Company Under New Ownership/Management -- Run by 'Real Live Mooney Fans'

Updated from Original 09.02.20 Report: The rumors have been ghosting around for a few weeks, but the airplane that would not die appears to have resurrected itself again... for the umpteenth time. For Mooney owners and fans, this is good news, but the details of this new development promises some interesting Mooney Watching for the next few years.

The wraps came off the whole works late yesterday when a notice was posted to the Mooney website, addressed to, "...The Mooney Community" and authored by Mooney CEO Jonny Pollack.

"We are pleased to announce that as of September 1, 2020, a long awaited transition at Mooney took place. There is new management at Mooney and it's made up entirely of pilots and Mooney owners giving the company a unique and valuable perspective going forward. So, on behalf of new management, I wanted to take this opportunity to inform you that the reports of Mooney's death are greatly exaggerated. Mooney is, in fact, very much alive, up and running.

You can expect to see some changes at Mooney which we believe are long overdue. Plan to witness a new culture and approach which is reflective of the new ownership's love of aviation, flying and Mooney aircraft."

But... what's that mean... especially to Mooney owners that have gotten nervous about parts and support since the factory hit the skids last Fall?

"Our first priority is to reengage and rebuild our relationship with the Mooney Community. For those of you who are Mooney pilots and owners, folks that make a living selling or fixing Mooney aircraft, or just fans of Mooney, we want you to know that we recognize that you are our life's blood. You are our best spokespeople, our most informed advocates and our most loyal customers. It is our goal to do right by you and rebuild your trust in Mooney. In fact, our number one priority is to build a customer support infrastructure that can capably reward your loyalty which has been the hallmark of the Mooney consumer for years.

Our first and immediate focus is to make sure that we're properly servicing the community's fleet of over 7000 aircraft. For the last 6 months, we've taken over parts production and managed to keep the spares moving to the service centers. We have plans to improve our efficiency so that parts are easier to order and arrive sooner."

This has to be music to the wears of Mooney owners everywhere, but there has also been a long laundry list of improvements that have been on the Mooney wish list for a number of years... which Pollock addressed... "We're also working on those challenges that have gone unresolved to date. A useful load increase retrofit is in the works. Once this is tackled, it will allow us to consider other design challenges such as a ballistic parachute, auto-land and a larger cabin.

As a first step toward earning your confidence, we're pleased to announce that we recently secured FAA approval over and will be offering an upgrade to the Legacy G1000 software. It will allow ADS-B to play with the G1000 so you'll get traffic, free weather and all available approaches on your display. We'll also be offering a carbon cowl for the Ovations which will immediately improve useful load. Coming soon will be the long-awaited upgrade from NXil to NXill. We're also working on an upgrade from the G1000 Legacy to NXil and NXill."

He also addressed soma of the international issues faced by Mooneyacs around the world, "We also want to extend our hand to the Mooney Community outside of the United States. In partnership with and in support of the Meijing Group, we have a unique opportunity to create an international Mooney network t hat reaches the many Mooney owners and operators across the globe while growing t heir numbers. As the Mooney Community grows, we will all benefit."

Tempering expectations, Pollack noted that, "All of the changes we anticipate are important, exciting and we believe will benefit both Mooney and the Mooney community. But they're not always simple or easy to implement so we ask you to be patient. And as we work on ideas to improve your experience with Mooney, I promise to be in touch with you as we roll them out."

His final message centered on the folks who have been stuck in the center of this Maelstrom..."Finally, I want to say a brief word about the folks who work at the Kerrville plant. For the last 6 months I've been overseeing a skeleton crew at the factory. They have been tasked with keeping Mooney alive during a period of instability and stress, not to mention a pandemic. They had no idea whether this change in control would ultimately take place or whether Mooney would even continue to operate, but they put their heads down and forged ahead. They are all dedicated workers and people of great integrity and I'm proud of them. They, along with the Kerrville community, including those workers who were furloughed but who sometimes stepped into help, are the heart and soul of Mooney and I thank them."

While the majority of this story was posted Wednesday night, a phone chat on Thursday afternopon with new Mooney CEO Pollack was an interesting conversation because the one thing that you come way with after such a chat is that Pollack is a true believer, but also a pragmatist. Explaining that, "we have to walk before we fly," he wants the GA community to know that new airplane pilots WILL NOT be rolling off the assembly line anytime soon. "There are two airplanes, close to completion that will be finished, but our emphasis is going to be on parts and owner support for some time."

"Let me be abundantly clear... in the near future, we're not going to be building new planes, we're going to be intent on keeping Mooney going."

He did expect the NXiII upgrades to be done in the next few weeks and was particularly enthused about might be done to increase the airplane's useful load and gross weight, explaining that they're working o this issue, but that, "we're already about 25% of the way there... with a ways to go."

Pollack also spoke passionately about being a member of Mooney community and supporting them, having owned an M20J and currently flying an Acclaim, and his feeling of obligation to the Kerrville employee base that was at the heart of Mooney for so many decades. "The thing that keeps me up at night, is that all this would be dead if someone didn't do what had to be done... we need to get out parts and we need to look after as many of the people that made up Mooney as we can."

FMI: www.mooney.com