Bonanzaing in the Weather

[chopper_nut]

The old Caranado V35 holds up pretty well still. The REP makes it even better. Have to be on the ball with this one, they don't call it the 'Doctor Killer' for nothing....

[Olderndirt]

The only Bonanza I ever flew had a straight tail - the A36. Seemed reasonably docile but hand flying in instrument conditions might have been fairly demanding - it wasn't a 'leave it alone it'll come home' type of plane. Excellent shots by the way.

[chopper_nut]

Yeah I think that's where the reputation comes from in that they're a bit of a handful when you start having to think about other things. Not sure if you saw but one crashed at Telluride the other day. The guy was a United captain and a CFI so.... I've often thought that when I'm rich and famous I'd like to buy one but I'll have to be super careful.

[Olderndirt]

From the pic of the accident site it appeared he was attempting an emergency landing on the hillside - first thing that came to mind was wrong type of fuel. Happened to a friend at Cordova, AK one time - filled him up with jet fuel rather than avgas. Short flight but he landed safely.

[cowpatz]

A solid aeroplane (like most Beechcraft) but not one that liked to go slow. A great cross country aircraft as it had some pace and was comfortable (including club seating in the back). Most seemed to be IFR capable and that is probably where most "Doctor" accidents happened.
Either trying to descend through cloud from being VFR on top, without an instrument rating, or caught in ice. Not the sort of machine I would like to be doing a forced landing in. It had glide characteristics similar to the Space Shuttle.

[chopper_nut]

From the pic of the accident site it appeared he was attempting an emergency landing on the hillside - first thing that came to mind was wrong type of fuel. Happened to a friend at Cordova, AK one time - filled him up with jet fuel rather than avgas. Short flight but he landed safely.

It certainly does look like he 'mushed' into it. I thought maybe he took on too much fuel and couldn't outclimb the hill... that place is insanely high.

A solid aeroplane (like most Beechcraft) but not one that liked to go slow. A great cross country aircraft as it had some pace and was comfortable (including club seating in the back). Most seemed to be IFR capable and that is probably where most "Doctor" accidents happened.
Either trying to descend through cloud from being VFR on top, without an instrument rating, or caught in ice. Not the sort of machine I would like to be doing a forced landing in. It had glide characteristics similar to the Space Shuttle.

They've always fascinated me as an aeroplane. Particularly the turbine conversions and the V tails. It's funny that you mention the glide characteristics, that's actually reflected quite well in the sim (not sure if it's the base model or the REP) but if you're on speed (around 70) over the fence then you have to land with a little bit of power on otherwise you loose elevator effectiveness instantly and it just drops. A little like the PA38 but nowhere near as controllable.

[Splitpin]

Keep them coming young Nick .... I love the old nanzas.

[chopper_nut]

Oh I shall Marty. It's a lot of fun with the REP. I often wonder how it compares to the A2A one. Slightly different aims but still in the same ball park. Bit of a rare bird in NZ skies but go to the US and they're everywhere. I think it might hold the record for the longest production run of any GA aeroplane but I'm happy to be proved wrong....

[emfrat]

My favourite runabout through several iterations of MS Flight Simulator was Eric Dantes' Twin Bonanza - none of that new-fangled v-tail stuff