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Yet another "new" "toy" to fly for me... (Beech 33)

I only miss turbo normalizing and TKS …well ….but then I would better off with a P210 maybe…

EBST

Okay, now I have to join too. I also made my mind about installing the tip tanks. Finally I decided not to do so, because I have enough range with the available 74 gallons to reach most of the places without thinking about fuel problems. You have to do a bit of advance planing, but it works out fine. I will install them definitely when I may decide to fly to the US. But within Europe I feel comfortable with the actual status.

EDDS , Germany

Vref wrote:

Bonanza are awesome…did I say that already today:-))?

They are, they’re almost as fast and as good as the Comanche… almost :-)
(I’ll go now :-))

W.

LFHN - Bellegarde - Vouvray France

LFHNflightstudent wrote:

They are, they’re almost as fast and as good as the Comanche… almost :-)

It was only a matter of time before the P word was brought up

Fly safe. I want this thing to land l...
EGPF Glasgow

BeechBaby wrote:

It was only a matter of time before the P word was brought up

Well you mentioned speed and tip-tanks, I could not resist from mentioning the better plane :-)

LFHN - Bellegarde - Vouvray France

LFHNflightstudent wrote:

I could not resist from mentioning the better plane :-)

Nice one…..

Fly safe. I want this thing to land l...
EGPF Glasgow

Back specifically to the Debonair (which this thread was about… )

With my limited insight, I would say that if you are looking at buying one, you should try find 1965-1967 model (the problem is that these are fairly rare in Europe, and even rather rare globally). These reasons being:

  • better, more modern looks (due to large third window)
  • previous versions have too little fuel capacity (unless equipped with tip tanks)
  • plus of course many other minor improvements over the earliest models, such as inidvidual seats in the back

In general, there are a lot of things which were NOT standard in these aircraft those days. Many aircraft have been extensively upgraded over the years, but others less so. So keep an eye on all these things. Otherwise, it might cost you a fortune to bring the aircraft up to a decent standard. Some examples:

  • should harnesses. NOT standard those days and you will really want to have them in case of an off field emergency landing.
  • dual controls and dual brakes. Some people (who only use it for personal use and never for any kind of instruction) might not need that, but most will want dual controls and brakes
  • avionics of course. One biggie, as always, is the autopilot. Many early Debs didn’t have one or only had that wing-leveller pictured above. That of course is not desirable, particularly for IFR in controlled airspace. But there is hope in the form of the (relatively low-price) Garmin GFC500. That one is already approved for the early Bonanzas, and the work on the Debonair approval is underway and the STC is expected shortly. Other than that, one will of course also want a good SBAS GPS, dual 8,33s, Mode-S, 406, and a decent engine monitor. This can cost 50k. It is really frightening to see some of those (few) Debs that are for sale and the type of avionics they still have.
  • then of course, there are loads of ADs to check for, but that is not much different with most other types
Last Edited by boscomantico at 20 Jun 15:01
Mainz (EDFZ) & Egelsbach (EDFE), Germany

I‘m not sure why you say 1965-67 and not i.e. later ? Retrofitting an airplane with modern avionics is never cheap. So why not an 80ies or 90ies model ?

Safe landings !
EDLN, Germany

That is primarily because of the mogas thing. That is a major money-saver in Germany, Austria, Italy, Czech Republic and the Netherlands.

Most of the later ones are IO-520 equipped and there are no IO-520 mogas STCs for the Debonair/Bonanza.

A second (smaller) factor is MTOW. Pre 1968s are sub 1.4 tons. Most if the later models are over 1.5 tons. This makes a noticeable difference in landing fees in some countries. In Germany, the 1.4 ton threshold is often relevant. In the UK, the 1.5 ton threshold is often very relevant.

Finally, this was specifically about the Debonair (despite Peter having added “Bonanza” to the thread title…). And well, the Debonair ceased to exist after 1968…

Last Edited by boscomantico at 20 Jun 16:29
Mainz (EDFZ) & Egelsbach (EDFE), Germany

I reverted the thread to “Beech 33”

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Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom
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