AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2018 - 56

production of its newly certified SF50 Vision Jet, and
Textron has a broad range of sometimes overlapping
products three years after the company merged the
Cessna, Beechcraft, and Hawker workforces.
"We're laser-focused on the high-performancesingle market," Phillips said. "We've got a great
opportunity there."
VISUAL APPROACH GUIDANCE

On the ramp, the Ovation Ultra has the sleek appeal
of a thoroughbred. Walking around the airplane, you
notice the things that give it a reputation for ruggedness. A one-piece wing spar stretches from tip to tip,
and the metal wing is held together with flush rivets on
the front half and hefty round ones at the rear. Three
attach points connect each aileron to the wing, and
there are four on the elevator.
The trailing edge of the wing is close to the ground,
but there are nonretracting metal steps on both sides
for climbing on to the wing. Upturned wing tips are
designed to enhance stability, particularly at high

Mooney is betting its speed and range
advantages-combined with a left-side door
and new avionics-will attract enough hardcore
pilots to allow the company to claw its way
back into a competitive marketplace.
altitudes. There are LED lights on the tips and incandescent landing and taxi lights embedded in the
leading edge. The Ovation doesn't have cowl flaps, giving pilots one less thing to manage.
This airplane has multiple GPS and radio antennas protruding from the top of the fuselage, and
some of them-such as the double-edged active traffic antenna-are likely to disappear as Automatic
Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast becomes
ubiquitous.
Opening the doors for the first time reveals them
to be about four inches longer than the ones they
replaced, and they open outward almost 90 degrees
to provide easy access to the cockpit and rear seats.
Boarding through a left-side door will seem odd
at first to veteran Mooney pilots, and there's a trick to
it. Drumheller coached me through my first ingress
by having me step in with my left foot first, which felt
awkward but worked well. Closing the door felt funny,
too, with my right hand pulling it closed, then locking
it with my left.
The seats, made in Kerrville, are stitched leather
and comfortable. They adjust vertically, fore and aft,
recline, and there's an armrest between the front seats.
Engine start is normal, and the NXi avionics boot
up faster than a legacy G1000 system. There's a single
keypad for data entry (not touchscreens), and there are
USB ports for electronic devices in the front and back.
56 | AOPA PILOT January 2018

Taxiing is standard, and the airplane
sits at a 5-degree nose-up attitude on the
ground, so the cowl blocks a sliver of the
view straight ahead. There are no deice or
anti-ice systems on this aircraft, although
TKS is an option, as is air conditioning.
We taxi to Runway 4 at Tampa's Peter
O. Knight Airport and launch with partial
flaps into a 10-knot quartering headwind.
Acceleration is brisk and a steady tug on
the yoke at rotation speed lifts the nose
skyward.
At cruise, Drumheller cranks up the
XM music, picks out songs, and adjusts
the volume from his iPad using the wireless FlightStream connection. That sort
of thing used to require delving deep into
the G1000 AUX menus, and he says handling it via the iPad takes less time and
button pushing.
The NXi avionics system has rich, colorful displays, and my favorite feature is its
visual approach guidance-which shows
a highway-in-the-sky path to all runways
in its vast database, even those without
instrument approaches. It's a handy tool,
particularly in long-body Mooneys that
require precise airspeed control on final.
The visual approach guidance simplifies
the descent and configuration changes,
especially at unfamiliar airports.
The Ovation has highly effective
speed brakes, and Drumheller recommends using them during descent to
prevent rapid engine cooling. A final
approach speed of 75 KIAS allowed us to
exit the runway in about 1,800 feet at the
midfield turnoff.
CHALLENGING AND REWARDING

The Ovation Ultra is a sleek, stylish, sturdy,
confidence-inspiring airplane that both
challenges and rewards pilots with exacting
standards. They appreciate its precision,
speed, and flight efficiency. Roll-on landings must be earned, because this airplane
doesn't give them away. But that challenge
is part of the airplane's appeal.
The Ovation Ultra takes the best of the
Mooney tradition and adds some thoughtful improvements. It's likely to remain a
highly niche product for pilot purists
willing to pay a premium for speed, good
looks, and crisp handling.
And that sounds like it's just fine with
the folks at Mooney.
AOPA
EMAIL dave.hirschman@aopa.org

AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2018

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