Mooney Airplane Company tells ANN that Joe Kortsch, the Mooney Airplane Company's Manager of Assembly, flew Mooney's Bravo in world record time from Kerrville, Texas to Lakeland, Florida on Saturday, April 9, 2005.

Kortsch and Mooney's Director of Marketing and Sales Support Roger Munt departed the Mooney production site at Kerrville at 8:40 AM CDT, and climbed to an eventual en route altitude of 25, 000 feet. They averaged 230 knots over the 963-mile route, landing in Lakeland at 1:50 PM local time for a total elapsed time of 4 hours and 10 minutes. The details of the flight have been submitted to the National Aeronautics Association (NAA) for review and certification as a record for piston powered aircraft in the 2,205-3,358 lb. category.

"This speed record underscores the outstanding performance of the Mooney Bravo GX," said David Copeland, Mooney's Vice President of Sales and Marketing. "The extended flight illustrates not only the speed of the aircraft, but the fuel efficiency and confidence that the new Bravos equipped with the Garmin G1000 avionics suite provide. The G1000 made precise navigation easy and helped shave time off the trip. The Bravo GX's record was accomplished with a crew of two plus luggage aboard. Joe and Roger took off with a fuel load of 102 Gallons and landed with 20 Gallons available.

That translates into an economical fuel consumption of 20 Gallons per hour. No other aircraft in their class can match the performance and value of the Mooney Bravo and Ovation," Copeland added.

Mooney is participating in the 31st Annual Sun 'N Fun Fly-In for the second consecutive year. The company included the Florida event in its ongoing Freedom Tour, a 30-city odyssey featuring the new Bravo and Ovation2 GX models, which began in February and will continue through the end of July.

FMI: www.mooney.com