Hello all.

I've been lurking here for a couple of weeks, soaking up information about Bonanzas. I'm an ATP (multi), and I maintained my CFI, CFII, and MEI until I got distracted last fall and forgot to mail in my renewal paperwork (doh!). I have about 9400 tt, with the last 5800 hours as S.I.C. in a regional jet. I volunteered to get furloughed 2 1/2 years ago, and hadn't flown since...just too burned out on the regional sector of the aviation industry.

My original plan was to do a B.F.R. (my first ever...despite being licensed since 1995), I.P.C., and rental checkout in a Cirrus SR22 available locally, but the day after I bought the $200 P.O.H./transition training kit, the instructor and a student somehow managed to collapse the nose gear during landing, which led to a prop strike. With the airplane out of service for a couple of months, I decided to look at other options for a reasonably capable cross country machine.

I found an A36 for rent at a different airport in the area. The airplane won't win any awards for beauty outside or inside, but it's reasonably well equipped for basic I.F.R. operations, and has a KLN90b, which initially seems like Chinese water torture to operate, but allows for /g flight planning. The price wasn't too bad either, so I picked up a P.O.H., signed up here at beechtalk, and started studying.

Having not flown for almost 2 1/2 years, and since it's been over ten years since I've flown a piston single with steam gauges, I was concerned how much work I'd need to get back up to speed. I did have 400 hours of Baron time from a freight/passenger charter job a decade ago, so I was interested in finding out how the Bonanza compared with the Baron.

We started with some basic airwork. Slow flight, stalls, steep turns. All went surprisingly well...all within commercial P.T.S. on the first attempt. The trim in this particular Bonanza is a bit of a challenge though. The electric trim seems like it does nearly nothing, and trimming manually using the trim wheel is like using a sledgehammer. I'll need more practice with that.

After the maneuvers, it was time to practice landings and traffic pattern operations. I'm still having a tough time flying a 90 m.p.h. final approach...I feel like I'm going to fall out of the sky if I get below 110. The jet I flew had an approach speed nearly double the Bonanza, so it'll take a little time to get used to slowing way down.

Three landings later, we called it quits for the day, with 1.1 on the hobbs, and a couple hours of ground instruction time. Where do I log single-engine time in my logbook again?

Day two I'd scheduled what I expected to be a four-hour flight ending with me curled up in the fetal position on the hangar floor. We flew a short cross-country flight and did a couple of landings, then headed out to fly some approaches. To my surprise, my instrument scan came right back, and I blew through several approaches with no trouble. I did make a couple of traffic advisory calls using "Baron" instead of "Bonanza", and on a couple of approaches I caught myself responding to ATC using my former airline's callsign. Old habits die hard.

The instructor suggested we call it a day, even though we still had the airplane reserved for another hour. I asked him if he was comfortable signing me off for a B.F.R., I.P.C., and rental checkout, and he said he was. Pulling into the chocks, we ended the day with 2.4 on the hobbs.

The A36 flew great. Very stable, and not too unlike the Barons I've flown. Switching fuel tanks all the time is a bit of a nuisance...there wasn't any of this L/R business in the Barons, and fuel management in the Regional Jet is automatic from takeoff to touchdown. I don't understand why Beechcraft didn't simply design the fuel system to draw from both tanks equally.

I wish the A36 were at least 20 knots faster, but what one gives up in speed seems to be reasonably offset by the amount of cabin space, which I know my wife and 17-month-old will love. Perhaps in a couple of years we'll start looking for a TN A36...though from my reading here I've developed a new respect for the speed capabilities of the V-tails. On the other hand, the prices Barons are selling at these days makes for some interesting "what if" scenarios. Hmmm.

I'm looking forward to accumulating 70-100 hours of flight time this year, if all goes as planned. I'm excited about working to improve my skills back to the level they once were...or at least reasonably close.

Thanks to everyone who has posted information here and there throughout beechtalk. I've found it useful to read before strapping myself into the Bonanza for the first time.

Interesting commentary, and welcome to BT.

There's been quite a bit of discussion on fuel management here, and a lot (maybe most) of us prefer separate fuel tanks: combining that with a good fuel totalizer provides very accurate knowledge of how much is left in each. When stretching range, a lot of us run one dry so all the known fuel is in one place rather than sloshing around 2 nearly empty tanks.

Trim - sledgehammer? Wonder if you need that looked at. At least on the V35, the manual trim (that's all I have) is very sensitive, though it does take 3 good strokes to compensate for full flaps.

Welcome! I know how you feel as I too have been getting back into GA after almost 14 years of military flying. Loving it actually!

I Look forward to hearing about your spin up. Good luck.

Thanks for the reply. That's a good point about fuel management, though a "both" position would be nice for those of us who aren't interested in achieving maximum range on 99% of our flights. It is what it is though...certainly nothing more than a nuisance to get accustomed to.

The trim might also be me not being used to it yet. It's also been a long time since I've flown rental GA aircraft, which in my experience are generally not maintained to the same standards as aircraft operated under part 121. There is no "binding" of the trim control when operated manually...it just seems stiff, so it's likely I just need some more experience operating it. It's a far cry from the trim system on the last airplane I flew...but then again everything is, so my perspective is more likely at fault than the airplane.

Thanks again for the reply. I'm looking forward to reading, and hopefully contributing more here. Maybe someday I'll be a Bonanza owner myself. It's nice to have one available for rent in the meantime...even if it's not 100% what I'd want if I owned one.

Thanks Nate, and thanks for your service. It certainly is nice to be able to get in an airplane and go wherever you want, however you want (safety and legality foremost, of course)...instead of flying strictly where and how someone else tells you to.

Flying an airplane in compliance with very specific written procedures for every segment of flight is important in a crew environment, but it sure strips away any of the sense of freedom or fun from flying.

I'm really looking forward to flying a cross country flight, and being able to decide to change altitude by an amount equal to 10% of the airplane's service ceiling without being required to call a dispatcher for "approval".