwest STC, takeoff from 200m pavement or 400m dry grass is possible with 2pob

Landing in the other hand is completly different story, Ovations & Bravos are tough to land in pavements less than 800m, less than 600m require exceptional piloting skills and unorthodox techniques…my feeling one need to buy it and base it in +1000m pavement, get used to go-around, bouncing and once they started nailing 500m in every landing in all weather and wind conditions they can move it to 600m grass…

The aircraft hates uneven surfaces as does the propeller, also it needs load of right rudder re-trim and elevator re-trim during go-around and if flying 2pob to grass you can put 30kg in the back to help with flaring the heavy nose

I don’t think 6 cylinder Mooneys are OK on grass, 4 cylinders can tolerate grass especially M20F & M20C models

A friend of mine has an Ovation and is based at a field just a little over 600m, it’s paved, though. He’s a pretty good pilot I‘d say but he says it’s not a problem. We once even had a Mooney fligh-in there and quite a few long bodies attended.

Otherwise I’m with Ibra. Six cylinder Mooneys are not ideal for grass and an Ovation is certainly not a plane for 600m grass.

terbang wrote:

A friend of mine has an Ovation and is based at a field just a little over 600m, it’s paved, though

Yes it’s very doable but the real questions, always? and did he started there from day 1 or moved there after hundreds of hours in Ovation? I knew one that moved from 1100m pavement to 650m pavement, the owner had no issues then of the renters overrun to other end and another landed it before threshold…

I was 3rd guy and I gave up trying to fly it there as I had few canceled flights due to crosswinds (got spoiled with 1100m where fitting DA40 or M20J where flying 25G35 is non-event with recent experience)

Brilliant cross-country machine !

Darkfixer wrote:

Is an Ovation a pure cross country, high altitude aircraft only, or it’s a combination of shorter trips around the field etc.
No grass field landings?
Can you land it on shorter fields like less than 800m?

The Ovation is very much a cross country machine, maybe one of the best there is. Depending on the fuel configuration, it has up to 2500 NM range.

Being normally aspirated, I would not call it a high altitude plane however, to max out speed, you would need to cruise between 12 and 14k ft.

The Ovation is a true 180 ktas airplane. It will reach 180 kts at 75% at around 8000 ft burning 15 GPH, at 65% at 14000 ft burning 14 GPH and at 55% at 18000 ft burning 12 GPH.

For best economy and range, it will travel at best economy with 13 GPH at 75%, 12 GPH at 65% and 10.5 GPH at 55% and at 8 GPH at 45 . Unfortunately there is no speed table, but going by what people say best economy will take off about 5 kts vs best power. So you will be seeing around 170-175 kts at the respective altitudes. Long range cruise would go in the 45-55 power range where you will be able to achieve 1200-1600 NM at 160-150 kts.

Range goes from about 900 NM at best power full bore to up to 1600 NM at 45% and 10 GPH at 160 kts. There are Ovations with long haul tanks which can do absolutely ridiculous ranges of up to 2500 NM, but with full fuel you need two infants to fly it for weight reasons. (mind, the same is true for some Jetprops I´ve seen who had a full fuel payload capacity of 30 kgs…. )

As for grass, check out these graphs:

You can find a POH (for the Ovation 1) here

I would not call the Ovation the typical family cruiser, yet it has 4 seats and can do that, but at reduced range. Still, from payload and so on, it is not the typical family plane, as loading it with 4 adults and bags will severely limit fuel. The Ovation is THE proverbial long haul bladder buster plane and the ideal craft for someone who wants to do trans continental or even transatlantic travel but I would think as a family plane, there are better solutions such as the Cessna 210.

and did he started there from day 1 or moved there after hundreds of hours in Ovation?

He had an E before based at the same Field IIRC (I didn’t know him back then). As I said, this is only for really experienced pilots.

One of the things I wonder if an Ovation is “too much” for that all round aircraft or you want an better suited aircraft for shorter fields and grass?

Unless you can afford more than one plane you’ll have to compromise. My hint would be to choose the mission that is most attractive to you and find a plane that is suitable for that. It’s hard to find a type with the range and speed of an Ovation and the short field capabilities of a Maule. (And of course it has to be pressurized and aerobatics an efficient and bigger on the inside than on the outside 😉)

Yes what @terbang refers to is the mission profile. Make up your mind what you want the plane for and it should fit best that mission.

There are loads of capable planes to choose from for typical flights up to 300 miles, for example.

But if you specialised in one characteristic, you compromise the others. Like there’s no room without fuel penalty.

I give you an (my) example.

One of the keystones of my mission is to be able to fly regularly 900 nm in one run with 4 POB and luggage. That’s narrowing down the game a lot. However I’ve flown so much in my life that I don’t “fly to fly” anymore, so I am interested in arriving. If it’s about the 300$-burger I’m outta that (that was formerly known as the 100$ burger, but inflation takes its toll).

I could imagine that you don’t have that limitations. Or other preferences. The more you’re about flying rather than arriving go for a slower plane. It’s typically easier and cheaper to maintain and you don’t really bother if it takes 10 or 20 minutes more. You won’t be happy with an Ovation (2) for the 300$ burger. You’ll enjoy flying more in a slower plane. Flying microlights or Super Cubs is pure fun and stress-reducing.

Fast planes need a lot more proficiency. You have to be on the spot. It does make a difference if your landing speed is 10 knots higher and so on. I cannot let my Comanche fly a landing by itself, it will bite. But I can do that in a microlight. It won’t suddenly do things out of nuffin.

I’ve been maybe too rude with the Arrow in the other talk but it might even be a sweet spot as it’s rather easy to fly and yet a good step faster than typical non-retractables. And then, you know, real planes do retract that landing gear! 😅

So it’s good that you make up your mind in advance.

I’m amused to learn that landing a Comanche has become more difficult than landing a Cub in a crosswind

I would agree however, without irony, that planes like a Mooney Ovation are about doing a job and arriving versus flying varied places near and far for its own pleasure. A Comanche 260 is a bit more fun to fly in my limited experience, but flying needs to be wrapped around a specific “mission” as opposed to feeding a wider passion if any of this class of planes is going to satisfy.

I find it easier to fly two aircraft for different missions than having one that does both

The combination is also cheaper…