Bright Side of the Mooney

A Supplemental Type Certificate (STC) has been approved to replace McCauley propellers on Mooney M20M/TLS/Bravo series, single-engine aircraft with Hartzell Propeller's 75-inch diameter, three-bladed, aluminum props. Airplanes covered by the STC are powered by TIO-540-AF1A and TIO-540-AF1B Turbocharged Lycoming Sabre engines.

Hartzell President JJ Frigge states, “Installing Hartzell’s Scimitar-style prop covered by this STC delivers 8-10 percent improvement in climb performance, a 2-3 knot increase in cruise, and looks terrific on the ramp coupled with Mooney’s signature tail.”

The Hartzell Propeller kit—HC-I3YF-1RF/F7498-1—is available for $15,839, and includes: a propeller, all-composite spinner assembly, and STC documentation. Additionally, a TKS ice-protection kit is available at an additional charge, while electric de-ice approval is pending. The STC propeller offers operators a 2,400 hour, six-year TBO and warranty until first overhaul.

In the early 1960s, Moony’s M20C was among the early launch platforms for Hartzell’s first, two-blade, compact, aluminum propellers. To date, approximately ten-thousand Mooney airplanes have been equipped with Hartzell props.

Long before environmental-activism and grotesque fuel-prices, Mooney aircraft—from early models like the Mite to classics like the 231—embodied a do-more-with-less design philosophy.

The advent of the M20M/TLS ushered in a bold new era of speed and pizzazz for the Kerrville, TX air-framer. The airplane evinced a revised, stuff-a-bigger-engine-under-the-cowling, go-like-hell ethos that drummed up a great deal of hype prior to its 1989 unveiling.

The TLS’s 270-HP, turbocharged, inter-cooled, Lycoming TIO-540-AF1A delivered eye-watering speeds and gut-wrenching climb rates. What’s more, the airplane helped change the image of the Mooney owner from that of the prosaic, recreational aviator, to the throttle-happy half-lunatic who turns up at the airfield in an orange flight-suit and a surplus, fighter-pilot helmet.

Despite its safety, practicality, and demonstrable utility, Hartzell’s new STC’d propeller stands to breathe new life into the world’s M20M/TLS/Bravos—and perhaps even bring some garish ensembles out of retirement

FMI: https://hartzellprop.com