As CAFE prepares to conduct the Green Flight Challenge, they find themselves at a bittersweet crossroads. To fund their 120 kW Electric Aircraft Charging Station, they must sell their beloved CAFE Mooney, N6057Q, which has served as their trusty Research Aircraft for the last 15 years. After extensive modification, CAFE’s “World’s Fastest Mooney” demonstrated 185 mph TAS on just 6.7 gph – nearly 28 MPG. Though the Foundation once planned to convert the airplane to biofuel or electric propulsion, CAFE must now part with it in order to prepare for the coming age of electric flight.
The CAFE Mooney began life as a 1966 M20E Mooney (#892) that was bought factory new by Beechcraft, reportedly because Beech wanted to study the Mooney’s speed secrets. Its second owner was a Topeka Kansas manager of telephone lines. Brien Seeley acquired it in 1979 and added number drag reducing modifications that increased its maximum speed at 8000 feet from 178 mph stock to 216 mph. The aircraft served as the test bed for substantial gains in flight efficiency from tuned exhaust and intake systems, a filled and contoured laminar-flow wing, special new low drag cowling and fully-enclosed landing gear doors to radical ignition timing systems. During the 1980s, it flew several years in the CAFE 400 races as an Exhibition Class aircraft.
CAFE intends to sell the storied aircraft and its two Hartzell propellers for parts to the highest bidder. Its strong IO-360 A1B6 Lycoming engine will be ideal powerplant for an experimental homebuilt aircraft. Interested parties can email inquiries to cafe400@sonic.net.