|
Non Compos Mentis
Join Date: May 2001
Location: Off the grid- Almost
Posts: 10,650
|
Cooling drag was another issue with the PFM3200.
While having a fan connected to the crankshaft is a good idea for acheiving consistant temperatures on an air-cooled engine, it created more drag than the comparable Lycoming IO-360.
The cooling air exiting the cowl on the airplane's belly was so disturbed that Mooney eliminated the inboard gear doors, as they proved to add nothing but complexity and weight.
Having one lever controlling the engine's output was a big step forward over the normal Throttle/Prop/Mixture manually operated controls.
Ultimately, while the airplane had some nice features, it was more expensive than the Lycoming powered Mooneys, with no increase in performance. Very few were sold.
|