Mooney M20

The Mooney M20 is a family of piston-powered, propeller-driven general aviation aircraft, all featuring low wings and tricycle gear, manufactured by the Mooney Airplane Company.

The M20 was the 20th design from Al Mooney, and his most successful. The series was produced in many variations over the last 50 years, from the wooden-wing M20 and M20A models of the 1950s, to the M20TN Acclaim that debuted in 2007.

On November 5, 2008, the company announced that it was halting all production as a result of the late-2000s recession, but would still provide parts and support for the existing fleet.

With the injection of Chinese capital after the company's purchase, production of the M20 resumed in February 2014.

Development

The Mooney M20 series has been produced in three fuselage lengths: the "short-body" through M20E, "medium-body" (M20F through M20K), and "long-body" types. Although all M20s have four seats, the fuselage length increase provided more rear passenger legroom, but with a slight performance decrease. Other airplane improvements over the years in most cases more than compensated for the effects of a longer fuselage; for a similar engine and vintage, for instance, the shorter-fuselage model is faster, e.g., M20E vs M20F.