Baby, I agree 100%…. just sayin’ :)
EuroFlyer wrote:
yes the seat is a bit high. In fact my knee is rather close to the yoke which was an unfamiliar feeling at first.
Taller pilots, 6 foot 2 inches or more have some headroom difficulty with the Bonanza. I know of a tall pilot who owned his Bonanza for many years and never knew that the rudder pedals were adjustable to three positions on the pilot side. The seat also provides more headroom the further aft it is moved. Some tall pilots have lowered the height of the seat cushion as well. The throw over yoke has multiple positions and is easily adjustable for tall pilots. The dual yoke can be mounted with the V up or V down. The Bonanza standard mounting is with the V down, which gives tall pilots less leg and knee room. The aftermarket dual yoke from Cygnet can easily be swapped to work in either orientation.
For zero wind takeoff at SL, I expect to be off the ground at or before the 1000 foot marker on a paved runway. Ground roll is about 700 feet on a paved surface. I am comfortable flying into strips of 1500 feet on a dry surface.
I look for 50 Kts or more at the 500 foot mark on a runway with precision markings. Total takeoff roll will be approximately double the distance required to get to 50 Kts. This works for any takeoff, although the distance to achieve 50 Kts will increase with density altitude. Also, climb out, particularly with the 14 volt aircraft is done with the gear extended until over the obstacle. The 14 volt airplanes have a 12 second retract time and since the inner gear doors open up during retraction, drag and performance suffers during the retraction. The Vx and Vy in this configuration is much lower than the values in the current POH. The older owners manuals had this data and Vy is 18 Kts lower with the gear and 20 degrees of flaps extended.
Interesting that the Bonanzas didn’t do what seems standard in IFR SEP tourers of today: a Vs of 59kt.
Maybe the original certification was before the 60kt max Vs for any SE aircraft was in operation?
Peter,
Vs is not required to be 59 Kt or lower. This is from Sec. 23.49 Stalling speed:
(c) Except as provided in paragraph (d) of this section, VSO at maximum weight may not exceed 61 knots for—
(1) Single-engine airplanes;
VSO for the Bonanza is 55 Kts, which is the landing configuration with flaps and gear extended, maximum gross weight.
On the subject of short/backcountry fields, this video from the same outfit covers nosedraggers, including specifically the Bonanza:
I used to fly our club’s S-35 in and out of grass airfields. Not really short ones, but ones rough enough that you wanted to make a minimum energy touchdown. The Bonanza has effective flaps and especially at light weights, doesn’t need to be bombing around at 80-odd knots.
Great video ! thanks ! What a beautiful landscape….
Now the only thing missing is a ticket to the US….
I own a 1980 A36, with a TAT turbo-normalised IO-520. Any questions? Fire away!
FWIW, when it was normally-aspirated I planned 160 TAS at FL100 and 12 US gph. Now I plan 190 TAS at FL180 and 16 US gph.
How do you find maintenance costs and tasks on the A36?
50 hr checks work out at about £800. I’ve just been quoted £3200 for my next annual. (Annual costs tend to reduce as the engineers become more familiar with your aircraft.)
Not much goes wrong, but it can be expensive when it happens. The Autopilot roll servo failed three weeks ago and the replacement was $1700 plus installation.
