Zbigniew,

You can go here to get technical publications from HBC. Sometimes they are available on eBay.

The factory parts site is here, but there are many other sources - Aircraft Spruce, for one, is popular. I've used Controller as well.

Hi Zbigniew! Greetings from Lithuania!

It's nice to have someone from Poland on this magnificent forum. I'm from Lithuania and thus relatively close to you. I have relatives in Gdynia and Suwalki and visit Poland from time to time (not yet been in Katowice region though). We also have these nice Polish-Lithuanian fly-ins organized by Stanislaw Tolwinski every autumn, where a group of Polish pilots visit various Lithuanian GA airfields. Have you been to LT? Last summer I visited Hel (by car) where, on a sightseeing tour, I came across a cosy GA strip (and was later told by Polish pilots that the runway is quite bumpy there .
Yes, we in LT also mostly have Cessnas, Beechcraft are rare. The first Bonanza (F33 A) came to Panevezys, I think, a couple of years ago, and one Baron 55 is based in Vilnius, but that's all. I think runway length is one of the factors. Most of them in LT are 1500-2000 ft, grass, sometimes muddy. The other one may be lack of Beechcraft specific facilities. Can you maintain your Bo in Poland or will you have to call mechanics from Germany to come and do the work on her (inspections, replacement, upgrades, overhauls)? Purchase and maintenance cost is sure the third factor.

How much is Avgas in various Polish places? Here it's 6 LTL (1,7 EUR)/litre in limited quantities excise-free or, oficially taxed, 8 LTL (2,3 EUR) /litre (~11,60 $ /gallon). But most new pilots buy LSAs, so a cheaper car gas can be used at 5 LTL (1,4 EUR)/litre or ~7,30 $/gallon.

Ja tez duzo rozumiem i troche mowie po polsku, bo ogladalem polskie TV prakticznie z rodzenia.

Darius

Darius,

Welcome to BeechTalk! You should post your own introduction in addition to this post so that others can welcome you.

I suspect that many of us would be interested to hear more about flying in Lithuania and see pictures as well.

Hi Drew!

Thanks for the welcome! I already introduced myself on Beechtalk a couple of years ago, long before this introduction thread was created. With 14 posts since then, I've basically been a lurker for most of the time.

I'm an aviation enthusiast, not a pilot yet, just planning to enter active flying and airplane ownership years later. For now, I (together with my skydiver brother and sometimes the dad) regularly join a pilot friend with C172 on his local flights and occasionally charter him for our own flights. I also use GA flying possibilities abroad on vacations. On Beechtalk, I'm mostly learning and building my own visions for the future. I've been on some dozen types of light aircraft so far (including homebuilt), but yet to fly in a Beechcraft.

I plan to post some info on the flying specificities in Lithuania and the nearby Baltic countries in the near future, probably in Journal Talk or Plane Talk, then certainly with pictures. Just hard to find the time with the dayjob workload that I have.

Darius

Hi Darius,

Great to hear from Lithuania ! I think it's a bit unusual to meet you here at US forum
Up to now I was able to find some owners of Beechcrafts here. Three Bonanzas, one F33 and couple of Barons.
Surprisingly for example, Pilatus PC-12 is more popular than MUCH cheaper BC planes.
Cessnas are absolutely rulers of the sky in Poland. I would say 90%. May be more.

Regarding my Bonanza, I plan to have it in the air within max two weeks. I need to move it from EPGI to EPKM, my headquarter. It's still NXXX so needs FAA annual that has expired last year.
The plane has been sitting for 17 months so obviously would need some work but luckily all can be done quickly and easily.
A friend of mine is the owner of all rights to Franklin engines and within couple of days he expects to be visited by some guys from the US (Continental) so they can do annual.
The next step is choosing where to register the plane. Lithuania could be an option. Please advice how it looks in your country when you want to register a plane brought from outside EC. In Poland it means tons of paperwork, nerves and time.

100LL prices are comparable to yours, maybe a bit lower (~1.5 EUR/l). However we've no problems with it, you can refuel your plane at almost every airfield, even the smallest.

Anyway thanks for your message and good luck with your flying, Neighbor...

Best regards from PL

Zbigniew

Hi Zbigniew,

I just sent you a personal message with e-mails and phone numbers of Lithuanian CAA's officials with whom you can talk regarding registration. Among the issues I would discuss would be the tax situation (real estate/immovable property tax and VAT), enforcement of mandatory calender times for engines/props/other parts (like 12 years of Cont./Lyc. engines or 6 years for props even for non-commercial operation), differences if you register on a company or private person etc. I have some info on these issues but I fear that it might be outdated or incomplete so I suggest you better contact the lady mentioned in the e-mail directly.

Good luck getting that bird in the air!

Darius