MOONEY M20J

The Mooney 201, launched in 1977, is the most admired piston single of its generation for one reason: it does 201 miles per hour — about 160 knots — on 200 hp and ten gallons an hour, and it does it in a properly aerodynamically refined airframe with a redesigned cowling, windshield and fairings. On a long trip it will beat a Cessna 182 to the destination while burning a third less fuel. It is the benchmark for efficiency in four-seat piston aviation. The engine never changed in 22 years, so the years are about refinement, names and weight. The 1977 aircraft have a quadrant throttle inherited from the older Mooneys; from 1978 the controls are conventional push-pull and the gear speeds were raised. The 1981 model year brought the 231-style panel and glareshield and the shaped wingtips, and 1984 a further set of aerodynamic clean-ups. Names then multiplied — 201 LM in 1985, 205 in 1987, AT trainer in 1989 — on essentially the same aeroplane. The one change that affects what you can carry is 1991, when the aircraft became the MSE and gross weight rose from 2,740 to 2,900 lb; a few earlier serials can be raised by service bulletin. The last were sold as the Allegro in the late 1990s.

It is still a Mooney, with the narrow low cabin, the low ground clearance and the requirement for precise airspeed on approach. Useful load with full 64-gallon tanks is about 715 lb, so it is a three-adult aeroplane for long trips. The standing expenses are wet-wing fuel tank resealing, landing gear shock discs and the usual retractable-gear maintenance; the airframe otherwise ages well and Mooney parts support, while variable given the company's repeated financial troubles, is supported by a strong owner community. Values have risen because there is no modern equivalent — nothing in current production does this job on this fuel. Insurance requires a complex endorsement and retractable time, and a transition course is strongly advisable.