Aircraft model
MOONEY M20D
Everything here is true of every aircraft of the type, not of any one aircraft.
The M20D Master is the fixed-gear Mooney: an M20C airframe with the landing gear bolted down, sold at a lower price to owners who did not want the complexity or the insurance cost of a retractable. It cruises at 140 knots, about eight less than a retractable M20C.
It is an unusual aeroplane and most did not stay that way — Mooney offered a conversion to retractable gear and a large proportion of M20Ds were converted, so a genuinely fixed-gear example is now uncommon. That matters because it changes the endorsement requirement entirely: a converted aircraft needs a complex endorsement and a true M20D does not. Establish which you are looking at from the paperwork rather than the model designation. Otherwise the Mooney rules apply: narrow cabin, clean airframe, wet-wing tank leaks.
Compare with…
Put MOONEY M20D side by side with up to two other models.
- MOONEY M20D
What it is
| Seats | 4 |
|---|---|
| Landing gear | tricycle |
| Engines | 1 |
| Engine | Lycoming O-360-A1D |
| Horsepower | 180 hp |
| Fuel | 100LL |
| Certification basis | CAR3 |
| Production start | 1963 |
| Production end | 1966 |
| Endorsements required | — |
Performance
| Cruise speed | 140 KTAS |
|---|---|
| Range | 700 nm |
| Service ceiling | 17,500 ft |
| Climb rate | 950 ft/min |
| Stall speed (Vso) | 53 KCAS |
| Takeoff over 50 ft | 1,500 ft |
| Landing over 50 ft | 1,220 ft |
Load and fuel
| Seats | 4 |
|---|---|
| Useful load | 1,075 lb |
| Full-fuel payload | 763 lb |
| Max takeoff weight | 2,525 lb |
| Empty weight | 1,450 lb |
| Usable fuel | 52 gal |
| Fuel burn at cruise | 10.1 gal/h |
Cost of ownership
| Price, low | $30,000 |
|---|---|
| Price, high | $85,000 |
| Prices as of | 2026 |
| Engine TBO | 2,000 h |
| Overhaul cost, low | $32,000 |
| Overhaul cost, high | $46,000 |
The fleet and its record
| Registered, all time | 157 |
|---|---|
| Active fleet | 88 |
| Median year built | 1963.0 |
| NTSB events, last 10 years | 1 |
| Fatal events, last 10 years | 0 |
| Events per 1,000 active, last 10 years | 11.36 · thin base (low)1 |
| Personal-flying events per 1,000 active | 11.36 · thin base (low)2 |
| Ownership transfers, last 24 months | 14 |
| Transfers per 100 active | 15.91 · thin base (low)3 |
| Airworthiness directives | 4 |
| Directives, last 5 years | 1 |
| Rate confidence | low |
- Events per 1,000 active, last 10 years: per 1,000 active aircraft · base 88 active.
- Personal-flying events per 1,000 active: per 1,000 active aircraft · base 88 active.
- Transfers per 100 active: per 100 active aircraft · base 88 active.
Peer scores6
| Peer class | Fixed wing single-engine, piston, 1 engine, 3-4 seats |
|---|---|
| Accident record | —1 |
| Severity | —2 |
| Access | 6.1 of 103 |
| Support | 4 of 104 |
| Liquidity | 2.1 of 105 |
- Accident record: class median 28.36 · 202 models in class.
- Severity: class median 11.65.
- Access: class median 767.75.
- Support: class median 141.5.
- Liquidity: class median 19.57.
- Each of the five categories places the model within its peer class, from 0 (the worst of the class) to 10 (the best): a position among comparable models, not a grade. The overall score is the sum of the categories shown that are scored, out of 10 for each (50 when all five are); it is given only when at least 4 of the five are scored, and it can be set against another model's only when both are in the same peer class and scored on the same categories.