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Mooney Ceasing Production. Closes Kerrville Plant, furloughs hundreds of employees
The Kerrville Daily Times is reporting that Mooney International has ceased manufacturing operations at its Kerrville Airport factory at Kerrville Municipal Airport (KERV), Texas. In the move, a company spokesman said, the company laid off 229 employees, bringing Mooney employment down to around 90 workers. None will be producing aircraft parts, however, which is certain to concern Mooney owners. (www.planeandpilotmag.com) Más...Sort type: [Top] [Newest]
I've always loved the Mooney. It was my first retractable and I have many many good memories. I don't see how this is going to be "Temporary" though. If you can't sell them in today's market you won't do any better down the road. I'm sure others are working on it (Cirrus), but maybe reintroducing them as the first single engine piston with emergency auto-land capability could give them the boost in the market they need. Good luck Kerrville.
I'm with you Bill, first high performance and complex checkout and with the Johnson bar no less. Great and tough little airplanes that were built with pride and very rarely had an airframe failure in flight. Sad to see for at least the 5th time in my career and I hope not down for the count. Good luck Kerrville.
My Dad had an early Mooney distributorship and I received my PPL during that time so the Mooney Exec21 was my first high performance checkout and my ship for the instrument and commercial. I've flown every model, except for the Mite and including the Mustang, up through the 201. And, I do prefer electric gear over the Johnson bar. I showed many new owners how to use that bar but you could always tell the Johnson bar Mooneys on takeoff by the wing wobble!
My dad owned a Mooney 201 and I will always have a fondness for the type. I hope this is just a temporary hiccup.
Sad day.
Fast little airplane and fuel efficient but the bigger story is the cost of operation for the average person, tie down fees, hanger space, hull insurance all make it too expensive to operate a single engine piston aircraft anymore and unless you are a high net worth type with a love of stick and rudder flying, its cheaper to go Delta ( or such ). The younger generation does not have the love of aviation that the older generation does, to the younger crowd, its get on board get from A to B and crank up the social media