Mooney plans to certificate the three-seat M10 piston single in 2017, releasing its first new aircraft to market since new Chinese owners revived the Texas manufacturer in 2014.
The company first unveiled the diesel-powered M10T and the speedier M10J at the Zhuhai air show last year.
Mooney last week completed a one-month series of wind-tunnel tests on a one-fifth scale model at Wichita State University, says chief executive Jerry Chen, adding the results were “satisfactory”.
The company is now building a proof-of-concept aircraft at a new research and development facility in Chino, California. It should fly within the next several weeks, helping the company transition into certification testing with the US Federal Aviation Administration next year.
Mooney plans to low-rate production of the M10 series in Chino while the company builds a permanent production facility at its traditional home in Kerrville, Texas. Another factory will be built in China to service demand from Asian customers, Chen says.
The development activity underscores Mooney’s remarkable revitalisation within the last 18 months.
By the end of 2013, Mooney’s historic Kerrville plant had been shut down for five years, with only nine employees remaining on the payroll. An acquisition by a Chinese real estate company in October 2013, however, revived the company.
The restarted assembly line in Kerrville has delivered at least 11 new M20s that were assembled from scratch, rather than re-assembled from parts already in assembly before the plant was shutdown.
More than 170 employees now work for Mooney, including 70 workers newly employed in Chino.
“We are moving full speed ahead to a new direction,” Chen says.
Source: FlightGlobal.com
