Mooney President and CEO Dennis Ferguson.  Photo by Phil Weston

NASCAR racing star and Mooney owner Matt Kenseth will be at the Mooney Aircraft Company booth from 11 a.m. to noon today to greet attendees, sign autographs, and talk about his airplane. Last year, Kenseth bought an Acclaim, the newest addition to the family of high-performance single-engine aircraft from the Kerrville, Texas-based manufacturer. Kenseth, currently No. 3 in this year’s Nextel Cup standings, uses the Acclaim to commute to races from his home in Morrisville, North Carolina.

With a service ceiling of 25,000 feet, the turbo-normalized Acclaim has a top speed of 237 knots, making it the world’s fastest single-engine production aircraft. The first Acclaim was delivered last November and at a Tuesday morning press conference the company reported selling its 50th Acclaim earlier this month.

"At the current rate of acceptance, the Acclaim is on track to be the most successful Mooney ever," said David Copeland, Mooney’s vice president of sales and marketing.

The company set a world speed record (certification pending) on the way to Oshkosh in one of the Acclaims on display here. The aircraft flew from the capital of Kansas to the capital of Wisconsin—Topeka to Madison—in 2 hours and 37 minutes, for an average ground speed of 202 knots. The flight was made at 7,000 feet, well below the optimum operating altitude for the turbo-normalized aircraft.

At the press conference, Mooney CEO Dennis Ferguson, who joined the company last year, noted other highlights the 61-year-old company is marking. The company has created a Web-based interactive 3-D tool in association with Scheme Designers of Cresskill, New Jersey, enabling customers to choose paint and interior colors and carpet and upholstery options online.

Mooney has also selected CAE Systems of Montreal, Quebec, Canada to develop a series of Web-based training modules for technical support staffs at the company’s authorized service center network.

After the press conference, Ferguson, who first came to AirVenture 15 years ago, told AirVenture Today about the thrill of returning as the CEO of a premier aircraft manufacturer.

"I can’t think of anything in the world that’s more fun than this," Ferguson said. "It’s like a dream come true. Just being a part of this company, and being here as part of AirVenture as opposed to being a spectator is just indescribably fantastic. I just love it."

Mooney has built more than 11,000 airplanes and more than 8,800 are still flying, according to the company. In addition to the Acclaim, the company also makes the Ovation3 and the Ovation2 GX. All are equipped with the Garmin G1000 integrated avionics suite and the Garmin GFC 700 Automatic Flight Control. The three models are showcased at the company’s booth in the Main Aircraft Display Area (205-207, 212-214, S25).