Mooney is planning a three-week demonstration tour "down under" in Australia commencing on February 29--the extra day added to the calendar for Leap Year, 2008. The tour will include a dozen stops.

Highlighting the Mooney "Leap Down Under" tour will be a Victorian Labour Day weekend at the Mighty Mitta Muster on March 8-10 and three days, March 14, 15, and 16 at a Mooney Pilot Proficiency Program in Jandakot. Flying a new Mooney Acclaim, the fastest single engine airplane currently in production, Mooney's Sales Representatives will work with members of the Australian Mooney Pilots Association (AMPA) to schedule demonstration flights and ensure that the Acclaim is seen by as many prospects as possible.

There are currently around 150 Mooneys based in Australia, according to the AMPA.

The "Leap Down Under" tour will be officially launched with a welcoming ceremony in Victoria at Wangaratta Airport on February 29. From there it will move to Coolangatta and Maroochydore, Queensland for demonstrations on March 1 before continuing on to Mackay, Queensland on the second and Dubbo and Bankstown in New South Wales (N.S.W.) on March 3rd. The Acclaim's visit to New South Wales will continue with the airplane on display at Bankstown on the 4th before it is flown to Camden on March 5. It will stop in the capital city of Canberra on the morning of Thursday, March 6 and then Griffith, N.S.W. in the evening.

From the 8th through the 10th the Acclaim will be part of the festivities at the Mighty Mitta Muster in Mitta Mitta before it repositions to Moorabbin, Victoria on the 11th. On the 12th plans currently call for the airplane to be flown to Kalgoorie in Western Austrailia before heading to the Mooney PPP at Jandakot on the 13th. The "Leap Down Under" tour will conclude with a visit to Parafield in South Australia on the 17th before is dropped off in Melbourne on the 19th to close the tour.

Mooney's director of international sales, Susan Harrison, emphasized that the ambitious nature of the tour highlights the versatility of the Acclaim and, for that matter, all the Mooney models including the Ovation3 and Ovation2 GX, as well. "Making more than a dozen widespread stops in such a compressed amount of time requires aircraft that are easy to maintain and that can get into and out of airports that won't accommodate airliners," she noted. She pointed out that there are more than 7,800 currently in service around the world. She also added that the new Acclaim Type S, the world's fastest production single engine airplane, will debut in the U.S. at the end of March. The streamlined version of the Acclaim will cruise at an impressive 279 miles per hour at 25,000 feet. That's six miles per hour faster than the Acclaim that will tour Australia. The first Type S is scheduled for delivery on March 31. 

FMI: www.mooney.com