I am a long term but not that high time pilot both light singles and sailplanes to gold c and instructor/ inspector rating. We have had a Cessna 150e within our farming family since 1975. As Australia is wide and C150's are slow it has always been a question whether motoring or flying is quicker in the long run when you include flightplanning, inspection, refueling, getting to and from the airstrip etc in our little VH DMK.
As with many people I guess business and life takes up many years before we can resurface to achieve some dreams.
We now have family living from one side of Aus to the other and my wife and I would love to be able to visit them without relying on RPT. To these ends I have always admired and harboured ambitions to one day own any type of Bonanza.
I have recently become aware of a really nice relatively low hour 1976 F33A with a IO 550 motor and Hartzell prop that are both low hr SMOH. It looks very good to me and I am hoping that through this I can answer the few niggling questions including Weight and Balance issues on long fights.
Thank you and I look forward to keeping up with the ins and outs of a wonderful line of airplanes
Richard W Sasse

Welcome, Richard. That F33A sounds like a great cross-country machine..

Hi Richard,
Welcome to the greatest aviation forum you'll ever find, great choice in a Bonanza for your travels, you can't go wrong.

Hi, Richard,

Where in Australia are you? We have a number of Beechtalk members who live in OZ and who can probably help.

On that F33A, how many people will you regularly take, and how much do they weigh? Not the number you might take once a year (buy those extra people airline tickets for that trip), but what you're load will be for 80% of the trips.

You'll find the help you need here.

Welcome.

Welcome Richard !

I would reckon that most of my flying in a faster aircraft would be my wife and I. Hence the idea that I could get away with an F33 and
perhaps obtain better value for money than an A36. It does seem that if you need to take 2 extra passengers on occasion one would need to keep the tanks to nearly half full and certainly less than 3 hrs endurance. Maybe not such an issue in comfort terms anyway. We are from inland of Geraldton on the West Coast.Thanks again and cheers.

Will be in Townsville, on Wednesday. To bad I will be on the East coast. Would love to share with you....

Go Bo.........you will not be sorry!

Welcome to the Beechcraft community Richard.
I purchased my first Bonanza in 1968 for the same reason - long cross-country flying. I've had several over the years, and a S35 for the past 17. I think a Bonanza, either a straight or v-tail, is the best and most cost effective choice of the single engine planes available.
A F-33 with a 550 is a great plane.
If you want to extend your range, look for one with tip-tanks.
Suggest that you join the American Bonanza Society and take advantage of the many things they provide.
You should also get a copy of John Eckalbar's book, Flying the Beech Bonanza.
Good luck.

Hi Richard,
I live on the east coast in Central Queensland and own one of the few F33A Bonanza's in Australia and love the performance and handling. As others have stated I am sometimes a little limited if looking to carry four adults with full fuel. On the few occasions I have four on board I reduce my fuel load to compensate as those flights usually have at least one passenger with reduced endurance, bladder wise.
I fitted the Super Scimitar prop several years ago and the little extra weight on the nose helped considerably with C of G making the aircraft a good three plus bags tourer.
Let me know if I can help any further with your decision.
Good luck.

Hi Richard. Good to see more Aussies on line. Be careful of your Beechcraft journey. We started with a 36 then a 58 and now a C90 Gti. Who knows. If you are ever in Toowoomba on the east coast look us up.