Mooney Aircraft plans to introduce in 1997 a new, high-performance, turbo-inter-cooled four-seater, called the Encore. The company believes that the Encore will fill a void caused by the withdrawal of its 252TSE, or M20K. It is effectively the same aircraft, with a slightly more powerful engine and three-bladed McCauley propeller.
The Encore will be powered by a 165kW (220hp) Teledyne Continental TSIO-360-MB7B, giving a projected cruise speed of more than 200kt (370km/h) and a range in excess of 1,480km (800nm).
Maximum gross weight is expected to be around 1,400kg, providing an increase of more than 90kg in useful load. Mooney says that the additional power and the new propeller are needed to reduce noise in the climb, rather than to compensate for the extra weight.
"Everyone still tells us that the best aircraft Mooney ever built was the 252, which we took out of production with the introduction of the TLS in 1989," says Mooney vice-president for sales and marketing Dirk Vander Zee.
Source: Flight International
