I am a new member to Beech Talk, though not new to Beech. I have the honor to own a nice 1972 V35B that my father (now deceased) and I bought in 1995 and have maintained as one of the family. I learned to fly in 1998 and immeadiatly bought a 1968 Cessna Cardinal with 150 hp. Of course, it was way underpowered and as my two boys grew, we quickly outgrew the Cardinal. We scared ourselves one hot afternoon at a local flyin when ATC decided to address the large amount of departing traffic by using a downwind runway. Being at ,or maybe a little over gross, the Cardinal used the entire runway and then some. We decided to move up and sold the Cardinal. I found a nice Skylane with low hours (920 TT) and we enjoyed that airplane for a couple of years. However, we found that the Skylane burned about the same amount of fuel as a Bonanza and was not nearly as fast. Having previously worked as a mechanic at an aircraft broker (specialized in Bonanza and Barons) we quickly made a deal on our Bonanza and began the labor or love to restore someone's elses pride and joy to our standards. I have an A&P license so I have been able to do most of the work myself with assistance on annuals from my friendly IA. I own a small grass strip at my home in south Mississippi and keep the airplane in a hanger next to my house. Over the years we have updated the avionics, installed a TCM factory rebuilt IO520BB, JPI EDM 930 and recently received a new paint job after a collision with a big buzzard that damaged the right wing leading edge.
I have been an ABS member since 1995 and attend BPPP recurrent training every other year when possible. Nothing flies like a Bonanza and in my mind, nothing else ever will come close to the speed, comfort and value of Walter Beech's innovation.
I look forward to learning from other members and hopefully, I can add to the conversation from time to time.
Mike Council
N1634W

Welcome, Mike.

I too fly a '72, and agree they are phenomenal machines.

We look forward to many more posts as you share your flying experiences.

Thanks Max. I made one error in my introduction that I am aware of, I said that I learned to fly in 1998 when in fact, it was 1988. Not that it makes any difference, but by 1998 I was on my third airplane!
I flew Forestry Patrol for the State of Mississippi for 5 years and let the taxpayers pay for four thousand hours of fun. We flew Cessna 172 RG's and I flew a drug confiscated Piper arror for a couple of thousand hours before the State decided to stop putting maintenance dollars in a plane with no title. Flying the arrow was alot more fun than the Cessna's and was closer to Bonanza flying, though still nowhere close.
Thanks for the welcome.
Mike

Mike, Welcome to BT! If you want to add some pics and info of your hanger,home and airstrip... I would like that. If not I understand...you belong to a very small group that enjoy's their own facility. Again Welcome, Ronny