First Flight For Mooney Ovation Ultra

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The first Ovation Ultra completed its first flight on Saturday, Mooney announced this week. Chief test pilot Mike Miles flew for about an hour after launching from Kerrville, Texas. The four-seat retractable-gear airplane is a fully FAA-conforming aircraft and will be the first FAA-certified copy of the design, the company said. Miles said performance and handling of the airplane were excellent. The Ovation Ultra, along with the new Acclaim Ultra, will be the first Mooney aircraft to incorporate composite cabin shells and a pilot’s-side door.The new shell eliminates several riveted metal panels, allows for tighter tolerances for doors and larger windows, and results in a quieter cabin, Mooney says.Both new Ultra versions of the Acclaim and the Ovation will be on display at EAA AirVenture, coming up in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, July 25 to 31.

New features in thenaturally-aspiratedOvation Ultra cabin include a new center-console keypad flight management system and a steel-tube roll cage surrounding the cabin. Doors are now four inches wider. The Ovation Ultra’s cabin was “reimagined,” the company says, with the design of every switch, jack, and control optimized. Powered by aContinental IO-550G and a Hartzell Scimitar three-bladed prop, the aircraft can cruise up to 1,080 nm at speeds up to 197 knots. AVweb’s editorial director Paul Bertorelli toured Mooney’s revamped factory in February and filed this video report.

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