In the beginning, there was slow.
Then along came one man who would change everything.
Long ago, in the sacred halls of an aviation engineering lab, where mere mortals sketched blueprints, one man defied the laws of physics, space, and comfort.
His name? Al Mooney.
Before Al Mooney, aviation was inefficient. Planes were slow, draggy, and worst of all, pilots had way too much room to move around.
Yes, there was a dark time in history when men—careless, selfish men—sat in their cockpits with knees splayed wide, their arms relaxed, their torsos able to shift slightly left or right.
It was chaos. It was reckless.
Al Mooney saw this and said, “No more.”
While other manufacturers wasted precious inches of cockpit width, Al Mooney traded them for pure, unfiltered speed.
Born to design, determined to put an end to man spreading, Al Mooney set out to build a plane that would trick pilots into thinking that if you could still move your fingers, you had “extra legroom.”
It’s said that Al Mooney didn’t
learn aerodynamics, he invented it. He didn’t believe in wasted space, excess weight, or “comfortable cabin dimensions.”
To the untrained eye, the cockpit of a Mooney may seem snug, as if it were designed for children.
Critics of the Mooney aircraft often say it’s cramped, that it’s a “flying phone booth”, that getting inside requires making peace
with the fact that once you’re in, you might not get out. And you will look stupid both entering and exiting the aircraft.
There’s no way around it.
But Mooney owners? They will never admit it.
Before a pilot can finish saying it seems cramped, a veteran Mooney owner would appear out of nowhere and proclaim:
“Al Mooney was 6’5 and fit just fine!”
Yet strangely, every time a Mooney owner says it, his height increases.
In the 1980’s, Al was 6 foot 7
By 1995 he was 6 foot 9
In 2020, Mooney owners would state "it is common knowledge that he was 7’1 and wore a top hat while flying.”
We can never know how tall he really was.
We just didn’t have precise measuring systems during his lifetime.
But one thing is true. He did design the most efficient wing in aviation.
A wing so efficient, it could carry 4 very small, uncomfortable people very quickly burning almost no fuel.
Ask a Mooney pilot how fast their plane is. Every time you ask, the speed will increase and the fuel burn will shrink.
With such an efficient wing, it was only a matter of time before someone came along wanting to use the design for themselves.
Meet William T. Piper a man who also wanted the speed provided by the Mooney but also believed pilots should be able to walk freely around the cabin.
We don’t know how tall William Piper was but Mooney pilots are certain he was shorter than al.
Piper dreamed of building a fast beautiful and roomy plane he would call the Comanche, named after the Jeep Comanche which would be developed a few years later.
Initially Al refused to share the design because he said it couldn’t be done. It shouldn’t be done.
Old Man Piper had a trick up his sleeve. By simply doubling the fuel burn, we can go fast, fly high, and pilots can get out of each others’ laps.
Knowing that he would still maintain the bragging rights about fuel burn, Al said "Well I’m not getting any shorter" and agreed.
Al, much taller now, looking down on Piper agreed to bless them with his aerodynamic wisdom.
It is said that Mooney forged the Comanche wing in a lightning storm, hammering the airfoil into existence using pure determination and a slide rule.
When he handed the design to Piper, he didn’t say a word. He just nodded. That nod alone added 15 knots to the Comanche’s cruise speed.
The Comanche would go on to be the far superior aircraft in every single way. Swagger, sound, comfort. All the things that matter most.
Sure there are no parts available and it burns more fuel but it burns it more accurately.
The Mooney is a toy compared to the mighty beast of the Comanche because the Comanche was built by a man! A man that was 5 foot 10 in every way imaginable.
A man that was representative of the men that would pilot his aircraft. PIper stayed the same height from the day he was born until the day he died.
He was always room temperature in both Fahrenheit and Celsius from his first breath until his last.
Consistent, trustworthy, and handsome just like the aircraft he designed with tail mounted control surfaces that faced the proper direction.
In the end, Piper won. The Mooney community was not pleased by this and to soothe themselves, they began perpetuating the legend of Al Mooney.
A continually evolving legend of a giant among men who has become the Chuck Norris of aviation.
It is rumored that Al passed due to hypoxia. He spent most of his life in Denver. Combine the Mile high city with Al's giant stature and the air gets pretty thin.
That's just a rumor intentionally spread to cover up the truth. The truth is Al, got stuck in his Mooney.
He climbed in for one last flight not realizing during the flight that he would grow just enough to not be able to get back out.
Once he became aware of his situation, he turned on the autopilot and flew west.
Nobody knows where he met his fate but Mooney pilots still invoke his name when defending their legroom.
New pilots whisper of the legendary height inflation.
Somewhere, in the Great Beyond, Al Mooney sits, knees together, even taller—probably 8’2” by now, overseeing the aviation world and laughing that the wing he stole from the P-51 still flies two prominent GA aircraft today.
That is the factual truth about Al Mooney and his impact on the far superior Piper Comanche and aviation as a whole.
When Mooney pilots exclaim "Al was a giant and raised a family of giants in the backseat of an M20", you know the complete, accurate back story now.
In the beginning, there was slow.
Then along came one man who would change everything.
I just saw this and I just want to say this is so true!
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