…New Mooneys: Go With Glass

Following the lead of Cirrus, Diamond and Cessna, Mooney announced this week that buyers will soon have the option of equipping new Ovations and Bravos with Garmins G1000 primary flight display system. But unlike Cirrus, Mooney says it will also retain the steam-gauge option for owners who arent ready for the brave new world of glass-panel flying. The G1000 integrates primary flight instruments, navigation and communication into a pair a 10.4-inch, high-resolution XGA displays, with the nav/comm boxes themselves remoted to another part of the aircraft. Mooney says the overall panel size in its new aircraft will remain roughly the same, requiring only about 1/2 inch of additional height over the existing models. As per FAA certification requirements, the PFD-equipped aircraft will have full-size, self-contained back-up artificial horizons and airspeed indicators on the far right of the instrument panel for emergency reversion. Mooney will use a new electric attitude gyro from Mid-Continent Instruments, which is equipped with its own emergency battery pack. As with Diamond and Cessna, the cost premium of a G1000-equipped airplane will be a small fraction of the new aircrafts total cost. The Ovation GX –the designation for G1000 equipped airplanes — will sell for $409,950 while the turbocharged Bravo GX will sell for $459,950. These prices are about $20,000 higher than the “classic” models equipped with conventional instrumentation. The G1000-equipped aircraft will be available later this year.