Beechcraft of the Month

I had occasion to fly with a local pilot to help him perfect his short field takeoffs and landings in a new-to-him A36. The pilot proved to be a competent aviator and transitioned smoothly into his new PIC duties in the Bonanza.

There is an uncomfortableness of knowing that flying high up in the air exacts a compromise, especially in an unpressurized aircraft. Flying from San Diego to New Jersey via Grand Junction, Colorado, to avoid thunderstorms, also brought me the specter of hypoxia.

This past December, my son Jimmy made the pilgrimage back to South Carolina from his relatively new home in Utah for Christmas. He is an avid angler, and an equally avid opponent of discomfort – a condition Utah evidently serves up in spades during winter. I therefore presented to him a bit of a conundrum when I suggested taking the Bonanza up to the North Carolina mountains for a little December trout fishing. His hesitation was brief and, with more bravado than I think he actually felt, he exclaimed that Southern winters had nothing on Utah, and our plan was set in motion.

What might you think is the single most common factor in aircraft accidents? Engine failure? Aerodynamic stalls? Fuel starvation? Loss of directional control on the runway? All these terms feature prominently in the Bonanza/Debonair/Baron/Travel Air accident record. But these accident scenarios, what the NTSB calls the “probable cause,” are really outcomes. In many cases they are what happens after something else occurs. Take for example this Final Report from a crash that occurred in December 2023 (NTSB Accident Number ERA24LA064):

Joined ABS: 1988. I joined the same day I bought my first Bonanza!

Congratulations to these ABS members who have earned a new ABS AVIATOR status:

Jim Murdoch was awarded the Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award in November 2023 after 50 years of flying. Jim soloed a Cessna 150 in high school and learned to fly at Malcolm McKinnon Field on St. Simons Island, Georgia. He managed to balance his love of flying by flight instructing while attending college. He also sprayed fire ants in Lockheed PV-2 bombers. During his senior year, Jim was flying a Piper Navajo for a commuter airline.

ABS extends a warm welcome to these members who recently became ABS Life Members: Year indicates when the member originally joined ABS.

ABS extends condolences to the families and friends of these ABS members who recently passed away:

The first of three Maintenance Academies for 2024 was held at the Beechcraft Heritage Museum in March 2024. Twenty-four ABS member mechanics from all over the country attended the weekend’s training. The Maintenance Academy is designed for IAs and A&Ps who work on Beechcraft airplanes in a shop that maintains our aircraft, specifically the models that ABS supports. The cost is free for ABS members, but you must apply for the class. The ABS Air Safety Foundation is fortunate to be sponsored by Select Airparts and our other generous donors who financially support the training. The Maintenance Academy has been taking place since 2012, with two classes being offered each year. This year the Board of Directors and staff thought it was such an important initiative for maintaining our fleet that we are offering an additional third class.

I am writing in response to an article in the March 2024 ABS Magazine titled “Fly the Plane.” The focus of the article as I read it was the importance of maintaining control of an airplane when distractions threaten to demote “aviate” from its position as the pilot’s number one concern. However, as a cardiologist and AME, I was troubled by some aspects of the story as presented. Specifically, I think some of the decision-making was in error and could easily have resulted in an unhappy or even fatal outcome for the pilot’s friend in the right seat.

This project has been hinted at in ABS Magazine articles by me and others over the last few months, and several of you have already downloaded the app and begun loading in content. I am pleased to announce that our mobile app is now live!

On a flight last week in my Baron 58P, the flaps froze at 15 degrees and would not retract. I replaced the flap motor and the flaps worked well in the hangar. Also, the old motor worked after hand turning the shaft (dead spot?). In flight the flaps would not retract due to the circuit breaker popping. After resetting the circuit breaker, it popped again after activating flaps. My AME suggested to get a new circuit breaker. Does this sound reasonable?

I have discovered a small leak coming from the fuel control unit under my IO-550. It looks to be due to a compromised O-ring. My mechanic can remove the unit, but they do not work on these units in-house. We are unsure of where to send the unit for servicing. Is there someone who works on servicing or rebuilding these units that we can ship it to?

For as long as I can remember I have had a fascination with flying: the concept as well as the sense of freedom that must come along with being a pilot. I just never thought there was anything I could do about it. Then, in the spring of 2005, my girlfriend at the time (now my wife) offered me a ride with her and her dad in her dad’s 1981 A36 Bonanza, N499DL. That was it, I was hooked. I found that there was a way to have access to the freedom of flying.

Last month I began reporting on the ABS Air Safety Foundation Strategic Plan 2024-2026, adopted by the ASF Board of Directors in February. As a quick refresher, ASF’s strategic goals for 2024-2026 are to:

There are three possible outcomes to every FAA medical exam. You can be issued or denied your medical certificate, or your exam may be deferred to the FAA for further review. Whenever you do not meet the criteria to be issued a medical certificate at the exam, your case is usually deferred to the FAA for further review and disposition. Applicants are rarely denied by the Aviation Medical Examiner (AME). The FAA prefers that the AME just defer the case and let it confirm the situation.

It was during the ABS Convention in the fall of 2022 that a friend of mine came up to me and said: “I have a suggestion for the board of ABS. Do these conventions more often. We need to get together.”

ABS extends a warm welcome to the following new members who joined in March 2024:

In the March ABS Magazine we made an error in the caption for this photo, accompanying the Member News announcing that Peter Tracy received the FAA Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award. The correct caption should read: Peter Tracy (left) receives his award, presented by Larry Cheek of the FAA’s Reno, Nevada, Flight Standards District Office (FSDO). We apologize for the error.

In January 2014, ABS Magazine began a monthly column dedicated specifically to flying, maintaining, and owning Beech Barons and Travel Airs. The idea is to always have content for this unique and significant segment of ABS membership. There’s a wealth of information in what began as “Baron Pilot” and was rebranded as “Baron/Travel Air” in January 2019. All is available in the online magazine archives at www.bonanza.org, but it might be handier to have an index of articles grouped by topic to help guide an online search. With that in mind, here’s an index for the Beech twin-specific columns to date.

For more than 20 years, I have reserved four or five days in late April or early May for a unique gathering of special friends of mine. We call ourselves The Brothers and we get together annually in Hilton Head, South Carolina, for Brothers Weekend. Most years, I make the trip from Boston in my A36 Bonanza.

In the ABSWeb webinar broadcast live March 12, 2024, ABS Senior Technical Advisor Bob Ripley answered viewer questions about inspecting, maintaining, and modifying their Beechcraft Bonanzas, Debonairs, Barons, and Travel Airs. The program was moderated by ABS Member Services Director Lauren Bayless and is now available under Webinars in the ABS Online Learning Center at www.bonanza.org. ABS members watching live sent Lauren their questions using the webinar chat function; Lauren read the questions to Bob and he provided his answers.

Over the last few years, aircraft owners have seen their insurance costs increase multiple times. Many of our clients ask if rates might be going back down anytime soon. As I pointed out in last month’s article, rates have leveled off for most insureds but have not yet started to fall significantly and we remain in a hard market. In the insurance industry, a “hard market” is defined by the upswing in a market cycle when premiums increase and capacity decreases. Conversely, a soft market is characterized by falling rates and plenty of capacity. Looking back, the last soft market lasted almost 10 years, which is more than double the three-year cycle that we have seen historically. So, it was inevitable that we would see some rate increases and it is not surprising that rates are holding steady with inflation and legal costs adversely affecting insurance carrier’s bottom lines. Now that the hard market is here, how do we deal with the reality of rising insurance costs? We will look at some ways to do that. While we can’t control the rates, the following are some things that can help minimize the premiums you pay:

From time to time owners, mechanics, and repair stations need to purchase hardware such as bolts, screws, and specialty fasteners. An incident came to light last year in the “big airplane industry” that can also affect us here in the “little airplane industry.” A UK-based company called AOG was caught selling thousands of supposedly certified jet engine parts with falsified manufacturing and traceability records. Airlines and certification authorities worldwide are now struggling to track all this hardware down and remove it from service.

My B36TC is in annual where we discovered low compression on cylinder #3. After complying with the service bulletin procedure with runup on ground, low compression remained (17 PSI). The plane was flown for an hour per the service bulletin and low compression remained (17 PSI). I can hear air blowing out when listening near the exhaust pipe. There are no symptoms on JPI 930, no significant increase in oil burn or engine operation, no metal in filters or oil samples (changed every 25 hours). The borescope looked good. The airplane was running great. Next step is cylinder replacement and I have ordered a new Continental cylinder. Should we consider replacing anything else or do you have other suggestions? Engine TTSN is 1374.4 and 609.4 SMOH.

After 27 years at the controls of Performance Aero, we are retiring. We want to thank the American Bonanza Society (ABS) leadership, staff, and members for their long-term support. We have done our absolute best to provide quality products and dedicated service to more than 19,000 customers who are Beechcraft Bonanza and Baron owners. We appreciate your business and the support you all have shown us over these years.

I own an E33A Bonanza and my main landing gear doors close fully on the ground and with gear retracted on jacks. I was looking at an aerial photo taken in flight a few years ago, and it appears that the door is partially open. Any recommendations on what to check?

I got my step rechromed on my E33A Bonanza at Spacecoast Plating. They don’t drill and fill with oil. Should I drill and fill it with oil prior to installing?

I posted earlier about the failure of one of the gear rods on this aircraft bending and piercing the through spar web. We have asked Textron Aviation for a repair scheme, which they say is possible, but we are still trying to diagnose why the gear rod failed in the first place so that I don’t get a repetition. Using the manual mechanism the gear works normally, both up and down. I am now told by the maintenance organization (MO) that this aircraft had a failure in the uplock in the past and that it had flown around (before I owned it), prior to the failure, without the uplock working. In this scenario would the gear transition light go out and would the gear stay up? If the answer is yes, then, in your opinion, would this over time, weaken the gear rod such that it could fail in such a way as to pierce the web and this could be a reason for the failure?

Is there a good method of removing gasket material safely from the aluminum case or parts? Most YouTube tips involve steel or tungsten scrapers/razor blade tools, and there are spray on gasket removing products. All of those will almost certainly scratch the aluminum and the sprays may have undesirable effect on parts nearby. I’m cleaning the gasket off the oil cooler and mating face on the engine. Should the new gasket be applied dry?

I recently purchased a new 10- and 20-degree flap indicator placard for my P35 Bonanza. I’m wondering where the proper position for me to put it as my plane has nothing right now. I did put a digital protractor on the flaps and when I lowered them 10 degrees and then 20 degrees and they seemed to be too far down. I’m not sure what the entire deflection is, but it is not much more than 20 degrees. Is there a specific amount the flap should be lowered when I line the 10-degree markup? Maybe one-third of the travel?

The past couple of times I’ve parked the S35 Bonanza overnight in a cold climate, the suction gauge reads high when I start the engine after a cold soak. After I take off the suction it is fine. It’s my understanding that there is a vacuum regulator on the inside of the firewall. It sounds to me like this is the most likely culprit. Maybe the mechanism is getting stiff with age and the cold isn’t helping. I’m hoping to learn an exact location for the regulator and if I’m lucky, a part number for a new regulator. I will take any other advice.

I would like to create a complete list of applicable ADs for my 2001 A36 Bonanza that I can use to compare to the logbooks to make sure all have been complied with. Is there a way to do that?

I cannot find a superseded number for my fuel boost pump. My engine is an IO-470N. The Beech illustrated parts breakdown shows the part number is 4032A. I cannot find that from any vendor. Could you please give me a current part number for my fuel boost pump and vendor?

I am trying to find the upper gasket, part number HE1526-3, for my Baron 55 fuel strainer bowl. I can find the lower, part number HE1526-4, but it seems like the upper one is quite elusive. Could anyone point me in the right direction?

I own an A36 Bonanza and during my last annual we noticed that one of the rubber motor mounts has cracks. I ordered one motor mount kit from Textron Aviation (J-10520-1). My plan is to change all four in my upcoming annual. Is it the same part number for all four mounts?

I own a 1974 Bonanza V35B, serial D-9609. I need to clean leaked hydraulic from the aircraft belly (inside under the floorboards and what has come outside the belly vents). Any product recommendation for the task?

Our Australia in a Day team took out the 2nd prize, the Coventry Trophy, as well as being awarded the longest distance medals at the recent awards ceremony in London for the Dawn to Dusk competition! I look forward to meeting you at [the Australian Beechcraft Society] BPPP at Cowra NSW in March.—Theresa McDonald

It was not an easy task to be 17 years old flying around in a Bonanza A36. There were lots of challenges, setbacks, and late nights.

ABS extends a warm welcome to the following new members who joined in February 2024:

Congratulations to these ABS members who have earned a new ABS AVIATOR status:

ABS extends a warm welcome to these members who recently became ABS Life Members: Year indicates when the member originally joined ABS.

ABS extends condolences to the families and friends of this ABS member who recently passed away:

The ABS and ABS Air Safety Foundation Boards of Directors met live the first weekend of February. During that meeting I made my proposal for the 2024-2026 ASF Strategic Plan, which was adopted by the Board of Directors. A 501(c)(3) not-for-profit foundation, ASF provides the educational and technical products, programs, and services that enhance your ABS membership and your Beechcraft ownership experience. This Strategic Plan gives me my marching orders for the next three years and tees up the Foundation for what may happen after that.

The ABS Air Safety Foundation thanks these generous ABS members for their contributions in 2023 to help us protect lives and preserve the Beechcraft fleet.

I don’t say it enough, but a shout out to our ABS Life Members. You made the decision to be the life blood of the organization, a Beechcraft owner, pilot, mechanic, and enthusiast for life. You will never leave, and we are happy that you have made the choice. Today we have more than 1,360 Life Members that make up 13 percent of our total membership. Congratulations!

On the whole, the FAA looks at your medical risk over the next certification period based on the class of medical you are requesting. This is why medical information the FAA requests sometimes deviates from what your treating physician recommends. Most physicians are treating a condition and not taking a bigger picture view of how it may impact specific aspects of your life. Meanwhile, the FAA specifically wants to know how your health status may impact aviation safety. These safety focused questions generally take the form of assessments to determine the potential for sudden or insidious incapacitation while flying. This is the rationale for the mandated disqualifying conditions by CFR [Code of Federal Regulations].

The big news at ABS since the last issue went to press is our announcement about changes in the structure and purpose of the Beechcraft Pilot Proficiency Program (BPPP). Since we rolled the revisions out in early February, the response from the instructor and member community has been generally positive. But it is worth spending some time here discussing the decision and, importantly, the role ABS will play in new Beechcraft pilots’ initial type training and ongoing currency.

Dynon Certified announces its three-axis autopilot system is FAA approved for Beech Baron 58s and reduced-weight 58As. The autopilot, with optional yaw damping, may now be installed in these Barons when equipped with the Dynon SkyView HDX touch screen flight display. The yaw damper may be installed when coupled to a third-party IFR navigation system.

Our 2022 cross-country trip was a palate-pleasing quest (“In Pursuit of the $1000 Hamburger,” ABS Magazine, May 2023). This time we decided on a more balanced mix: national parks, beaches, museums…as well as good restaurants. It is truly amazing how much our country has to offer to the general aviation traveler, just for a few gallons of 100LL.

A person’s rationale for buying a twin can range from the practical to the emotional and in just about any combination of the two. Advantages to the pilot of a Baron or Travel Air over those of a comparable Bonanza or Debonair include two engines for redundant power and greater speed, dual sources for the electrical and pneumatic systems, higher useful load, nose baggage compartment for more flexible weight and balance loading, a higher wing loading for a better ride in turbulence, and more. Plus, a Baron or Travel Air will fit into almost any hangar that houses a Bonanza or Debonair. Naturally these advantages are the main selling points for a twin, so I won’t go into any more of an ownership-enticing sale pitch.

I watched a demonstration by the pilot of a U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptor on one of the nicer weather days at Sun ’n Fun. The Raptor’s most unique characteristic, from an observer’s standpoint, is its ability to maneuver at extremely high angles of attack—maintaining a constant AoA of over 60° in sustained flight.

I was in a window seat in the dark aft cabin of a 737-800 on an early morning flight to Atlanta to pick up the ABS Air Safety Foundation’s 1981 A36 Bonanza after its annual inspection. I’d flown N504SJ down a couple of weeks before, 4.5 hours nonstop, landing with both fuel tanks at a little more than the yellow arc. My schedule, and neither Stephen Ripley’s Southern Aero Services nor any mechanical problem with the airplane, made 4SJ’s stay at the shop Bob Ripley founded last as long as it did. As dawn filtered through the scratched-up Boeing window, I read through the March 2024 issue of EAA’s Sport Aviation. I like to catch up on back issues when traveling and then leave the magazine in the seat pocket or somewhere in the terminal where it might catch someone’s eye. My father, a United Air Lines mechanic, used to bring home discarded airplane magazines when I was a child, fueling my interest. Yeah, I know it’s virtually certain the cleaning crew will throw it away. But I try this brand of recycling on the long chance it might end up in the hands of some 2020s elementary school kid.

I was privileged to take a 50-minute flight in AOPA’s C55 Baron during its G100UL unleaded aviation gasoline demonstration, with AOPA’s Dave Hirschman at the controls. GAMI’s George Braly had first asked me if I’d like a demonstration flight in December and it came together as AOPA neared the end of its trials in late February.

With a later than usual arrival time planned, Friday afternoon seven airplanes and three SUVs arrived at Alpine, Texas (E38). The last arrivals were at approximately 3:30 p.m. so we could get checked into the Hampton Inn and gather in the lobby to board our three large SUVs to go to dinner at 5 p.m. Dinner was planned at Reata Restaurant, arguably the best in Alpine, and they did not disappoint. Our three tables were ready for us as we walked in. We had 19 SWBS members at dinner, and being the social group we are, the third table group decided to abandon their table and move over and join in at the other two tables. The more the merrier! Dinner was fantastic and their pre-dinner bread and butter was incredible. I think everyone enjoyed the quick service and excellent food there. Reata obviously runs a very good restaurant. (Their sister Reata restaurant is in Fort Worth.) Our time was somewhat cramped for dinner, as we had a 7:15 Star Party planned at the McDonald Observatory.

After a seven-year absence, the Southeastern Bonanza Society returned to Naples, Florida, in early February for a weekend fly-in. The weekend didn’t disappoint, with chamber of commerce weather for the duration that was perfect for all the planned outdoor activities.

Aircraft operators in California will likely be the first to be able to fill their tanks with unleaded 100 octane aviation fuel. General Aviation Modifications Inc., head of engineering George Braly told AVweb the company has signed a licensing agreement with petroleum company Vitol Aviation and that company is now in the process of producing the first large-scale batches of G100UL® avgas. At this time, the expectation is that G100UL avgas will be available to the West Coast in the first half of this year. “The initial deployment will be in California,” said Braly. Vitol is now reconfiguring refining, blending, and storage facilities in the Gulf Coast area to produce the fuel and has obtained the necessary authorizations from the FAA to make and sell it. Braly said it’s still not clear which airports will inaugurate the sale of G100UL.

“Textron has confirmed it is not currently taking orders for new Beech Bonanzas but it won’t say why it has stopped or when it might resume accepting them. ‘To ensure the best experience for our customers throughout every stage of their ownership journey, Textron Aviation has temporarily suspended additions to the order book for the Beechcraft Bonanza,’ the company said in a statement. AVweb asked for more details on the suspension of orders, but a spokeswoman said she could offer no elaboration on the initial statement.

The handle on my C35’s wobble pump broke near the base. I am looking for a replacement handle. Does anyone have one? Has anyone made their own replacement handle? I have an electric pump and would like to eliminate the wobble pump. In the meantime, I need to find a replacement.

I am a CFI, and I have a new student with a 1954 E-series Bonanza, N3285C, serial D-3952. This airplane has five fuel tanks: main wing tanks, 15-gallon tip tanks, and a 10-gallon auxiliary tank. I have not been able to find the recommended sequence for tank switching, beyond the diagram in the POH Limitations section suggesting LH Tank first 10 gallons, followed by auxiliary tank. How should the tip tanks be sequenced?

On my latest two-hour flight, I could not keep the airplane straight and level without putting right pressure on the control wheel – the plane kept crabbing to the left. I turned the aileron trim knob (in the center of the dual control-wheel arm) as far right as it would go, but that did not help. My A&P looked and gave me the bad news. The spring(s) inside the knob is/are broken; the manufacturer of the spring will not sell it to anyone except Textron Aviation and Textron does not sell the spring part by itself. They will only sell the entire knob assembly, for $2,300. There must be a way around that skyway robbery extortion. Any ideas?

I noticed a small amount of play on the outboard hinge of the right side ruddervator on my aircraft during a recent post-flight inspection. It’s about 1/16” and I can barely move it. Is any amount of play allowed? If I need to replace the bushing or bearing, what resources are available to me on Bonanza.org?

While on a flight last night in our V35B Bonanza, our right fuel gauge (standard Beechcraft gauge) started to wander. The quantity was about half full, however, once we reached that point the needle on the gauge would wander from one-half to full, and dance around between. This is the first time we’ve seen this, so we were wondering where to start troubleshooting.

I am in the process of painting an F33A Bonanza wing walk. I washed, dried, and masked the whole area, and took off the wing bolt covers. As I did this, I took the chance to check the wing bolt drain holes. The rear one was open, but the front hole is clogged (I checked both with a plastic straw from a WD-40 spray). I understand that using a wire is not suggested. Do you know how to open this hole? Is there access from the bottom of the wing? I have not painted the wing walk yet.

I have a 1974 F33A Bonanza and the locking mechanism seems to be worn out on the right front seat. The pin that drops down to lock the seat into the rail gets stuck up and won’t drop back down whenever you try to use it. Then of course the seat won’t lock in place. Any suggestions?

I need just a bit more left rudder at cruise speeds in my V35B Bonanza. I can tell the yaw damper servo is having to hold constant pressure. It’s not too bad, maybe one-half ball width out. I was wondering if this was a problem worth solving, perhaps with a slight adjustment.

I know we call for nose rod actuator ends to be replaced every 2,000 hours (I just did mine). Are there rod ends on the main gear that should be replaced as well?

I own a V35B Bonanza. The 4-6” firewall shutoff control shank is ever so slightly bent and needs a tremendous amount of effort to open or close. The control is situated on the pilot’s side (low / left on the panel) and passes through the firewall on the passenger side to operate the vertical slice / gate valve just aft of the blend air valve. From the knob to the end of the cable measures 62”+/-. The IPC [Illustrated Parts Catalog] for my serial number calls 169-380005-11, however, Textron Aviation Parts shows the following dimensions: 31.55 (L) x 11.4 (W) x 0.85 (H) inches. Am I misreading the IPC or could the Textron Aviation site be wrong? Where should I source a 62” cable? I already mistakenly purchased part number 35-380051-11, which was clearly shorter than what is needed. I would love to avoid causing myself any further delay and restock fees.

One of my emergency exit windows has several “lobes” cracked/broken on the piano hinge. Is the Textron part a standard MS-series part or is it proprietary? I need two halves, and they have one in stock for $70 each half. The similar (same?) MS part is about $20 for a three-foot section. The price in this case doesn’t worry me, the availability (of the Textron Aviation part) does. They are the “formed” hinges. Could an extruded hinge be substituted? The part number is 002-430008-169 for fuselage half, and 002-430053-15 for the window half. They appear to be standard aluminum hinges, possibly one side has a wider flange than the other. Other than removing the headliner, any surprises in replacing it?

On takeoff this afternoon in my V35B, climbing 3,000 feet I got a red X through my oil temperature display (G3X MFD/EIS). There were no other system abnormalities. I made an immediate return and landed normally. Oil pressure was not an issue. Pre-takeoff checks, run-up, and take-off roll were all with normal indications. I shut down on the taxiway and got towed in. No oil leaks were noted and preflight oil level check was eleven quarts. Short of a bad sensor, what should be checked by my mechanic?

I want to know how to tell my mechanic to 1) pipe the audio gear warning into my Garmin audio panel so I can hear it clearly, even with ANR headphones on; 2) add a “blinking red LED” in parallel with the buzzer to go in the middle of my 3-Green display giving me both an audible and visual reminder. Suggestions on parts or instructions?

After starting the engine on my F33A Bonanza (no issues there), and then turning the alternator switch on, the Alternator Out red light stays on for about 15 seconds before extinguishing. The engine monitor tracing shows 28.2-28.75 volts with no dips throughout the flight. The alternator was overhauled 292 hours ago. Any thoughts as to what’s going on and how to diagnose if there is a problem?

We encountered an interesting problem. The Gabb fuel cap latch on a customer’s N35 became overclocked counterclockwise and jammed. Apparently, the stop jumped the tab and became stuck. Finally, we removed the pin and allowed the spring and lower portion to fall into the tank. We removed the cap, found the problem, and reassembled the cap. I understand Shaw caps don’t have the problem. Will the Shaw 416-9 size three fit the filler neck of the Gabb? I understand Shaw bought out Gabb and made a few design changes to the cap.

I’ve got Bendix 200 series mags with the Shower of Sparks starter vibrator in my S35. Now they are nearly due the 500-hour inspection, my airplane is harder to start than others (I have always got it started though hot it can be tricky). I have spare magnetos, 1200 series, one set with impulse and the other with retard breaker points. What 1200 series mags are better, retard breaker or impulse coupling?

I own a Baron 95-A55 and the original S-50 heater has done its duty. I am looking for a good vendor/dealer/rebuild shop for a new upgrade or replacement. The aircraft is based in interior Alaska. A West Coast location is preferred but not a showstopper. Freight rates aren’t getting any cheaper.

After several years of premium increases, rates for most clients may finally be topping out. Of course, there are always exceptions, and some will still see their rates go up if they have an accident or reach that age where companies start surcharging. At this time of year, I always like to examine the health of the aviation insurance industry and give some insight as to what your aircraft insurance renewal might look like this year.

Hi, my name is David Anthony. I am a proud operator of a 1974 A36 Bonanza. I started flying N582TM in the summer of 2023 thanks to a gracious friend who allows me to fly it for leisure. This Bonanza is equipped with a Continental IO-550 engine along with long range Osborne tip tanks. The avionics include a Garmin GNS 530 and 430 unit paired with an Aspen Evolution ADI (attitude deviation indicator). These paired units work together for a great IFR airplane. An added air conditioning unit also comes in handy during the warmer days of summer.

We all have different flying habits. Some of us use our Beechcraft for business trips. Some do mostly local flights. Others tend to do longer trips. Most of my trips in my A36 tend to be longer, often four- to five-hour legs. The flying habits we have formed make us more skilled at that type of flying, and more comfortable as pilots.

Starter slippage is, arguably, one of the most common issues for the large bore Continental engine operators. Many of us have experienced starter slippage where the engine starter has difficulty getting the engine to turn over or won’t turn over at all even though the starter motor is rotating. This seems most likely to happen away from home on a cold morning with a full load of passengers. What to do?

For about 10 years regulators have required mandatory Upset Recovery Training (UPRT) courses for commercial flight deck crews. Some airlines designed UPRT programs before that, with the Bonanza E33C/F33C Aerobatic Bonanza being used for many of these courses. This article focuses on key elements of UPRT that might be useful to flying the Bonanza/Baron.

It was one of those perfect fall days in the Midwest. Even my Southern California family will remark at the beautiful weather in Ohio during the fall. Tonight’s weather was just perfect to take our very best friends, Mark and Karen to our favorite airport restaurant. Karen was not the intrepid aviator but had mustered up the courage to go. Her husband Mark had flown with me a couple times and was looking forward to finally getting her on board.

I watch too many flying videos on YouTube. I get notifications of all the new ones: ATC audios, crash reports an analysis, and every new gadget available. I try to incorporate what I learn into my personal flying. I am a 3,500+ hour commercial/multi/instrument rated pilot, flying a G36 Bonanza. I’m based in New Bern, North Carolina (KEWN), and fly about 100 hours or so a year. I do a Flight Review every year, participate in FAA Wings, and have Redbird BATD for instrument proficiency.

I am excited to announce that in February, Falcon Insurance Agency rebranded as Acrisure Aerospace. A few years ago, our agency (Falcon) became part of a company called Acrisure. Its vision to transform the insurance brokerage business for the betterment of our clients was unprecedented. Acrisure has acquired seven independent aviation insurance agencies along with hundreds of thriving property and casualty agencies all over the United States. In just a few years, Acrisure has grown to be a top 10 global insurance broker. As awareness of Acrisure’s status grows, the aviation insurance specialists within the group are coming together as one to adopt the Acrisure Aerospace name.

Reported on AVWeb by Russ Niles, January 16, 2024:

The FAA awarded Peter Tracy the Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award on January 26th. The Wright Brothers Award is the highest award given by the FAA to pilots, “in recognition of 50 years of exemplary aviation flight experience, distinguished professionalism, and steadfast commitment to aviation safety.”

Garmin announces a new series of COMM and NAV/COMM radios that offer feature-rich solutions in a slim 1.3-inch bezel height form factor. The GTR™ 205 Comm radio and GNC® 215 NAV/COMM radio are affordable solutions for customers that feature an easy-to-read full color LCD display, intuitive user interface, and worldwide frequency database.

For over a decade AOPA has conducted its very successful Rusty Pilot seminars, live and online, to encourage lapsed pilots to begin the process of renewing their pilot skills and returning to personal aviation. Rusty Pilot alone doesn’t make a pilot qualified for the left seat, but it covers some of the changes in recent years and gets the pilot started on what will culminate with finding an instructor, earning a Flight Review endorsement, and once again commanding a light aircraft.

My Australian friend Dave Porter, current president of the Australian Beechcraft Society, asked me a question from one of his members:

There is a saying: “You can have it fast, you can have it good, you can have it cheap: pick two out of the three.” This applies to Aviation Medical Examiners (AMEs) as well.

We are error-guided creatures. To err is human, it is universal and inevitable. We learn from our errors to create better things. From the Wright Flyer to the F-35 and the Space Shuttle to Space X, all encompass rectifying some error. To err is a learning moment and thus not always a bad thing.

“Get out of the rut of earthbound traffic!” is the headline of this Beech Aircraft Corporation magazine ad from 1956. In that era, most major inter-regional highways were two-lane roadways built before World War II, many during the Great Depression of the 1930s. These roads included the famous, or actually the infamous, U.S. routes 1 and 101 along the East and West Coasts, respectively. Route 50 traversed mid-America while Route 80 ran coast to coast across the South and Southwest. Route 66 of the song’s fame ran diagonally across the west from Chicago to Santa Monica. Every one of the major highways as well as the equally old or older and often-deteriorated byways went through (not around) every crossroad, hamlet, and metropolis along the way.

Congratulations to these ABS members who have earned a new ABS AVIATOR status:

Gary Smith, a corporate jet and helicopter pilot with substantial experience as a Baron instructor, has earned accreditation as an instructor in ABS’s Beechcraft Pilot Proficiency Program (BPPP). Gary writes:

ABS extends condolences to the families and friends of these ABS members who recently passed away:

ABS extends a warm welcome to these members who recently became ABS Life Members: Year indicates when the member originally joined ABS.

Discussions about high altitude flying usually revolve around the use of oxygen, and with good reason. Part 91 oxygen requirements apply as you climb above 12,500 feet MSL, while prudence based on your actual physiology may dictate oxygen use at much lower altitudes. Hypoxia can affect vision as low as 5,000 feet while cognitive ability and physical dexterity can show decline around 10,000 feet. Hypoxia is the most certain and immediate physiologic danger as you climb in an unpressurized aircraft.

Each year the ABS leadership and the Board of Directors have one live meeting the first weekend of February. The objective is to kick off the year with strategic goals and plans that outline the map for the organization and what we want to accomplish for the next two to three years. During this time, we also celebrate and discuss the areas that are going in the right direction, areas that our membership tells us what they value, and try to expand on those offerings. Leadership looks from far above and determines areas that are worthy of funding, programs and services that are working, and provide new and improved ways to deliver our products and services.

I got the bug from my late father. I started flying with him at age two. He was very active in EAA. Growing up in a fly-in community just outside Chicago, we always had a homebuilt project going on at our home. He also owned a 1972 A36 for many years.

The countdown has already begun for the ABS Tent Topics schedule at EAA AirVenture, July 22-26. The very popular Tent Topic presentations are held in the ABS tent at Oshkosh. We invite your proposal to present a 45-minute program on flying, maintaining, modifying, or instructing in Beech Bonanzas, Debonairs, Barons, and Travel Airs.

It isn’t anything unusual, when flying along, to get the occasional vector or amendment to our route of flight. The reasons can be varied; weather, traffic, or terrain can all result in taking a slightly different road to a safe arrival.

ABS extends a warm welcome to the following new members who joined in January 2024:

I recently reinstalled our McCauley propeller and then followed up with installing the de-ice brush cluster to the slip rings. Somewhere along this way I noticed one of the brushes in the brusher block was cracked and damaged. I see Aircraft Spruce has a new brush cluster (C40257) for $125 each. These are relatively inexpensive, but it comes down more to timing to reinstall them. Is there any reason I cannot perform ground operations and/or fly the aircraft without the entire brush block installed for now? I would pull out the de-ice circuit breaker and install a collar until they are reinstalled. The support brush block bracket shown in the attached picture is fully installed and torqued to the crankcase as required. I am an A&P and would prefer to order these items after I order other things from Aircraft Spruce.

I have a 1996 A36 Bonanza with 2,200 hours. It has only 380 hours on the McCauley three-blade propeller and the IO-550B. The airplane performs perfectly aside from one thing. It was a relatively low-time aircraft only averaging 40 hours per year for the last nine years. I am noticing what I thought was oil on the cowling and windscreen. I have spoken with two very experienced mechanics and one came out and inspected the aircraft for me with the evidence still on the windscreen and cowling. He stated it is propeller grease and since it takes 2-1/2 to 3 hours to accumulate, it may not be a big deal, and only warrants monitoring since the upcoming annual is in March 2024.

I own an A36 Bonanza and have locking fuel caps made by Aviation Research, which is owned by Check 6. So far, I have had no luck in contacting them. They are AAI Model 1000 locking caps. The O-ring measures 3.25 ID x .2 thickness. Any ideas where I can get a replacement O-ring? My fuel bladder is lifting off the bottom of the wing bay in flight once the tank is less than half full. I checked the vent, and it is clear and it collapses like this even when I am feeding from the opposite tank. I believe this is low pressure on top of the wing sucking through the cap seal.

I recently bought a C35 Bonanza, and when I bought it the generator was malfunctioning so the owner before me took it upon themselves and got it fixed at my local airport. I was flying today, and I had a complete loss of communication, both comm 1 and 2 went out. At first, I thought it was an electrical failure and got ready to manually put the landing gear down. Arriving at my airport, both the flaps and the landing gear still worked. My question is, what went wrong?

I am interested in exchanging the control column (P/N 35-524202-24) in my F33A, CE-651, for the approximately 1.5” longer control column (P/N 35-524202-26) Beech installed in CE-913 and after. The change in length was made to provide more clearance between the back of the dual control yoke and tuning knobs in the radio stack. Entering P/N 35-524202-24 in the Textron Aviation Parts website advises a “Beech-One-Way-Supersedure” to P/N 35-524202-26. Can this supersedure information be used by my maintenance provider as a basis to install the longer control column via a logbook entry?

I have a V-tail Bonanza with an IO-470 and a brand new zero-time engine. I have been reluctant to do any engine break-in flights as it has been single-digit temperatures in Wisconsin or low ceilings for a month. Is it okay to break in during extreme cold? Any advice or recommendations?

As I sit here on a 28-degree Fahrenheit day and contemplate my upcoming relocation to the South, I think about a 28-degree Celsius day and the lack of air conditioning in my airplane. Do you have any experience or advice with either the A/C System, LLC (currently on new factory aircraft) conversion or the ThermaCool System from Kelly Aerospace? Good, bad, indifferent? Installation, maintenance, customer support, and cost? This is not my first choice, but any feedback on the Igloo Cooler with fans and ducts?

I own a G36 Bonanza and have the standard FlightSafety International checklist, but I’m curious if anyone has or uses specialized pages anywhere in the checklist to account for the Tornado Alley turbonormalizer system (cruise, etc.). I know it is simple, but I am a stickler for running through checklists.

I started the research into getting another engine for my A36. It currently has an altitude compensating fuel pump. They asked me if I still want that or a regular fuel pump. He said most are going to the regular fuel pump. What are the pros and cons of either one?

I just received the January issue and took note of your article on the “door open in flight” scenario, “Rite of Passage.” Another way of putting it is…there are those who have and those that will have the door open in flight. As a BPPP instructor I routinely have our pilots practice this during proficiency flights both inside and outside formal BPPP flights.

I have read the canvas uplock bracket covers are to prevent ice from accumulating on the springs in freezing conditions, which sounds plausible. But mostly they appear to retain moisture and rot, and promote corrosion of everything underneath coming in contact seemingly doing far more harm than good. I question whether or not they should be used. What is their official purpose?

I have a V35B Bonanza and this spring I had my old Century autopilot replaced with a Garmin GFC-500 with power trim. One servo replaced with four, so lots of activity in the tail. Shortly thereafter, I realized my navigation light switch breaker was off in flight. I reset it, and it tripped again after a minute. When on the ground with the engine off, they will stay on indefinitely. After startup and taxi out, the switch will flip off sometime after several minutes to just after takeoff. In the air, if it’s reset it will be off again in a minute. We have been through the bulbs, inspected the wires, pulled the wingtips, replaced some suspect wire to the white position light, and replaced the switch/CB, to no avail. Looking in the tail, the wires look solid with no fraying or chafing. When taxiing out, the only thing that is active in the autopilot is the trim. Could the power trim be inducing a current in an adjacent navigation light wire, blowing the circuit breaker?

I noticed a very slow drip coming from the end of my F33A Bonanza. The location is under the left wing near the fuel sump door. The end has what looks to be a spring and a hose clamp. Does this end plug into something?

My annual inspection is in process on my E55 Baron. There is no play in the gear door linkage or hinges. We are getting consistent travel up and down. The left inner door closes tightly up and down. The right is closed tightly with the gear down but is hanging approximately 1/8-inch below the wing skin with the landing gear retracted. There is clearance between the door and the landing gear itself. We followed the ABS gear checklist and everything else is correct. My IA is afraid to put any more stress on the hinge in the down position. Is there an adjustment we are missing? It seems as if the transmission arm is drilled .020 to .030 off center.

I own a K35 model Bonanza, and I am beginning research to address corrosion on the control surfaces. Phase 1, ailerons, and then Phase 2, ruddervators. In respect to Phase 1, is the “classic” fleet reskinning ailerons in aluminum? If so, how do I obtain a copy of the Supplemental Type Certificate? In other words, has the FAA approved this change?

My mechanic is cleaning out his shop and has given me two oxygen cylinders, one Scott and the other Puritan Bennett. 11 cubic feet. Both are 3AA1800 and it looks like the last hydrostatic check on both was May of 2016. The regulators work and oxygen flows. Any recommendations as to where I can send these to be evaluated and tested for return to service? If this is even possible?

I have a new-to-me V35B Bonanza and I have noticed a correlation between the strobe switch turning off on its own and cycling the landing gear. It doesn’t happen every time, but it only happens in conjunction with the gear cycle. Is this an indication of a short somewhere or an issue with the gear motor and/or its wiring?

I have a G33 Bonanza and a seeping right hand brake master cylinder. How do you identify the manufacturer so that one can get the correct rings? Is it possible to install the new Textron 96-380034-3 units?

I need help removing the cowl flap handle knob from a F33A Bonanza. I need to send my center electroluminescent light panel for repair. I tried removing the cowl handle knob but it will not budge.

What is the correct cowling SS oval head stud number on a 1964 S35 Bonanza with install instructions?

I have been an ABS member since I purchased my Bonanza about two years ago. Before that I owned a Grumman for 15 years. The BPPP Best program and instruction were instrumental in my transition to the Bonanza.

Do we have anyone that can overhaul the 2-inch electric oil temperature/ pressure gauges? PN 102-380014-7. There are two variants, the -3 is used on the A36 and the -7 is used on the B36TC (they vary slightly based on the temperature ranges for the yellow arc). Both are made by Mid-Continent for Beech and since the B36TC is no longer in production, there is no supply of new instruments. Mid Continent can apparently overhaul an existing core at a cost of around $1400 (yikes); nobody else seems to have repair capability (including Lock Haven). There are some used units out there, but the supply is dwindling.

I own a G58 Baron. What should the fuel flow be on takeoff? I was expecting to see redline, about 27.4 gph. I am only seeing 25 gph. Does this need to be addressed with maintenance?

Somehow I let my whole life up until age 40 go by without discovering general aviation. Given the fact that I grew up racing motocross, did amateur automobile racing in Porsches, and just generally loved anything that goes fast, it is somewhat surprising that it never crossed my mind that I could get my Private Pilot certificate and buy a plane. But it didn't. Then, in 2003, a friend took me for a ride in his airplane, and I was enthralled.

ABS President CK Lee was asked by the First Flight Society to make the keynote address honoring Walter and Olive Ann Beech. CK flew N504SJ, the ABS Air Safety Foundation A36, to Kitty Hawk for display and to make this presentation:

Happy birthday to ABS, which is now 57 years old as of last month, having been in existence since 1967. Thank you to our loyal members who have been with us for one year to more than 50 years. You have helped make 2023 one of the largest membership totals in the history of ABS. I am happy to report we finished December 31, 2023, with 10,200 members, a number that we haven’t reached since the early 2000s. We also had an outstanding year with Life Members totaling 1,331 or 13 percent of our total membership. We appreciate your loyalty and lifelong commitment.

“Have no fear of perfection. You’ll never attain it.” – Salvador Dali

Recently I included in this magazine my personal plans for recurrent training and knowledge and skills enhancement in the coming year. I committed to simulator-based flight training, another flight (as a student) in the Beechcraft Pilot Proficiency Program, reading for mastery the avionics manuals for N504SJ, and viewing Brian Schiff’s YouTube series on using ForeFlight…all in addition to my usual practice flights and aviation reading. I challenged each of you to stretch your own performance envelope in 2024, to fully commit to your goals by making them public, and therefore making yourself accountable.

ABS President CK Lee and members of the American Bonanza Society traveled from around the country to the Outer Banks of North Carolina on December 17th to commemorate the 120th anniversary of the first powered heavier-than-air flight, and the induction of Walter and Olive Ann Beech into the Paul E. Garber First Flight Shrine.

ABS extends a warm welcome to the following new members who joined in December 2023:

Have you ever wished that ABS had a dedicated mobile app that put some of your favorite resources right at your fingertips? Do you want the opportunity to engage and connect with the Beech-loving ABS members we have all over the world? Very soon we will be launching our own mobile app that will do these things and much more. To be a part of our next member benefit, watch for the launch announcement in our bi-monthly email newsletter and on our website at www.bonanza.org.

Past ABS member DuWayne Emmons posed a question in a long email I’ve condensed here:

For pilots of any aircraft, from a single-engine trainer to a high-performance single or twin, knowing or at least understanding its basic systems including fuel, electrical, vacuum/pressure, landing gear, and powerplant(s) is essential to remedial aircraft maintenance and ultimately to flight safety. By remedial aircraft maintenance, I’m referring to your observations of anomalies or failures during their occurrence and then providing your A&P mechanic with what you observed based on your knowledge of the errant system. For flight safety, is imperative the problem be investigated as soon as possible, if not immediately. The more details you can provide to your mechanic relating to the event, including any relevant conditions prior to or after it occurred, will likely help him or her identify the source of the problem and then make the necessary repair.

My 32 years as a private pilot have been based in Iowa. The Midwest offers a wide variety of flying conditions throughout a typical year, from beastly hot to bone-chilling cold and everything in between. As a business owner with clients from coast to coast, aircraft ownership has been a valuable tool. One of the more challenging aspects of general aviation flying in the Midwest is the frequent potential for airframe icing in the winter months. While go/no-go decisions are easy in the face of a major winter storm, the decision gets more difficult when there are wintertime AIRMETs for potential icing and a relatively thin overcast layer with clear skies above. Flying out of KDSM (Des Moines, Iowa), it’s not uncommon to see or hear “negative icing” PIREPs from the jet traffic only to encounter some icing while passing through the overcast layer either on departure or arrival. In an effort to eliminate my apprehension regarding flight operations in these conditions, I began searching for a Flight In Known Ice (FIKI) certified aircraft. My initial focus was on either a booted or TKS equipped Bonanza. However, when evaluating some of the potential performance and safety benefits of multiengine aircraft,…

You don’t have to go far to find an opinion about the FAA and medical certification. AOPA and EAA, among others, spent a lot of time and energy to change the way pilots are medically certified. Adopted in 2004, the Light Sport rule was originally the most significant example. It allowed pilots with valid driver’s licenses, but no medical certificate, to fly airplanes with certain performance limitations. Bolstered by that success, AOPA and EAA soon started a campaign to allow a driver’s license to replace a medical certificate for the four-seat, 180-horsepower airplanes allowed for recreational pilots.

ABS member Vladimir Lange of Santa Ana, California, a V35B owner, has earned the FAA Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award. The Wright Brothers Award recognizes pilots who have completed at least 50 years of safe flying. Vladimir relates his journey to this award:

We often get questions from customers about their engine hours and how a high number of hours or being above TBO might affect coverage on their aircraft insurance policy. This month we discuss how the aviation insurance industry treats this issue.

The Southwest Bonanza Society began the Christmas season with a weekend event on Galveston Island, December 3-5. The host hotel was the fabulous San Luis Hotel and Conference Center, where the red carpet was out for the SWBS, and the Christmas decorations were unbelievable! I believe every attendee fully enjoyed this venue and all the amenities.

Reported on AustralianAviation.com December 20, 2023

The headline in this four-color ad published in business magazines in 1960 proclaims, “…sometimes in a single trip.” This somewhat cryptic phrase refers to the financial reward of a single highly successful business trip can recover the cost of buying a new Bonanza. The ad copy goes on to explain this premise.

Carbon monoxide (CO) is a byproduct of combustion of fuels, wood, propane, and charcoal. All culprits we need to produce energy. One form of that combustion in our Beechcraft’s powerplant is applied directly to the propeller in the form of thrust, while the other is in the form of heat. Lurking within the confines of these two is carbon monoxide, a colorless, odorless, and tasteless gas. Environmental carbon monoxide is a byproduct of incomplete combustion of any carbon-containing fuel. In an unventilated environment even on the ground, it is the cause of around 430 fatalities and 100,000 emergency room visits per year.

Look on the Aircraft Technical Information page for your Beechcraft under MAINTENANCE on the ABS website and you’ll find a link to a little document titled “Best Practices Guide for Maintaining Aging General Aviation Airplanes.” It’s been a few months more than 20 years since this guide was published and, given the topic, it’s even more pertinent today. The Best Practices Guide (to save ink and electrons let’s call it the BPG) is an FAA/industry advisory pamphlet providing recommendations to address the “little [that] is known about the condition of these old airplanes and the general effects of aging on them.” Seventeen authors endorsed the report, including then-ABS senior technical consultant Neil Pobanz on behalf of the American Bonanza Society.

My K35 Bonanza has a 450-hour IO-470C and a two-blade Beech propeller where apparently no parts exist for an overhaul. I am wrestling with a replacement propeller decision. My first choice would be to overhaul my propeller and a new governor. First there is the question – two-blade versus three-blade? My own experience relates to two identical BE18 models I used to fly in the mid ’70s, one with two-blade (McCauley?) and the other with a three-blade Hartzell. I remember vividly how much smoother my three blades were versus Tom’s two blades (we swapped aircraft whenever necessary, so I flew them both). Also, cruise speed versus climb performance. Then there are considerations concerning overhaul requirements and ADs and/or required maintenance, and compatibility if one decides that an engine upgrade is in the future. In reading fellow pilots’ posts about nightmares encountered, I’m tempted to leave my old propeller alone! What’s an aircraft owner to do?

Congratulations to these ABS members who have earned a new ABS AVIATOR status:

I had my Baron’s right prop re-mounted after coming back from the prop shop, and it appears to be upside down as it now never stops with one blade up. However, the engine is running smoothly. Is it worth changing the orientation, and does it matter in any other respect?

I own a P35 Bonanza and am getting rid of the flying wing antenna, not sure which is better: a blade or cat whisker-type antenna. The blade seems much more expensive and harder to install. Are there any reception issues that make one better than the other? Where should a cat whisker be installed?

I recently purchased my F33A Bonanza with dual controls, the cross arm (?) to the yokes is angled down and I want to rotate it to have the angle up. The trouble is, the left yoke has my trim/autopilot disconnect/mic switch. And the right has nothing. Is it possible to do this? How do I switch the yoke with the controls? How much would it cost if it is possible?

ABS extends a warm welcome to these members who recently became ABS Life Members: Year indicates when the member originally joined ABS.

ABS extends condolences to the families and friends of this ABS member who recently passed away:

My Janitrol heater is totally inoperable in my Baron 55 TC-1322. It will neither generate heat inflight nor on the ground if the blower is selected. The blower motor will not run. This is the first time I’ve used the system this season. My annual was completed in July and at that time a decay test was performed satisfactorily. I haven’t attempted to use it since or before the annual/decay test. The shop IA didn’t offer any suggestions.

We had a partial nose gear collapse on our Debonair 35-B33. The top of the strut is still attached but the bottom part of the strut (and wheel) are missing. They moved it off the runway by winching down the tail and placing the nosewheel on a tow platform. I wasn’t present as my co-owner was flying, so I don’t know how they winched down the tail. I’m not sure if they attached to the tie-down or put a strap around the tail. I probably need to move it to a more permanent tie-down while the engine and prop get sent out and we get a replacement nose gear. What’s the best/safest way to move the aircraft at this point, to avoid doing any further damage?

I have a V35B IO-520 with 1900 SFRM. The mechanic says a spalled lifter has damaged the cam lobe. They performed metal pic on lobe and says it catches. What are my options?

A couple of years ago I purchased a set of hoses from Precision Hose in Tulsa, Oklahoma. A short hose from that purchase for my fuel pressure is now leaking and defective. Who makes the best hoses? This event makes me want to test my fuel hoses as well. I’ve had a nagging fuel pressure fluctuation for some time now, and after taking many different measures including fuel system overhaul twice, resealing fuel selector and more, I’d like to know if there is a procedure to “pressure test” my fuel hoses.

I just purchased a 1965 S35 Bonanza. I love it! I am learning about the weight and balance limits and see how important carrying the right amount of fuel can be. In each tank, the tab is fairly long with an elongated hole in the tab, which I was told was the top of the tab. I really don’t know where I need to fill each tank for 30 gallons a side. Maybe a silly question but could be important if wrong. Thanks for any direction.

The actual flap-motor-assembly on my 1992 A36 was fitted (replaced) in 2010. Now 1,000 hours later, the brushes are supposed to be inspected. Is it even realistic to inspect the brushes, or would you recommend replacing the assembly? Somewhere somebody recommended to replace the assembly around 2,000 hours. I found a post from Bob saying, “It is usually best to replace the assembly and not just the motor D160-00-3.”

We replaced the Baron 58’s dynamic brake relay and adjusted the limit switches, and no change. The wiring matches the diagram. The down limit switch stops the motor at approximately half of the switch’s travel inconsistently, with 1/2 to one full turn left on the handle. The up-limit switch is maxed out every time and adjustments do not change anything. There’s zero turn left in the handle.

I have an old handy drain quick drain on my IO-520BB in an A36 Bonanza. When I look them up in Aircraft Spruce, it calls for an F62 Saf Air low profile. I prefer to use a single piece drain as in the Saf Air S6250, which is appropriate for an IO-520B or BA. Is there any reason the 6250 would not be appropriate for the BB? Looks like there’s plenty of room.

Does anybody know where I can find an overhauled or exchange absolute pressure controller for a 1980 A36TC, TSIO-520UB? I would prefer the newer version if exchanged, if that’s possible.

Some say it is preference. Others say it is what you get used to. The answer may lie somewhere else. I’m not sure how it came to be, the thought that is. One moment you are thinking about all sorts of things unrelated to anything in particular and the very next moment a thought emerges. That thought took me 2,000 miles away in search of my personal flying carpet.

This article is in response to Tom Turner’s response to Jay Apt’s Forum letter in the September 2023 ABS Magazine regarding landing gear issues. Tom states that “…leaving the flaps up before gear extension is not a fool-proof way to avoid gear-up landings.” While the statement is not incorrect (nothing is entirely foolproof) it implies that this procedure and by inference a flap/gear warning system is of limited relevancy. With apologies to Tom, I beg to disagree. John Geitz, a former FAA operations inspector and ABS instructor, states in his April 2017 ABS Magazine article, “I went back and checked all the records I could locate. I could find no instance where an inadvertent gear-up landing had been executed with the flaps in other than the full-down landing position.” This is my experience for all the gear-up incidents that I’m personally familiar with, and there have been several.

Managing an engine failure in a twin-engine airplane is the focus of much of the initial and recurrent training needed to be a safe and proficient Baron or Travel Air pilot.

In general, the FAA does not approve sleep aids for regular use for two reasons. The first is that taking a sleep aid on a regular basis often highlights an underlying sleep issue that is not being appropriately addressed. As a side note, the treatment for a sleep problem should never be the regular use of a sleep medication. If you or someone you know is being treated this way, it is time to find a new doctor who will help look for the real problem and get that treated. Using sleep medication regularly is like trying to treat a gunshot wound with a Band-Aid – you may have covered up the hole, but it really isn’t solving the underlying problem.

There’s a rite of passage for the Beech pilot: Just as you lift off, the forward cabin door pops open. What should you do?

The second ABS Flight Instructor Crosstalk of 2023 was held November 4-5th in Camarillo, California. Twenty practicing Beechcraft instructors spent the weekend sharing experiences and learning from one another to become even safer and more effective instructors in Beech Bonanzas, Debonairs, Barons, and Travel Airs. Presentations included “Common Weaknesses Observed During Beech Instruction Events…and How to Correct Them,” by BPPP instructor Brian Sagi; “Teaching Better Landings in Bonanzas and Barons” by BPPP instructor Kent Krizman; a very popular and valuable discussion on “Teaching Use of the Garmin Autopilots” by BPPP instructor Dan Brennan; and my presentations “Safely and Effectively Instructing Beech Pilots” and “Safely Teaching in Barons and Travel Airs.” Most attendees report what they enjoyed most were open discussions on instructional challenges and strategies in three class periods, and informal interaction with other Beech instructors during breaks, at lunch, and in the class dinner Saturday evening.

2023 is ending as I write this and I want to share exciting membership information with you that happened this year, then look to the future. I am happy to report that our membership has grown by nearly two percent over the previous year, or close to 170 members, for a grand total of 10,196 members. These may not sound like big numbers, but ABS has not had numbers like these since the early 2000s. Two major factors that have contributed to total membership are renewing members at a nearly 69 percent retention rate and gaining of an average of 99 new members per month. This tells us that members selling their aircraft or discontinuing their membership are advocating to the new owner to join ABS for their member experience provider. Thank you! We couldn’t sustain these types of numbers without both. Our fleet continues to age, and production of new airplanes is basically nonexistent for the Beechcraft brand that ABS supports. Word of mouth has always been our best recruiting tool.

In a more perfect world, we keep a complete logbook of reminders of all the things that our airplane needs. I confess that I am not that good of a person. I schedule my annuals to do for when they’re due, and I do my oil changes when I get over about 25 hours (replacing the filter every other oil change, which is to say every 50 hours). But being human and flying only recreationally, I confess that I sometimes lose track and find myself saying, “Oh, is it time for an oil change already?”

The mid-November weekday afternoon hosted one of those rare, cool, severe-clear fall days in Central Texas. A high pressure centered over the Permian Basin of West Texas was moving eastward over our home base of Georgetown Executive Airport (KGTU), Georgetown, Texas, delivering light northerly breezes on the surface and also at altitude. To the east, visible instrument meteorological conditions were retreating as the high pressure advanced.

After a few days of troubleshooting and talking with some experts, the gear motor has been overhauled and re-installed on my 55 Baron. I tried to get two different shops to bench check the relay, and both said they could but long story short, both were untruthful. One of those shops did the motor overhaul and it was a terrible experience. Everything is back in. I’m ops-checking the system with 28.5 volts. My gear down sector clearance usually varies between 5/8 and 3/4 (white box). The gear up sector clearance is pretty much always 1/4 to no clearance. After it hits the up switch, it just keeps going. Checked grounds and all is good. No matter where I set the up switch to make contact, it always stops too late. Any ideas? Maybe after this issue is fixed, it will help my other issue of the gear up-lock cable catching on the greaseable roller grease fitting.

What you need to know about your insurance policy.

I have discovered that if I encounter ice in my Baron on climb-out, ice from the left propeller will hit the side of the fuselage and do some damage. However, on descent it will not. My question is: at what RPM can I run during my climb and not over-torque the engine? I’m convinced the pitch of the propeller is important during ice encounters. I do not want to install an ice plate, and I always have my propeller heat turned on at least 15 minutes before there is a chance for ice.

I recently replaced both my ruddervators and the trim tabs on a 1979 V35B. All went well in the process. We replaced the trim tab cables as well. Now the left trim cable is close to the left side of the pass-through hole when viewing the top cable, and the bottom cable is towards the airframe when viewing from the bottom. The guide blocks were also replaced and new. We have been unable to find any cable run issues. Is this variation normal, and are there any suggestions on what to check?

I am in the process of replacing the various lights during a refurbishment of my E33A. I’m trying to convert everything over to LED. Along the way, I ran into trouble. Apparently, I have an aftermarket taxi light for which I am challenged to find an LED equivalent. I would like to replace this bracket with the standard part number, 35-364259-1, but finding one has proven impossible. Does anyone know where I can find this part, or are you aware of a way to replace this light with an LED equivalent?

I have a G58 with Micro vortex generators. Is there supposed to be an AFMS [Aircraft Flight Manual Supplement]? There is a placard on the panel with the limitation of no more than five missing VGs but I can’t find a supplement in the POH. Is that a requirement for this STC? It looks like some of their other STCs (C310) do change the airspeed indicator, but as far as I can tell this one does not.

I am trying to find the part number for the fuel servo on my P35 Bonanza. The engine is an IO-470-LCN. What is the difference when an L is converted to an N?

I need an authoritative answer on using my G58 Baron’s heater while on the ground. The POH is somewhat confusing (to me at least). I can turn the heater on while on the ground if I use the blower. True or false?

Have you seen this type of underwing stall vane (see photo)? This was on an Australian A36 I flew recently. The airplane also has the normal stall vane on the leading edge of the left wing.

As pilots, we must be risk managers. Although when I write about risk it’s usually in the context of flight safety and accident avoidance, ABS members are also concerned—rightly so—about the financial risk of flying. That leads to a recent question from a member:

Perhaps you have been to an ABS Service Clinic (now Beechcraft Maintenance Evaluation) and wondered what Bob Ripley or one of the other inspectors was looking for when he was peering up into the end of your exhaust stack with a flashlight. He was giving your exhaust system(s) the very best inspection he could without disassembly. This is very difficult, as even the most skilled inspector with a mirror and flashlight cannot see everything. All the clamps and heat shields cover many potential problem areas. In the first photo you can clearly see the outline of the heat shield clamp and crack hiding underneath the heat shield (Photo 1). This high-time manifold was just hours away from failure.

America’s economy, beginning in early 1960 and continuing into early 1961, was in its fourth recession since the end of World War II. Industrial production was in a decline coupled with the inevitable increase in unemployment. But what made this recession unusual was its downward trend proved to be the least severe of those that occurred earlier. Additionally, this particular recession also proved to be relatively short-lived with a sharp recovery beginning in early 1961 and accelerating with domestic production statistics reaching new heights by mid-year.

ABS member Richard Wright of San Carlos, California, has received the FAA Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award in recognition of his over 50 years as a safe, certificated pilot. The award was presented by Richard’s friend and instructor Kent Krizman during the ABS Flight Instructor Crosstalk at Camarillo, California, November 4th.

Congratulations to these ABS members who have earned a new ABS AVIATOR status:

Edited from a report written by Mark Phelps published on AVWeb on November 30th:

Hartzell Aviation has acquired Kelly Aero, manufacturer of aircraft magnetos, ignition harnesses, and replacement parts. Kelly Aero has been renamed PowerUp Ignition Systems with production in Hartzell’s Montgomery, Alabama, facility, creating about 40 additional jobs there. Kelly’s former facility will become a machine shop for Hartzell products. Hartzell, which was recently itself acquired by a private equity firm, now owns former parts suppliers Janitrol Aero, Fuelcraft, Plane-Power, Sky-Tech, and AeroForce Turbocharger Systems, in addition to Kelly Aero. For information see www.hartzellaviation.com.

ABS extends a warm welcome to these members who recently became ABS Life Members: Year indicates when the member originally joined ABS.

ABS extends condolences to the families and friends of this ABS member who recently passed away:

I am fairly new to ABS but excited about being a member. I just spoke with a BPPP instructor about getting training in the 1976 V35B that I have just purchased. He seemed amenable until I asked if he was over 65 years of age, which he is. My insurance company, London Aviation Underwriters, Inc., has stated that I am not to fly with an instructor that is over the age of 65 years. The instructor thought that it would be a good idea to advise you of this as it really makes no sense since a large number of very qualified Bonanza and Baron Pilots are over 65 years of age (as am I.)

The start of a new year is usually a time for reflection and resolutions. At ABS it is another opportunity to give thought to the services we offer the membership and look for opportunities to improve delivery.

ABS extends a warm welcome to the following new members who joined in November 2023:

The genesis of this article is Tom Turner’s “Low-Tech Solution” in the November 2021 ABS Magazine Command Pilot column. Tom explained how he’d learned the “A-D-M” concept while teaching at FlightSafety, early on in his career. The gist of it is that there is plenty of information on an approach plate, and conditions and circumstances determine what is relevant. Even though one must review the entire approach plate, A-D-M is a solution to finding the current and relevant information without having to search fine print or do mental arithmetic under already-pressured circumstances while inbound on the approach.

The night before the accident, the pilot of a P35 Bonanza obtained a ForeFlight weather briefing and filed an IFR flight plan for a flight from Marion, Ohio (KMNN), to Marshalltown, Iowa (KMIW), about 454 nautical miles away, but did not file a flight plan for the second, 555 nm leg from KMIW to his home airport at Douglas, Wyoming (KDGW). The pilot reviewed several ForeFlight weather products at that time and a general route briefing was generated. The pilot also entered several route strings from KMIW to KDGW from 2500 feet MSL through 6000 MSL but did not generate a weather briefing for that route. There were no records that indicated the pilot received any later updates from ForeFlight, the contract Flight Service Station provider Leidos, or any other third-party vendors for any weather briefings, inflight contacts, or flight plans.

When was the time that you felt the greatest sense of accomplishment as a pilot? When did you feel you were completely on top of your flying game? At what time in your flying experience were you having the most fun?

The Purpose of Use clause is one of the most important parts of your aircraft insurance policy as it lists the types of flying that will be covered under the policy. To violate any part of the Purpose of Use clause could void the policy and allow your insurance carrier to deny a claim should an accident occur. Most aircraft owners operate their aircraft for “pleasure and business” use. This use is normally thought of as the lowest category of risk and not surprisingly carries the lowest rate. There are other uses that can be added to a policy, but they are not generally applicable to most private aircraft owners.

We were flying my 1979 A36 Bonanza. I was doing training with another CFI. Takeoff and gear retraction were normal. When we came around for a landing, however, putting the gear switch in the down position did nothing: No gear extension noise. No gear extension drag. No pitch change. No in-transit light. And no power draw indication on the ammeter. Weird.

We were unable to make our planned long trips to the Rocky Mountain states for our VFR flightseeing adventure this year. The uncomfortable, widespread heat wave and drought requiring constant watering of landscape and monitoring our place for fire danger kept us close to home. There are also still some problems finding rental vehicles in some areas that we wanted to fly to.

Congratulations to these ABS members who have earned a new ABS AVIATOR status:

ABS extends a warm welcome to these members who recently became ABS Life Members: Year indicates when the member originally joined ABS.

ABS extends condolences to the families and friends of this ABS member who recently passed away:

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued its long-expected Endangerment Finding for 100LL aviation gasoline on October 18, 2023. An endangerment finding states a conclusion that the lead in exhaust created by burning 100LL avgas in piston aircraft engines presents a health hazard to the general public. A great deal of action and reporting has followed announcement of the EPA’s finding. This article attempts to bring ABS members up to speed on what’s happened since then up to the date of this writing in mid-November.

I am in the process of installing a factory reman IO-470N in my Debonair 35-33 and ran into an issue with my alternator. I have a Plane Power belt-driven alternator and one of the fuel pump fittings (fuel return) is pointing nearly in line with the bottom leg of the belt, causing significant interference when I install the hose. My understanding is that the fitting orientation is defined by the last couple of characters of the fuel pump part number; and with the way they are sealed, it’s not as simple as just reclocking them as necessary. Is it possible that I need a different part number pump to get a different fitting orientation? If I had to guess, it probably needs to rotate 45-50 degrees clockwise. The shroud is crooked on the old pump so make sure you look at the fitting relative to the body, not the shroud. It’s a -4 line, return fuel to the LH tank.

With an E-series engine, is it best to run it prior to changing the oil? I always ran the engine on my IO-520BB prior but wasn’t sure it would be best with the E185 considering the oil drains back into the case from the oil tank. I never changed the oil on an engine with an oil screen. Always had a spin on filter. Any tips / tricks or gotchas? I am going to install oil quick drains while at it. I read something about crush washers and O-rings that Lew Gage mentioned.

While accomplishing step 16 in the ABS Landing Gear Inspection Checklist, we noticed a slight amount of play between the aft retract rod where it attaches to the actuator arm. There is no excessive wear between the arm and splines. We can turn the bolt slightly with a screwdriver when we unload the nose gear. It is hard to tell if the bolt is worn or the rod end is worn. The parts were replaced at 1250 hours. How much excessive play is needed to replace with new rod ends and hardware?

I just had AvFab rebuild a Roton seatback incline piston and I am attempting to install in my Debonair 35-33. I am having difficulty, even though I took pictures of the removal. There are no instructions on the installation, so I am having a couple issues. The rod running through the front that apparently releases the piston appears to be too long, but I don’t want to cut it off as this may be the wrong thing to do. I’m not sure which rotation position the rod needs to be in when I replace the piston in the seat. Any instructions or videos out there that may help? Could you walk me through the process? I can’t imagine this to be that difficult, but I don’t want to damage something.

The aircraft is a 1982 A36 Bonanza and was fitted with a Continental IO-550B13B, as an STC’d upgrade. We just purchased a Factory new IO-550B80B from Continental, and proceeded to hang it last week, following the manual, torquing the engine mounts and the engine mount brackets as prescribed. We noticed the engine was slightly canted to the right (about half-inch off center line measured at the back of the engine) and the front was also slightly nose down. I am hoping that you will be able to confirm that this is as designed. If so, is there a reference where I can find confirmation of this?

When extending my gear in a V35B, the nose wheel and left main are down and locked in three seconds and showing green. The right main has a delay of an additional 10 seconds before it confirms a green light. I will have my mechanic swing the gear before my next flight but pointing him in a direction might help. The plane has not flown in 90 days due to maintenance issues and it did it on both the test flight and a second flight.

The tachometer on my D55 Baron (with IO-520s) left engine was dead upon initial start-up. It was the first cold day of the year and the airplane had not run for a few weeks. After running it up above about 1200 RPM, it came back to life, no issues since. Any thoughts on what could be the culprit? I would rather investigate now than get stranded on a trip later.

My F33C Bonanza has an MTV-9D/210-58 propeller. I installed it in July 2012. What about the TBO limit date/hours? Could there be a difference between FAA and EASA? I have heard the FAA limit is about 12 years.

Back in 2016 I got an itch to own a more versatile aircraft than our 1946 Globe Swift. Don’t get me wrong, the Swift, equipped with a 210hp Continental IO-360 and 49 gallons of fuel, could easily make 500 statute mile trips nonstop (which covered most of the destinations for us in California and neighboring states). But a couple of tote bags and a backpack were all that was going with us. I looked closely at Cessna 182s, 206s, Rockwell 114s, and even, albeit briefly, a Stinson 108-2 (it was part of an estate sale and had been well cared for).

First: How’s it going? Great! Would I do it again? Absolutely!

When I was studying economics in graduate school I came across a case study exploring how hundreds of thousands of people across centuries and geography, most of whom never met or knew one another, worked together to create, source, assemble, market, and deliver a pencil held in the hand of an elementary school student. The lesson was that even rudimentary products can represent significant innovations in design and in what we now call “supply chain logistics.”

In 2010 I was moved from my then seven-year tenure as ABS Manager of Technical Services into the newly created position of Executive Director of the ABS Air Safety Foundation. ASF, chartered in 1979, always had provision for a manager or executive director in its bylaws, but the duties were covered by other staff and the ABS Executive Director until late 2010. Upon accepting the role, I suggested to the Board of Directors that we adopt a formal Strategic Plan (which had not been done previously) and submitted a proposal for the next three years. I advocated moving from the ASF’s general mission statement “Keeping you flying, safely” to the highly focused and actionable to protect lives and preserve the Beechcraft fleet. The Board enthusiastically adopted my proposal and the focused mission of the ABS Air Safety Foundation, and we got to work.

A few weeks ago, September 4th, I had an engine failure in my Bonanza F33A, resulting in a forced landing in the water of Georgian Bay [in the northeastern end of Lake Huron, Ontario, Canada]. A few people have asked me to post the details of the ditching in case it could be helpful to others. Telling the story to other pilots has been therapeutic for me so I’ve decided to outline it here and I’m happy to answer questions.

Wichita, Kansas, home of the American Bonanza Society and Textron Aviation, was the site of the ABS Maintenance Academy, November 4-5. This ABS Air Safety Foundation program had a full class of 27 students who are ABS members with A&P and IA certificates and work on the Beechcraft brand of planes that the American Bonanza Society supports.

The trusty IO-550B in my A36 was nearing Time Between Overhaul (TBO) so I did what every self-respecting pilot would do: I went to Oshkosh to research options! There were compelling arguments for both field and factory rebuilds; in the end I chose a Continental factory rebuild hoping it would be the most comprehensive solution for long-term quality. The engine was ordered in August for a December delivery to coordinate with the scheduled annual inspection. The new engine arrived exactly on time, was installed without a hitch, and the performance, coupled with a new propeller, was simply fantastic.

ABS extends a warm welcome to the following new members who joined in October 2023:

Have you logged into the new ABS Online Learning Center yet? For most of you, the answer is “not yet.” According to my records, we’ve had only 1,521 members, out of over 10,100 members, login and access any of the courses we have online since we went live with our new system on August 1, 2023. With new courses being added monthly, we want to make sure you are always in the know about the incredible free learning content you have access to as an ABS Member.

I am a student pilot entering the private pilot checkride prep phase of my training, and I watched your “Little Moments of Mastery” webinar this evening [ABSWeb October 2023, now in the ABS Online Learning Center] after learning about it from an FAA WINGS email. Thank you for presenting and for the material you covered. As I think about and am working toward honing my ability to meet the various ACS requirements, I often consider that it doesn’t stop there. I know more than I did when I started flight training earlier this year, but every flight reminds me that I have so far to go — not just to pass the checkride but also to become a safer and more skilled pilot. I appreciated the various tools and suggestions you offered to help all pilots — from greenhorns like me to experienced professionals like you — to remain sharp and continue honing their craft. I’d hate to think that the learning stops when we get our next certificate or rating; at that point, we may as well stop flying! And none of us got into it for that.

I am a new A36 Bonanza owner and just finished my first annual. I am noticing some behavior that seems off to me but when you are new, you always wonder if you just didn’t notice before. While doing my run-up check, I do a yoke walkthrough - aileron left, pull back elevator, aileron right, elevator forward to ensure controls are free and clear. I noticed that during my aileron test the yoke will “snap” back to center but now it is clearly moving hard left by default after a test - e.g., it seems to be off center. While testing further it seems I noticed two related factors: 1. My nose wheel wasn’t fully centered - straightening out seemed to reduce the effect a little and yoke seemed to do a better job going back to center. 2. There is at least a little bit of movement in the rudder pedals - I could see probably a 1-2 inches of movement in both pedals left/right as I played with aileron controls. When I put my head down on the pilot side under controls, I can hear movement against something and I worry that perhaps something is cross wired or…

I have a Baron 58 and the right hand pressure pump failed; it has been replaced. Deicing boots stay inflated while the engines are running, and pressures seem normal while the solenoids are closed. I am not sure if the problem existed prior to pump replacement. I suspect the duplex/dump valve is not closing/opening. Any words of wisdom would be appreciated!

My mechanic needs help identifying the induction tube part number and help with sourcing. I have a BE58, IO-550C, left engine, outboard. Aircraft S/N TH-1599. Also, the heat strip on the lift detector (stall warning tab) on the left wing lost its adhesion. Everything is in place and fully functional, both the stall warning and heat strip. SafeFlight told my mechanic when it happens, the unit needs to be overhauled. That seems excessive to me. I would expect it could be easily re-glued with a high temperature epoxy, like the product used on oil sump pre-heaters. If I am forced to replace or overhaul the unit, I would appreciate help finding a suitable shop for overhaul or source to purchase an overhauled unit. The lift detector part number is 191-61.

We installed one overhauled and one new Bendix magneto and new harness at annual. The plugs are Tempest and two years old and we’re all cleaned and gapped. The AP/IA installed the magnetos and set the timing as per specifications. The first run up magneto drop was 125 on both magnetos. The next run up was 150 on both magnetos. We ran the engine up one more time and the drop increased to 200 on both magnetos. The engine was running smoothly and the drop was smooth as well. The engine started with no problems. Any thoughts?

During a routine preventative maintenance check on my Bonanza B36TC coating the wing bolts with LPS, I managed to snap the fatigued clip/tab off the cover plate. I bought a new plate to replace it and carefully bent tabs to fit mating grooves on the wing. It felt secure with the required force to “pry” off for accessing the bolt. It managed to take its leave of the aircraft while in flight. I ended up buying a second one surplus/salvage. Do you have any helpful tips on how to fit and secure the cover plates?

I have a Baron 58 and when I bring the landing gear up, the landing gear relay circuit breaker pops. It will not reset unless the landing gear handle is in the down position. I just had some autopilot issues and talked with the shop that did the work and they said they cannot think of anything that would have caused the issue. The landing gear motor circuit breaker appears fine.

Three years ago we had a Bonanza S35 painted. When we went to pick it up, we found the left trim tab cables were reversed causing the right tab to go up and left to go down and vice versa. That was corrected and there were no issues until last week when we had a Beechcraft-specific shop rebuild the ruddervators. We picked up the airplane and it was the same thing. The trim tab cables on the left trim tab were reversed. I am getting good at flying around the pattern with the cables reversed. Is this a common mistake or am I just an anomaly? If this is a common problem, it looks like it would be easy to have a marking system on the cables at the tab ends like they mark wires in an electrical system with heat shrink tubing that says “top” and “bottom” or engraved “T” and “B.” Could this be a service bulletin?

While I was flying the other day, I noticed the “oil check door” was open and laid over on its side in the slipstream. I had not checked it in the preflight, I never have, until now. Normally, I just open the cowling to inspect the motor and nacelle and check the oil. When I arrived, I examined the door and saw part of the latching mechanism had “departed the fix.” I pulled out the trusty duct tape to get home and it did not work in flight. The door is still with me and the airplane, but I have an incomplete latch. I am planning on bringing out a bolt, locking nut, fender washer and a right size piece of steel to temporarily secure the door and it may end up being permanent since neither my partner nor I use it. In doing my research I found no results.

I have a 1976 A36 Bonanza, E-920. My cabin door seal and horizontal stabilizer root seal need to be replaced. Is the Knots 2U cabin door seal the best to use? The forum seems to favor GB’s root seal for the horizontal stabilizer. What works best and what do you suggest for each? Are each a one-piece replacement or do they come in a bulk length to be cut? Is it best to remove the cabin door to access the hinge area and remove the old adhesive? Should I use a stiff wire brush on a drill to remove the old adhesive? Acetone is not working. What is the best new adhesive to use? The old seals are oil impregnated and soft and mushy. Is Spruce the best place to get these seals and adhesive?

I have a Bonanza G33. The latch/bar that holds the door open only works (props the door open) by lifting the small bar to latch into place once the door is fully open. I thought this was the way it was supposed to work. The shop that’s working on the aircraft says it’s not right. They are recommending a Door Steward. What I can see of these online looks very aftermarket. I don’t like the look. Is there an OE fix for this?

My alternator drops offline in flight. There are 1,200 hours on the alternator since new. It drops offline as the RPM changes and can be reset after two to five minutes and changing RPM. I changed the voltage regulator but it did not help. I think it’s the clutch getting weak. Is the ALV-9610 a good replacement for the OEM number 649304 alternator? I heard it does not work well with the Larmar voltage regulator. Has anybody heard or experienced that with the combination of Lamar regulator and the ALV-9610? Would I be better off to have the 649304 alternator rebuilt?

I have a 1965 S35 Bonanza with a Continental IO-520-BB3. We had an engine failure after 25 minutes of flying and, although we had not opened the engine to see what the source of the failure was, someone suggested that it could be due to the oil cap being plugged. We had loss of power in flight, some smoke in the cockpit, and propeller overspeed. There was no oil on the cowling or windscreen. Is that possible? Could leaving the oil cap plugged cause all the oil to be thrown out?

I want to lubricate my flap cables without having to remove them. Can I apply an appropriate lubricant to the exterior of the cables with expectation it will soak through the housing? And, if so, can you recommend an appropriate lube for this purpose?

Does it matter what position the propeller stops on a three-blade propeller? Before my annual, it stopped with one blade up. Now after annual it stops with two blades up and one down. Does it matter?

We are in the process of replacing an alternator on a Baron E55. Is there a way to pin it so it doesn’t move so you can remove the gear, or is there a special wrench for this?

I wanted to let you know [the September ABSWeb webinar with guests “RH” and “AG” of Opposing Bases] was one of the most informative and enjoyable webinars.

From its introduction in 1947 through the mid-1950s, the Bonanza held an enviable position in the lightplane marketplace. If a buyer wanted a new four-place, high-performance, single-engine lightplane, the Bonanza was his or her only choice. However, the market changed in the late ’50s with Cessna introducing its 210 in 1957 and Piper offering its Comanche in 1958. Both of these new competitors to the Bonanza were considerably less expensive, putting Beech at a disadvantage in the high-performance, single-engine marketplace.

I have seen photos of a 1956 G35 Bonanza with the roof mounted swamp cooler that has the control (a T-handle) on the roof next to the outlet box. Possibly this was a change made during my model year. My aircraft has slide control for the swamp cooler, next to the cabin heat, below the piano keys. While I am gentle with that slide control and keep it lubricated as much as I can (with very limited access), is there a reasonable way I can convert to the roof mount T-handle? As many on the Members’ Forum have noted, there is a long distance and a lot of friction between the slide control and the scoop mechanism on the top. The roof mounted T-handle looks like it would take a lot of friction out of the system. I appreciate Lew Gage mentioning how he lubricates the long cable in his book but am hoping for a retrofit before my system (and fingers) quit on me. Is it worth digging into whether used parts are available? Is it legal to change? And yes –I have a container onboard just for reloading the cooler with a scoop of ice from each fuel…

I’ve had a recurring issue with my left brake on my S35 Bonanza nearly locking up. The problem occurs intermittently, and I have been unable to re-create the issue. Both calipers have been rebuilt and the parking brake valve has been replaced with a serviceable unit. This seemed to correct the issue for a time, but I had the left caliper dragging badly after a flight. I was only able to push the aircraft back into the hangar after bleeding the pressure off at the caliper bleed valve. Both brakes are firm and effective and only the left brake is failing to release completely. I’ve ordered rebuild kits for the master cylinder and parking valve. Any other suggestions, or is there something I overlooked?

In the coming days I will collect my A36 Bonanza and fly it home. A flight that will take a few hours. The airplane doesn’t have an engine monitor installed yet and I would like to fly it in the most careful way possible. I have a simple CHT gauge and a very basic EGT. The rich of peak or lean of peak settings in the POH are not the best possible settings when it comes to temperatures. In my case, what would be recommended when it comes to settings, and how was it done in the days when engine monitors didn’t exist?

I am coming up on my first annual as a first-time Beechcraft owner. I’ve been a professional pilot for 25 years but never owned an airplane and have been out of general aviation for a while. I am looking to educate myself before the owner-assisted annual starts. I want to make sure the required inspections and ADs get completed and nothing is missed. Does anyone want to educate me?

I am working on a 1979 V35B Bonanza. We were getting started on a gear inspection as per the ABS Landing Gear Guide, and it says to reference tension, etc., specs in the maintenance manual. Is there a simplified list of these specs or do they need to be pulled individually from the gear section of the maintenance manual?

I am doing an upgrade to the Aspen 2500 and DFC 90 autopilot. I was wondering if the trim on/off switch I had on my panel before is mandatory or just good to have? I’m at the point of being able to keep it or remove it. My avionics guy is saying to remove it, but I’m not sure.

How do you remove the wingtip lens? I see a couple screws that I assume hold it in place but want to be sure before I remove them.

Here’s the latest from the ABS Air Safety Foundation:

I can tell I am getting older because 24 months seems to come much faster these days. It feels like I just completed one of the BPPP Best courses last year, but in reality, it’s been two years ago September since my completion. That means it was time for my biennial Flight Review in September. It’s time to brush off the cobwebs and get back to my BPPP ground school video and review. Also, get in the airplane and do maneuvers.

During the month of August, I had the enviable task of flying five different types of airplanes in less than a month. Three were Beechcraft brands and the other two were warbirds.

ABS extends a warm welcome to the following new members who joined in September 2023:

Part 1 (July 2023 issue) of this three-part series chronicled why I had to upgrade the instrument panel in our B55 Baron and what instruments I chose for the upgrade: a pair of Garmin GI 275s. Part 2 (September 2023 issue) highlighted installation of the new instruments from start to finish.

The B36TC departed Fort Worth, Texas, enroute to Camdenton, Missouri, for an annual inspection. About 30 minutes after takeoff, the airplane leveled off near 15,500 feet mean sea level (MSL). About 24 minutes later, as the airplane approached a line of thunderstorms, it started to climb and deviate consistent with an attempt by the pilot to maneuver around those thunderstorms. Isolated thunderstorm tops in the area were 20,000 to 24,000 feet.

The availability of a nose baggage compartment solves many of life’s aeronautical problems. The nose baggage area helps balance cabin and passenger load, making passenger seats more usable. It provides a large physical space for bags, cargo or “stuff,” space that is sorely lacking in Bonanzas and Debonairs if the seats are filled. That alone makes Barons and Travel Airs very attractive as business and personal travel aircraft. Forget two-engine redundancy; I’ve had pilots tell me the nose baggage compartment was the primary benefit of moving from a Bonanza to a Baron.

With some very rare exceptions, the FAA should never take more than six months to a year to review your medical certificate application. That might seem like a long time to some pilots. For others stuck in the quagmire of successive information requests from the FAA, it might seem laughably naïve.

Sam James, a flight instructor at the very first ABS pilot training event and later volunteer manager of ABS’ Bonanza (later Beechcraft) Pilot Proficiency Program (BPPP), wrote: “You can’t change their life in four hours” of BPPP flight. But you can change one or two things, redress a bad habit or suggest a better way. And you can validate the pilot’s existing habits are safe and get the job done. Flying with a BPPP instructor isn’t an evaluation, it’s a personal aviation coaching event conducted by an expert in your airplane type. Our accredited CFIs confirm what you do is right, and point out ways you can be even safer and more proficient in your airplane.

If you have ever spent a little time reviewing your policy, you might have been confused by some of the terminology used by insurance carriers. In this month’s article, we answer questions that we frequently get from our customers involving the policy language, and review some liability coverage basics.

To participate, upload copies of your certificates into your ABS Aviator account online. Log into your account, click on the ABS Aviator tab, and upload certificates using the grey plus button. If you have any questions email us at info@bonanza.org.

ABS extends a warm welcome to these members who recently became ABS Life Members: Year indicates when the member originally joined ABS.

ABS extends condolences to the families and friends of this ABS member who recently passed away:

My flying career started in 1990, flying a Cessna 172 out of “Just Plane Fun Airpark,” a grass strip near Nacogdoches, Texas. Owned by the Lemon family, a (then) Continental Airlines Captain, Just Plane Fun Airpark was one of those neat places that is so important to the fabric of our aviation lives. It was a great place to get a start. The aviation hook set deep, and I was lured into a world that has been very good to me over the decades. Within 13 months I had progressed through private, instrument, commercial, and CFI certificates/ratings and was on the path to an aviation career.

It was a late August northern Florida afternoon with scattered rain showers and beautiful cumulo-bumpus clouds (as my daughters call them). My daughter Reagan called from Atlanta that week asking to come home for the weekend. Translation: “Dad, would you pop up here in the Bonanza and give me a lift?” The question was mostly rhetorical. The only real question was whether any of my partners had the plane reserved for the afternoon. They didn’t.

In over 40 years and 4,000 hours of flying, I have had a single magneto failure. That being said, I have never opened up a magneto for its 5-year/500-hour inspection and not found something that needed attention. The moral to this story is that (1) magneto technology is extremely reliable and robust, and (2) these things really take a beating and need to be looked at from time to time to ensure reliable operation.

A question was posted in the Tech Tips section of the January 2023 issue of the ABS Magazine concerning cowl flap operation during cold weather. I suspect this issue crops up fairly frequently in hangar flying sessions especially in the cold country. The M35 POH (Pilot's Operating Handbook) contains the paragraph Mike Thompson mentions in his response, which states “…Except in extremely low temperatures, the cowl flaps should be open during ground operation…” As far as I know, the POH does not define “extremely low temperatures”.

Now completing the third year of ASF’s current three-year Strategic Plan, the Foundation’s 2021-2024 goal is to expand, update and improve access to ABS/ASF programs, to meet the ASF mission and which by their participation members show adds value to their ABS membership.

After 50 years of flying as an owner/operator of many different airplanes, I find myself eager to take on a partner (co-owner) in Baron N87RG. Many reasons pointed me in this direction, and I want to share with you the process and considerations should this time occur for you.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has superseded Airworthiness Directive (AD) 2022-040-04 that affects certain Continental O-470, IO-470, IO-520, TSIO-520, and IO-550 engines (as well as other engines not installed on ABS-type airplanes) equipped with an F&M Enterprises or Stratus Tool Technologies oil filter adapter installed under Supplemental Type Certificate SE8409SW, SE09356SC, or SE10348SC. FAA estimates this affects about 6,300 engines.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (AD) affection Garmin GFC 500 autopilots. This AD comes after report of an F33A experiencing an uncommanded pitch trim runaway when the autopilot was first engaged.

At press time the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued its long-anticipated endangerment finding, formally declaring leaded aviation gasoline a public hazard. FAA and EPA are committed to work together on a timeline to transition to a "universally available" unleaded 100 octane fuel while ensuring 100LL is available in the interim. We'll have much more on this development in next month's ABS Magazine.

Some flights exact a pound of flesh from their pilots, when least expected.

In the July 2023 issue we looked at ABS’s founders’ vision for improving the safety of Beech pilots. For the first 16 years of ABS’s now 56-year existence, the Society’s focus was on teaching flight instructors how to provide type-specific initial and recurrent training in Bonanzas and Debonairs and (later) in Barons and Travel Airs. By the early 1980s, interest grew toward providing training directly to ABS members in what would later become BPPP—the Beechcraft Pilot Proficiency Program. The first such ABS Air Safety Foundation pilot training program was held in October 1983…40 years ago this month. Using excerpts from past issues of the ABS newsletter and later ABS Magazine (all available in the www.bonanza.org archives), with additional historical information in editorial brackets and in italics, here’s the story of the beginning of BPPP.

If you fly in the northern hemisphere, your icing season is about to begin. The largest and most complex deice system on a Baron, and probably most likely to be damaged by exposure during the warmer months, is the Surface Deicing System—the pneumatic deicing boots. Even if you’re flying a G58 or you’ve replaced air-driven gyroscopic instruments with aftermarket glass displays, if you have deice boots, your airplane retains the instrument air system.

The FAA has published Special Airworthiness Information Bulletin (SAIB) 2023-09, dated September 14, 2023, informing owners and operators of aircraft installed with Parker Stratoflex 124-, 130-, and 170-series hoses qualified to TSO-C53a and 124K-, 156-, and 171K-series hoses qualified to TSO-C75 of an airworthiness concern regarding standards used to qualify the hoses to TSO requirements. At this time, the airworthiness concern is not an unsafe condition that would warrant airworthiness directive (AD) action under Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations (14 CFR) part 39.

To participate, upload copies of your certificates into your ABS Aviator account online. Log into your account, click on the ABS Aviator tab, and upload certificates using the grey plus button. If you have any questions email us at info@bonanza.org.

I purchased a 1966 V35 Bonanza with an IO-520 to IO-550 conversion. I noticed that the POH in the airplane contains Section V (Performance) from an A36 Bonanza. The rest of the POH is for a V35. This makes sense. However, I’ve looked through all the paperwork that I received from the seller relating to the engine conversion and I can’t find any information calling for the replacement of the Performance Section of the POH. Is this correct?

I just completed my spar web inspection in accordance with AD 95-04-03, fortunately, with no crack indications found. Is data available that documents reported cracks by model? I am curious how many low gross weight Debonairs have had cracks found.

ABS extends a warm welcome to these members who recently became ABS Life Members: Year indicates when the member originally joined ABS.

ABS extends condolences to the families and friends of this ABS member who recently passed away:

In the August issue I reported results from a January 2020 ABS member survey. Just before Oshkosh—after August went to press—the ABS staff repeated that same survey to see if there have been any changes. Members were asked to select what they consider to be the five most valuable ABS member products and services. The report indicates the percentage of respondents who ranked each item somewhere in their top five.

ABS Technical Advisors are an essential part of the valued service to our 10,200 members. It’s one of the top two reasons why members join the American Bonanza Society, according to our membership surveys that date back many years and including this year’s survey. It is vitally important that we continue to give our members the expertise in technical advice for the Beechcraft that they value and have become accustomed to since 1967, 56 years ago. Technical advice has been the cornerstone of our mission from the Society’s inception and remains so today.

Are you one of the many who has taken an ABS online course? Watched a webinar? Trained with a BPPP instructor near your home and on your schedule? Read the magazine cover to cover? Watched an ABS YouTube video? Leveraged feedback from a Technical Advisor through various mediums? Looked for some technical guidance or other reference materials on the ABS website? Attended the ABS Maintenance Academy or benefited from a mechanic who has? Attended a BPPP Live seminar? Become a better Beechcraft flight instructor, or flown with one? I expect most of you will say yes to one or more of these, or countless other resources and programs that members of ABS have at their fingertips.

The long-term health of the ABS organization depends on our ability to serve the members and deliver value for money. It is worth reviewing how the membership impacts our bottom line and, importantly, some encouraging trends we see in how our membership is changing.

ABS extends a warm welcome to the following new members who joined in August 2023:

I completed the first BPPP training with Bob Kinnie yesterday, and can’t say enough words about how happy and satisfied I am with the program and with Bob’s delivery. He made it fun, imparted more new knowledge and skills than I can fully absorb (so I have to keep it up), and wore me out! Great program, thanks for all you do. I love my Beechcraft!—Charlie Anderson

I just switched from a Cirrus SR22 (IO-550) to the F33A (IO-520). A good way to keep the engine cool in the SR22 was to have the takeoff fuel flow set over spec (set at: 30 gallons per hour, while the manual calls for 27 gallons per hour or so). It makes a big difference. I noticed that my F33A is set to spec (24 gallons per hour), but CHTs very quickly get to 400°F plus range, which is too high. With the boost on, I get around 27 gallons per hour and the CHTs remain noticeably cooler. I know it’s over the fuel flow red line and I am not getting full power because it’s too rich, but I prefer a cool engine. Is it not common procedure to have the fuel flow over spec for the purpose of engine cooling in the Bonanza world? I should note that I am based in Phoenix with outside air temperature of about 115°F, so the engine runs hot easily.

I owned an A36 Bonanza for 10 years until 2015. I have recently bought another A36. It seems like the gear horn sounds too soon. It’s not at all like my previous airplane. If I pull back throttle to 17” of manifold pressure, the horn will sound. Is there an adjustment to changing it?

I can’t seem to find a part number for the gasket that goes on the dip stick on my A35 Bonanza with E-225. Does anybody have a recommendation or may have a better source for the part number? I have the IPC for the E-series engine and the Bonanza.

My D55’s nose gear is making some noise. Any recommendations? If it needs grease, what is the best type to use? I noticed my D55 has fewer grease fittings than other Barons/Bonanzas.

Like many aviators, my road to aircraft ownership started with humble beginnings. It began with training and flying different airplanes to new airports. I learned from instructors, mechanics, mentors, and fellow pilots who have seen and flown way more than I had. There was so much to learn. As a young aviator, I was impressed by the community of older pilots with passion towards the younger generation of pilots. This is my story of student pilot to commercial pilot and becoming a Beechcraft Bonanza F33A owner.

In the April 2022 ABSWeb webinar I presented ideas for “Easily Remembering Beech Emergency Procedures.” You may watch the video in the ABS Online Learning Center. I gave a talk on the same topic at Oshkosh this year as part of the ABS Tent Topics series, as well as a generic version in the EAA Professional Development Center and a flight instructor-oriented version. The gist of these presentations is that there are relatively few things to remember to handle emergencies in flight, and that most situations give you time to reference the appropriate checklist. Not only is it not cheating to do so, using the printed checklist is what you’re supposed to do. Those checklist steps that are so critical they must be done swiftly from memory have common themes making it even easier to memorize them.

Every other year (before my flight review) I retake the ABS - BPPP Online Pilot and Instructor Ground School Courses. With ABS’ recent transition to the Beechcraft Essential Systems and Techniques (BEST) curriculum, I have really looked forward to this year’s review to see how the curriculum has changed.

Expertise, they say, is the culmination of knowledge and experience. One without the other is like a fish climbing a tree. Our aeronautical experience pulls us into its embrace to explore the fathomless, miniature mysteries of the wind, the clouds, the distance, the speed, the density, and the “others.” It is with the “others” wherein lies this tale, of what might have been, on a dusky evening flight.

ABS member Simon Whitehouse, who owns a Baron 58 and lives in London, England, asked:

Most people, even non-pilots, know that airlines pressurize the cabins of their aircraft. They may not know that the maximum cabin pressure allowed is the equivalent of 8,000 feet [1]. In general aviation, most people are not flying around in pressurized aircraft. But is it the pressure that is important, or is it the oxygen? As most of you already know, it is oxygen that matters more. Or is it that simple?

The headline of this magazine ad from 1947 reads, “Your Office Door Opens on 48 States with a Beechcraft Bonanza.” Likely published in business periodicals of the time such as Business Week, Forbes, Fortune, and so forth, the ad copy exemplifies Beech Aircraft Corporation’s traditional marketing to business aviation. “A business may have an office or a factory in a single location, but it nevertheless plants its roots in every state in America. And Beech has brought to American business the machine that can do the job — the Beechcraft Bonanza.

The ABS Service Clinic at Poplar Grove went off extremely well. But first I must report a near-fatal discovery that happened at the Clinic, and it happened to be on my F33A.

In May 2023, long-time American Bonanza Society member James (Jim) Giordano was honored with the Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award at a ceremony at his home airport, Y47, at New Hudson in southeast Michigan.

For the stock shimmy damper, is there any tolerance for play/movement when installed? I noticed when I grip the barrel of the damper, it appears to move around a bit in the barrel bolt/bushing area where it mounts to the nosewheel assembly. I notice the same when I move the shaft end of the damper where it also mounts to the nosewheel assembly. The barrel mounting bolt is tight. Is this normal? Should there be some play, or are the bushings in the barrel and shaft mount asking for replacement? The reason I ask is, I had the damper serviced with fluid as it was starting to get a little shimmy on landing and the fluid level was empty. The damper is holding fluid and the level is within specifications, however, the shimmy is still not quite gone.

I own a 1960 Debonair with an IO-470-J1B engine. My CHTs on the #3 and #5 cylinders are consistently high on takeoff during the summer, hovering around 405-420°F. I can bring those cylinder temperatures down to below 380°F while in cruise. (I’ve watched Tom Turner’s video on CHTs and would like to thank him for that valuable information.) I am trying to find information about proper factory installed baffles but can’t seem to find any information. My engine is configured with the oil cooler in front of the #5 cylinder and noticed that I don’t have the aluminum baffle. I’m wondering if this would help with cooling on my engine. Any suggestions on where I might find the proper baffling or baffling drawings?

I’m plagued with an infamous corroded ruddervator. I have a J35 Bonanza and have found a M35 Bonanza ruddervator in good working order. It appears the part number for the ruddervators are different, but the skins’ part numbers are the same. Are the ruddervators interchangeable? It seems there is one, unidentified (to us) change, in the ruddervator from the J to the M model. Some have mentioned there could possibly be some leniency with the difference, if superficially minor to be able to interchange them. If it’s not interchangeable, can the skins be used to rebuild my current one? I am not sure who will rebuild these or who to contact. I would love to finally get this bird back in the air.

When new, my 1947 BE35 was sold to a gentleman in Mexico. When it returned to the U.S. in 1955, the CAA required it to be recertified. During this process, things were replaced by Beechcraft under the 1955 certificate. No entries were made in any of the logbooks because it was recertified as 1955. My IA won’t approve the annual because “different parts were put on the airframe without documentation.” Where can I get information (“kit number”) about the nose landing gear rods being beefed up from 3/8” to 7/17”?

On my return from Oshkosh, I noticed a small amount of streaking on one of the spinner fillets on my right engine. It appears to have worked its way up from under the fillet and is only present in this location. There was no streaking on the spinner or the propeller blade. The material is a thick, greasy substance. It is worth noting that this blade is the only one that has a very slight amount of movement when you push the blade back and forth or try rotating it at the hub. The propeller has 2200 hours and was overhauled at 2030 hours in 2019. I’ve posted a photo to the ABS Members’ Forum. The parallel black bands in the photo reflect my hangar ceiling. The streaking is just those fine lines on the spinner fillet.

On my initial attempt to start my V35A, the starter initially will move the propeller, but it stalls after a couple of inches of movement. I cycled the ignition switch off and then successfully started. I had someone listen and the starter motor is running on the initial attempt, but it would appear it is slipping. It’s almost as though the starter cannot overcome the compression on the initial attempt. I’ve manually pulled the propeller through on prior attempts to start but it makes no difference. I’m concerned about the reliability and don’t want to get stranded somewhere if something is getting weak. Any suggestions?

I am going to look at a couple of 1979 A36s. In addition to the Prepurchase Inspection Guide on the ABS website, are there any other suggestions to look at specific to this year and model?

On my last flight the fastener departed from my F35’s left main fuel fill door. Does anyone have a part number for that fastener? The Illustrated Parts Catalog (IPC) only has an assembly number for the door.

The aft door alarm in my G36 goes off falsely and frequently on any light or greater turbulence or change in attitude, such as approaches and landing. It becomes an annoyance and distraction, and an intercom interruption. Where could I find schematic and available adjustments to minimize false aft door alarms?

It was hot and humid during the week with quite a few heavy pop-up thunderstorms in the evenings and early mornings. Ironically, the rain and storms stayed away during the show hours. Nearly 1,000 of our more than 10,000 total members stopped by the hospitality tent and took advantage of fresh popcorn and soda, ABS merchandise, technical support for their Beechcraft, and tent seminars throughout each morning. We had several members renew their membership and recruited several new members throughout the week. ABS staff and Board members were on hand to answer questions or get you pointed in the right direction for any of our programs or services.

You’re all over the place out there. It makes me wonder if you know how to fly the airplane. I’m not sure I want to be anywhere near you when you’re flying like that.”

ABS extends a warm welcome to the following new members who joined in July 2023:

It was a trip down memory lane reading the article about the beginnings of the Beechcraft Pilot Proficiency Program [“Before BPPP,” July 2023]. Having been a student of Bill Guinter many years after the BPPP was well established and it would eventually evolve into what it is today. I had forgotten how contentious and risky the first few years were.

Is it possible to directly replace the existing incandescent nav light bulbs on my 1972 A36 (S/N E-369) with LED bulbs, without replacing the existing fixtures? If so, can you direct me to a source? I also need the clear plastic wingtip and tail cone covers, as the originals are showing their age.

I own a Bonanza A36 and my left wing vent is continuously and slowly dripping 100LL. I think it may be related to a recent overflow event. Two weeks ago, we got record high temps and my hangar got hot. Unfortunately, the tanks were full and the left tank overflowed due to high pressure with the 100LL expanding. It may have nothing to do with that. Now the 100LL is dripping even if I leave the fuel cap unlatched (no overpressure). Any suggestions for my mechanic?

I have a S35, serial number D-7920. The number 4 EGT probe is broken. I have the Garmin 275 installed. How can I find out the part number and the best place to order one?

In Part 1 (July 2023 issue) of this three-part series I explained the why and what of the instrument panel upgrade in our B55 Baron, which is centered on two new Garmin GI 275 multifunction instruments that I’ll refer to the number one 275 (upper) or number two 275 (lower). As a quick review of what the upgrade is, the number one 275 is the primary attitude direction indicator (ADI) replacing the factory-installed King KI 256 Flight Director and has the electronic air data attitude heading reference system (ADAHRS) with autopilot interface. The number two 275, configured as an HSI, is replacing the Sandel 3308 EHSI (electronic horizontal situation indicator) and is also the independent backup ADI with ADAHRS and battery backup.

The Australian Beechcraft Society sponsored two experienced Beech instructors to attend the American Bonanza Society BPPP Instructor Camp in Wichita, Kansas, in July 2023. This special camp was adapted to the experience of the two instructors as a “train the trainer” session to show how we present BPPP training in the United States so they can adopt those techniques if they wish in the regional society’s BPPP weekend held every two years in Australia. Flight instructors Lyn Gray and Anthony Moor’s event was timed to permit them to continue on to the air show at Oshkosh afterward.

I subscribe to the Federal Register, which is the U.S. government’s publication that notifies the public about pending Federal regulation and other activities of a regulatory or governance nature. I look at the Federal Register every day (it publishes daily, including weekends and even on Christmas) to read the Federal Aviation Administration section. It’s exceptionally rare when there is not an FAA entry; on any given day there are at least two or three Notices of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) affecting some aircraft.

We spend quite a lot of time talking about limitations in ABS presentations and publications. Information contained in Section II, Limitations, of a Pilot’s Operating Handbook (POH) or Airplane Flight Manual (AFM), or listed as Limitations in a flight manual Supplement, the applicable Maintenance Manual, and the aircraft’s Type Certificate Data Sheet (TCDS) all carry the force of Federal law and describe the boundaries within which we must operate to fly safely and legally. There are additional items of note in the POH, however, that further describe safety considerations for aircraft operation that are not legal limitations but are nonetheless good operating practices and worth your observance.

P erhaps nothing strikes more fear into the heart of an aircraft owner! What are Airworthiness Directives (AD) and Service Bulletins (SB), and why are they such a good thing? There are many different categories, classes, and types of aircraft, and there are a lot of these directives and bulletins. If the typical annual inspection is only around 40 hours on a complex single and 60 hours on a twin, mechanics and inspectors need to know if there are any special problems they should be watching for.

Let’s be honest. Vanity is almost as important as form and function. We love how our Bonanzas look on the tarmac as the sun dances off the profile of our proud ships.

Congratulations to these ABS members who have earned a new ABS AVIATOR status:

ABS extends a warm welcome to these members who recently became ABS Life Members: Year indicates when the member originally joined ABS.

ABS extends condolences to the families and friends of these ABS members who recently passed away:

We made a smooth transition to the ABS Online Learning Center’s new Learning Management System (LMS) on August 1st. The new Top Class LMS improves the user interface, streamlines workload for the ABS staff, and requires ASF to pay only about 25 percent what the current LMS costs (remembering that ASF programs are paid 100 percent by donations and sponsorships, not from ABS member dues). The ABS membership staff sent many prominent reminders over the past six months that credit for all completed coursework would carry over into the new LMS, but that any programs in progress at changeover time would unfortunately be lost. I’ve only heard of one ABS member who lost credit, so the changeover had no adverse impact on most. Thanks again to Lauren Bayless for her many months of hard work behind the scenes making this improved—and far less costly to ASF— Learning Management System changeover. Go online and check out this new and improved, free-to-members benefit.

My friend and “flyaway” gaggle mate David Porter in Australia messaged me while I was on my way home from Oshkosh. He is working with a client Down Under who is interested in acquiring a Baron. The available market for preowned Barons in Australia is quite small so the client is planning to import an airplane from the U.S. Both my friend and his customer are very familiar with importation requirements and are already in contact with a reputable ferry company to fly their eventual purchase to its new home.

As I’ve written about before, I sold my beautiful Baron 58P about six months ago (ABS Magazine, March 2023) and I no longer have an airplane. The reason for the sale was connected to my senior age of almost 89 years. My family and my insurance company strongly suggested it was time for the airplane to go. So, what does an almost 89-year-old pilot do when his airplane is gone?

My name is Michael Alexandroff, from Santiago, Chile, and I’ve been a pilot since 1998. I bought my first Bonanza in 2014, a 1960 M35 V-tail (older than me). I had the M35 for three years and started searching on the internet for an F33A in April 2017. After eight months I found my Bonanza with only 800 hours on its airframe and engine.

Three ABS members have recently been awarded the FAA Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award. This award recognizes pilots with over 50 years of accident-free experience.

On August 21, 2017, a total solar eclipse crossed the U.S. from Oregon to the Carolinas. This was a spectacular natural event which occurs at irregular intervals and always on a different path. The projected route that day was a long way from my home in North Texas, but I decided I wanted to be a part of it.

With so many changes in the insurance industry over the past few years, we get a lot of questions from ABS members about the industry and the carriers who insure their aircraft. This month, we share some of those questions and our answers.

Our new Online Learning Center (OLC) transition last month was a huge success! We’ve moved all our existing content to a new platform that is very user friendly and integrates seamlessly with our membership database software. As with all new things, there is a small learning curve. Thankfully, that learning curve is really only for the staff side of the platform.

ABS Air Safety Foundation announces the newest to earn accreditation as an instructor in the Beechcraft Pilot Proficiency Program: Earl Schofield of Yucaipa, California. Earl writes:

Seven months ago I had a new Hartzell Scimitar propeller installed on my A36 Bonanza with dynamic balancing on my IO-520BA. It works great. Per the manual I had it regreased at 10 hours use. I did about six more hours. On a recent cross-country, I noticed that after about 1-2 hours in the air (RPM 2310, MP 21 inch, 8000 feet, 10.9 gph) the engine sound would change to a very steady light hum. No changes to any parameters, no new vibrations felt, the hum is the only change. The hum would last a few minutes and then go away. A few minutes later it came back and then went away. No obvious precipitating event, except I did notice it would start if there was a little turbulence. I changed RPM to 2340 and it still occurred, maybe a little less frequently. Any ideas on what this is? Is this a problem or not a big deal?

My left brake has been losing pressure intermittently while taxiing my J35 Bonanza. The brake will work normally and then suddenly it will start to lose pressure and eventually my foot will go all the way to the floor. I can “pump” the pedal and rebuild the pressure, but the same thing will eventually happen again where the pressure suddenly will bleed away. I recently took the plane to the mechanic and unfortunately left both of us unsure of what to try next. There wasn’t any leaking fluid found anywhere, and the main reservoir was full of fluid. So, they bled the line and used a service kit to fix some of the seals within the cylinder behind the pedal. On the test flight home everything worked great on the taxi out and takeoff, but upon landing and taxing in, the same issue happened again and I’m losing virtually all pressure. Surely someone knows the system better than I do and can point me in the right direction, even if it means replacing the entire master cylinder.

I am having an intermittent issue with low fuel pressure on one engine of my B55 at full throttle in climb. I have tried to follow SID-97G [now Continental M-0 fuel setup]. I am looking for guidance to inspect my vent system and supply lines for proper operation before pulling the mechanical pump to send out for repair. The pump has fewer than 100 hours since overhaul. Fuel pressure is fine on takeoff and initial climb and then drops off by 2 psi regardless of being on a main tank or an auxiliary tank. I can get pressure back up by running low. In cruise, pressures are normal with the electric pump off. My corrected metered psi should be 21.1 on the low end and that’s what I am getting during setup.

The new gear motor works great on my Bonanza V35B on jacks with cart power or on battery. After the flight, it hangs down half an inch to one inch on both sides. What do I need to do to correct?

I am getting conflicting information on the requirement of the engine mount/vibration isolators heat shields. I have a 1975 V35B and I am missing both right-hand heat shields...the left-hand ones are installed. I have the right exhaust removed because I am swapping a cylinder. The area is accessible now and I have some metal to fabricate them if needed. I heard that there is a service bulletin that deletes this requirement, but I cannot find it. I also read previous posts where the techs said the right is required but only the aft left side is required. I have the D’Shannon high-performance exhaust and it doesn’t appear as if any heat has damaged these mounts or isolators. Should I expend any time fabricating these and installing them?

The motor to inflate the front door seal on my 1978 58P turns on occasionally on longer flights. The door seal is in good shape, as is the hose going into the door. We took off the interior panels on the door and discovered the spring for the emergency door deflator valve laying at the bottom of the door. One of the ends had broken off. I looked up the part number in the illustrated Parts Catalog (NAS147P7M10) and have not found any reference to that part number in the Textron parts database, or anywhere else for that matter. Is there a cross reference available for NAS hardware?

I have a newly purchased B36TC Bonanza. It runs well and seems to burn about one quart of oil every five hours or so. I have noticed a lot of oil on the belly since I purchased it – approximately 30 flight hours ago. After its annual, the oil was topped off at 12 and there was a lot of oil after the first flight or two. Despite a clean engine and repeated cleaning of the belly, there is still oil after every flight. It comes mostly from the area at the mid belly. Is this oil from the engine or oil from the gearbox? It smells like gearbox oil, but I don’t know if that means anything.

I was conducting an IPC with a client in a Baron and was performing unusual attitudes when I heard and felt a “flutter” coming from the empennage when I would put the plane in a nose high attitude. The control forces were not excessive and there was no excess load put on the tail of the plane (plane was not subjected to excess G’s during the maneuver). I noticed this at two different times during the training. Prior to the flight and during a post-flight examination of the elevator surfaces, I did not see anything irregular and the bolts for the trim surfaces were tight as expected on a Baron. Any ideas?

Our mechanic is rebuilding the nose strut on my K35. We were able to buy the O-ring kit from Performance Aero but was wondering if anyone had a source for the shims and wiper. Where can I go to look up the part numbers for the nose strut?

We had been warned. But we were still shocked by the news that, after 50 years of flying and owning both piston and turbine aircraft, we were unable to renew our insurance on a turbine Meridian, a model we’d been flying for the most recent 20 years.

The Beech Travel Air is an often-overlooked niche airplane that despite fairly limited production provided a unique combination of performance and economy to private aviators. Always focused primarily on the business aviation market, Beech had been relying in its much larger and complex Model 50 Twin Bonanza series (despite the name, closer to the later King Air in design than its V-tailed namesake) and the classic growling radial Model 18 Twin Beech line to fill business aviation roles. But with Piper’s acquisition of the Twin Stinson, changed from a twin-tail to a single vertical stabilizer and renamed the Apache, followed by Cessna’s introduction of the then-radical 310 light twin, Beech management realized it needed to field a competitor in this market niche. Enter the Model 95 Beech Travel Air.

ABS member Joe Armstrong recently asked me:I was curious if you could point me towards any information regarding grass field operations, specific to the A36 (‘81 E-1858)? I am looking for best practices, techniques, minimum runway requirements, etc. I would love to study anything the ABS may have.

We are approaching the time of year when we begin scheduling events and delivering contracts for all ABS and ASF in-person events for 2024. There is a considerable amount of work that goes into the process of scheduling events. I want to share with you some of the how-to process, and where and when we determine to have events. First let me say that we take great pleasure in hosting events for our members, and ABS and ASF would have more if we could, but there simply aren’t the staff hours, resources, and time available.

If you haven’t figured it out already, I’m a numbers and data guy. I like looking at hard information and seeing how we can turn it into real-world learning to make us all safer and enjoy flying and owning Beechcraft even more. ABS Air Safety Foundation teaches flying by the numbers, but we use other numbers to focus our limited time and resources on what ABS members want and tell us they need.

I’m honored to be writing this article for ABS, “Silver Wings.” The idea is not altogether new—look around almost any ABS event and you’ll see that many of us are silver or gray—close to or into our 60s, 70s, and even beyond. That means, whether we like it or not, that we have to start accounting for age in every aspect of flying because we are not the eagle-eyed 20-somethings we were when many of us started our flying journey.

ABS Air Safety Foundation announces the newest to earn accreditation as an instructor in the Beechcraft Pilot Proficiency Program: Rich Prillinger of Redwood, California. Rich writes:

I am excited to announce that our new ABS Online Learning Center (OLC), which houses all our amazing online content, is now LIVE! To access the OLC, follow the same steps you have always done:

Despite challenging weather, 19 of the 24 members who scheduled their airplane for the ABS Service Clinic hosted by C&W Aero at West Caldwell, New Jersey, on June 22-25 were able to make it in for their airframe inspection. Adding to the aircraft owner’s educational experience, an inspector from Continental Aerospace Technologies conducted engine checks including cylinder borescoping and compression checks while the owner performed a detailed visual inspection of the airframe with ABS Lead Technical Advisor Bob Ripley and ABS Technical Advisor Dale Kraus. Onsite management of the Clinic was performed by Hazel Ripley. Thank you to all who participated and to C&W Aero for hosting.

In November, it will be 20 years since I became a licensed pilot. Without question, the opportunity to serve as president of the American Bonanza Society is among the greatest honors of my flying experience, and I am deeply appreciative to my fellow Board members. This milestone is an opportunity to reflect, with gratitude, on my most enjoyable and charmed aviation life.

ABS extends a warm welcome to the following new members who joined in June 2023:

I want to thank the following sponsors and other people who contributed financial and personal support of the Second Annual Beech Bash in the Bluegrass, which was highlighted in the July issue.

I have a Bonanza F33A. My control wheel is about 10-15 degrees turned left when flying level. The airplane has a slight tendency to roll left so I always need right trim, about a 1/8 to 1/4 lower right aileron. Also, when I go to put the locking pin in, I always have to turn the wheel to the right about 10-15 degrees beyond level to get it aligned. Are these all part of the same issue? If so, what is the fix? Adjust left or right aileron to make it even with the other? If so, should the left be lowered while the right is flush with flap, or the right be raised with the left one flush with the flap? I checked ground trim tabs on the ailerons. I put an angle finder to them and found no deflections or bends, both are identical. Also, I checked for any gaps and did not see any uneven gaps that were larger on one side versus other. The only thing that is apparent is that 1/4 or so of difference in the ailerons that are at different deflections in flight and on the ground when the control wheel is leveled.

I own a Debonair 35 B33. I am painting the interior of the engine cowls and am seeking a recommendation for paint that will tolerate the heat. I have cleaned and cleaned and prepped through Alodine, and will apply Sherwin Williams zinc chromate epoxy primer. I am looking for a grade of white urethane that will hold up.

I have a 2012 G36. My passengers complain they are not getting air conditioning in the cabin on hot days. All I can find in the POH is referencing the vents in the cockpit. Should A/C be coming from the fresh air vents in the cabin, or is the only source of air from the eyeball vents in the cockpit?

I had the inboard right fuel sender overhauled on my Debonair 35-B33. When removing the fuel sender, the backing where the fuel sender screws into fell to the bottom of the bladder. I can retrieve it but is there an adhesive to hold the backing on the bladder so I can reinstall the sender?

At annual we found fuel that appeared to be leaking from fuel flow divider. The engine is an IO-550B. Part number is 646508-6A6. I am looking to possibly overhaul or exchange with part number 646508-14A. Is this what you would recommend as the replacement part? They are saying overhaul would be four to six weeks.

ABS and the ABS Air Safety Foundation provide numerous technical resources to help members fly more proficiently and safely, and to maintain their Beechcraft better. Let’s review some of the resources available as part of your membership, some of which may be a bit hidden away on www.bonanza.org but which are definitely worth looking for and using. Let’s look left-to-right across the ABS website (Figure 1).

I have in the neighborhood of 1,200-1,300 hours on my IO-520BB, V35B. The propeller was replaced recently and balanced, but I still get some vibration in the 2300-2400 range, where I normally cruise. Is there any advantage to proactively replacing the engine mounts? I do not recall any visible issues in prior inspections and my mechanic has never cited it; however, as rubber ages, I wondered if simply purchasing new mounting bushings and having them installed would be a good idea.

I just read an article indicating that dry chemical fire extinguishers are not suitable for use in aircraft and may actually be dangerous to use in flight. It also indicated that they can cause and most likely will leave behind a corrosive mess that permanently damages the aircraft. They actually listed that this type of fire extinguisher should not be used in the hangar around aircraft and cited an instance where three aircraft in a hangar were destroyed by the corrosive mess left behind after using a chemical fire extinguisher in the hangar. The article suggested one of the following to be used in an aircraft and around aircraft, such as in a hangar. Per AC 20-42D the minimum requirement for small airplanes or rotorcraft is 2B:C. Using this as a baseline, we can compare the effectiveness and size of aviation fire extinguisher types:

I own a V35A-TC and have noticed that my engine oil temperature will slowly rise to red line on approach and stay high through landing and taxi. During cruise, it stays stable around 210 degrees. I have flown it up to two hours and the temperature is always stable until I start to descend for my approach. The cowl flaps are closed on descent and final and open after landing. I am always in the green for manifold pressure until I pull throttle to idle above the runway. At first, I suspected the temperature probe, but I do notice ambient temperature around my feet increases as the temperature increases on the dial, so I think it is getting hot. I have the stock gauges; no aftermarket EIS. Cylinder head temperatures always show normal and do not rise with oil temperature. Do I have an oil cooler issue? What should I have my mechanic look for?

I am shopping for new magnetos and a spare fuel pump for my D35 Bonanza. I cannot find cross-referenced part numbers. The maintenance manual for the E225 says Scintilla Model S6LN-21, part number 10-51365-17 for the magnetos, but I believe there’s been a supersedure at some point and QAA doesn’t know which magnetos I need. The fuel pump is listed as a Romec 7790 or RD7790 but they can’t find that one either. I’m sure the part numbers have changed since the manual came out, but I don’t know how to get the most up-to-date information.

My Bonanza 36 is down for annual and we have one bad cylinder. The engine has 1,700 hours and is a factory rebuilt. I would prefer to overhaul the engine at this point but do not want to have the airplane down for an extended period. Does anyone know where I might find a replacement? The current engine is IO-520BA10B. Also, I would be interested in an upgrade to an IO-550. I am leaning towards pulling the cylinder at this point and flying the airplane until the next annual and do an engine exchange at that time. Any suggestions?

Has anyone installed a Speed Slope windshield on a J35 Bonanza or similar model?

The magneto switch in my Bonanza V35A has failed the function test (the engine keeps running when switched to the off position). Is there a way to match a new switch to the current key so that the same key will still operate the door locks?

My H35 Bonanza does not have any flap preselect options. I’m wanting to know how many degrees the flaps are extended on later model Bonanzas when in the “Approach” detent?

One aspect I didn’t mention in my article “The Cruise Climb in Normally Aspirated Bonanzas” in the March 2021 issue of ABS Magazine was the benefit of thrust derived from the engine exhaust. Aerodynamics for Naval Aviators (faa.gov) states that exhaust gases from reciprocating engines have considerable energy. As the engine exhaust is pointed mostly to the rear in Bonanzas (Photo 1), a small amount of “jet” thrust is developed. Many World War II fighters and piston transports incorporated exhaust stacks that directed the exhaust to the rear for this purpose. Jet “thrust horsepower” increases directly with true airspeed so the faster the cruise climb airspeed the more thrust horsepower will be developed from the exhaust gases contributing to the climb rate. Greg Gordon, in his “Greg’s Airplanes and Automobiles” YouTube channel and Aerodynamics for Naval Aviators describe this phenomenon. Jet propelled Bonanzas: Perhaps this is more than just an interesting aside.

In my over 1,100 hours of night VFR I’ve enjoyed its several benefits and managed its unique risks. Nighttime benefits include reduced traffic that’s visible even at significant distances, smoother air that’s also cooler in the summer, and spectacular vistas of the illuminated landscape below. Lights on tall towers and antennas stand out like beacons in the night, which they are. Then there are the easily spotted airport beacons, even those surrounded by the lights of urban sprawl. On a clear moonlit night, visibility is omnidirectional with an awesome overall view through the large windshield and windows of our Baron.

One of the reasons I was recruited to work at FliteCraft Turbo in Pagosa Springs, Colorado, in the mid-1990s was to develop a transition training program. FCT was the company that developed what is now the Tornado Alley Turbo turbonormalizing system. Several customers had expressed concerns to the company about aircraft performance with their modified Bonanzas, and there had been a couple of crashes in the type in which investigation suggested the pilot’s lack of understanding of the nuances of system operation. I had taught in several Bonanzas modified with FliteCraft and Leading Edge Aircraft Products (LEAP) turbonormalized systems, both developments of the original TurboFlite company also in Pagosa Springs, while running the Bonanza school at Beech Field for FlightSafety International. FCT’s owners decided perhaps they should provide transition training to pilots when they accepted delivery of turbonormalized airplanes at the modification center, and I was hired to develop and provide this training (along with test flying and other duties). See Associate Editor George Brown’s article “Turbonormalizing Bonanzas: A History” in the January 2022 ABS Magazine for more on the fascinating lineage of these modifications.

Has this ever happened to you? You are busy on a phone call and while looking out of the window, you see the wilting rose bush. You head out to water the plant. Once outside the conversation on the phone takes on a different tone and the warm sun, cool breeze and the sound of the birds force an easy distraction. You suddenly wonder what it was that brought you outside with that urgency…until you see the plant again after you return inside. The sacred plan, to water the plant, only exists in that brief interlude of consciousness bracketed by the bounds of chaos.

This month we answer some ABS member questions on the subject of insuring against physical damage to the aircraft:

In the March 23, 1959 issue of Time magazine, this ad promoted Beech Aircraft Corporation’s new Model 95 Travel Air light twin. The photograph’s caption reads “World’s quietist 4-place twin-engine executive plane . . . the new 200-mph Beechcraft Travel Air.”

Congratulations to these ABS members who have earned a new ABS AVIATOR status:

ABS extends a warm welcome to these members who recently became ABS Life Members: Year indicates when the member originally joined ABS.

I just watched The ABS Hangar YouTube video on simulated engine-out glide performance (https://youtu.be/6pwIf2QJE64). Great demonstration. When I dropped off my airplane for engine upgrade at [Wichita-based] Clemens Aviation back in early 2018, I went and did about five simulated engine-out landings at El Dorado [Kansas, where the video was shot] as well. Since I didn’t care for the engine anymore, I fully pulled the power to see what happens and with the windmilling prop I got a sink rate just a bit above 1,000 feet per minute. What a great learning experience it was! Thanks for all the educational materials, I really enjoy watching them!—Lukas Wickart

After a short 1/2 hour flight, I noticed fuel dripping from both main fuel tank vent drains. On the left there was a drip about every three to five seconds. On the right, it was a drip about every 10 seconds. Both tanks were nearly full with about five gallons burned from each. The drains to which I refer are the long tubes near the aft wing root, not the recessed drains. The dripping stopped in less than 10 minutes. I have never noticed this before. I think I remember from the BPPP videos that this could indicate a blockage in the siphon tube, which vents on the underside of the wing at about the span of the fuel filler ports. Further, I believe the video warns that this could lead to all the fuel siphoning out of the tank(s). What, if any, action do you recommend?

I have a 1966 V35 and I need to get my weight and balance recalculated. Any suggestions in the Palm Springs, California, area by chance? It has been several years, and I did swap out the transponder with ADS-B in/out and I feel it should be checked. Thoughts? How often should I have this checked?

I have a 1996 A36 with factory air. When I turn on the AC the breaker pops after only a few seconds. My A&P reviewed this and stated that the fault is in the compressor (when the compressor is disconnected the breaker does not trip). He has been unable to find the correct part number for the compressor. Any help on the part number and where we might source a new compressor would be appreciated. Also, how can I obtain the parts manual for my serial number aircraft?

My floodlight under the glareshield is not working. Can I get the wiring diagram? My 1981 A36 Bonanza is serial E-1788. My mechanic checked the voltage out of the rheostat and it seemed fine (from 0 to 24 volts). The wire from the rheostat to the glareshield electric plug could be bad, or maybe there is a fuse in the lights assembly?

The petcock at the bottom of my Bonanza’s wobble pump is dripping fuel. How do you fix this? Also, if I turn fuel selector to off, will fuel still leak?

Where could I find a fuel system diagram for my 1994 F33A?

I have always enjoyed crossing the border in my Bonanza A36. One of the many benefits of flying a Beechcraft is that we have a relatively fast airplane. I have for many years been an active member in the Northeast Bonanza Group. Every summer we fly to Canada. I have also flown to the Bahamas and the Caribbean islands a few times. So, when I heard about Caribbean Flying Adventures organizing a trip to Guatemala, I decided to sign up together with my good friend Mike McNamara, who is the President of the Northeast Bonanza Group. Mike would be flying his Debonair with a newly installed IO-550.

Last month, ABS Member Services Director Lauren Bayless described ABS/ASF’s move to a new online Learning Management System (LMS) for all BPPP, Flight Instructor Academy, ABSWeb webinar, and other educational content. A short recap: The new Top Class system is more of an adult learning experience. It will provide even better course completion information, certificates, and tracking both for you the user and for ABS staff behind the scenes, and it will do this all at a substantially lower price. As I write this, Lauren is in the final, extremely busy stages of system set-up and migration of existing content into the new system, on top of every else she does to benefit the members of ABS.

Enroute from KBWG (Bowling Green, Kentucky) to KBHM (Birmingham, Alabama), a Beech F33A Bonanza “experienced a loss of electrical power and diverted” to KJWN, John Tune Airport [on the northwestern edge of Nashville, Tennessee]. The pilot “landed on Runway 2 where the main gear collapsed.” Both persons aboard were unhurt despite “substantial” damage to the aircraft.

VH-ERB is a 1979 A36 that we have owned since September 1992, having previously owned a 1977 A36 and interests in three Cessna 210s. I learned to fly in 1977 after six months of training with O'Connor Air Services completing my private pilot’s certificate. An Instrument rating was gained in 1981.

I spent some time spring cleaning my hangar, sweeping the floor from the grime that winter left behind, and taking inventory of all my cleaning supplies for the Beechcraft to get cleaned up for summer. Flying season is here and hopefully, that means more flying hours than I did last year. My goal is 80-100 hours including more training time.

ABS extends a warm welcome to the following new members who joined in May 2023:

The Beechcraft Heritage Museum in Tullahoma, Tennessee, is celebrating its 50th year anniversary. What a legacy it has preserved.

This is the last month for you to finish any in-progress courses you’ve started in the ABS Online Learning Center (OLC). On July 31st we will be disabling the current software and migrating over to a new platform that should open the next day, on August 1st. Here is a full list of current courses in the ABS Online Learning Center. If you have started, but not completed, any of these courses by July 31st, you will lose your current in-progress work and have to re-take modules to complete the course:

The ABS Service Clinic was held at Continental Aerospace’s customer support center at Fairhope, Alabama, May 18-21. Twenty-three ABS members received an expert visual inspection of their aircraft while Continental performed visual inspection, cylinder borescope, and compression tests on their engines. Left to right: Zach Flannery and Doug Burdick from Continental; ABS inspector Bob Ripley; and Continental’s Brian Stewart.

I am new to the [American] Bonanza Society; I just purchased my A36 a few months ago. I previously owned a Cessna 182 and I never had to run the electric boost pumps for landing. However, if I land my Bonanza A36 (1977) with an IO-550B engine and the boost pump is off, my engine will slowly starve itself of fuel and die about halfway through the ground roll. Is this common practice to land with the electric boost pumps on low while landing? The POH doesn’t say to ever use the boost pump other than for priming upon startup and in the event of the engine-driven fuel pump failure. However, I have a couple pilot buddies who say they always land with boost on low. And if this is common practice to land with the boost pump on, would it make sense to run it high during takeoff? Also, I am not sure if this helps with troubleshooting, but my IO-550B doesn’t run completely smooth at full rich on the ground under 1000 rpm. However, if I lean it down a bit, it runs nice and smooth. Is this a common trait of the big IO-550B or something else…

I am an A & P but not an avionics guru. My V35B has a loud metallic squeal when transmitting on Comm #1...but only when talking to ATC...never on CTAF. ATC always tells me I am barely readable. When I switch to Comm #2 it goes away. It only happens when using my Clarity Aloft headsets. Other headsets work just fine. I sent my headsets back to Clarity Aloft and they tested them...as well as replaced some common components. But it still does this. My Comm #1 is off my GTN650 legacy going through a GMA 350. Wondering if anybody else has experienced this with Clarity Aloft? Also...wondering if it could potentially be an antenna issue whereas my Comm #1 antenna does not mesh well with Clarity Aloft? Is the Comm #1 antenna on the top or bottom of the aircraft?

I’d like to have my fuel hoses pressure tested for a possible air leak in my E33A. My engine is an IO-520BA and takeoff fuel flow is 26 GPH. I have a JPI EDM700 with fuel flow. Both the old Beech fuel flow gauge as well as the JPI show the 1/2 GPH fluctuation so it shouldn’t be an indication problem. I replaced all hoses two years ago but have had fluctuating fuel flow on climb-out for about the same amount of time since the hoses were replaced. In the interim, I’ve had the fuel system overhauled twice and the fuel selector resealed without resolution.

My V35A’s nose strut seals have been replaced two times now, but still leak. My next option may be to replace it with an overhauled strut. The first time, I removed the nose gear from the aircraft, disassembled and cleaned the strut. I replaced the O-ring at the top of the metering tube. I then replaced the O-ring midway up the trunnion, and replaced the scraper. Then I reassembled it all and serviced it with 5606 hydraulic fluid and nitrogen.

I’ve read, several years ago, a training class for the B36TC the recommended against using approach flaps for takeoff. I regularly take off from a 2,400 feet runway at max gross, sea level. POH numbers show it is okay, but a subjective opinion here, feels like approach flaps would be safer. Is there a link to such training material or videos I can look at?

I am curious if there is any documentation from Beechcraft/Textron indicating that an older model Bonanza (E33A) with individual rear seats and bolted seat stops can retrofit the seat stops to the later “fast pin” style like one would find on an F33A and later. Removal of the rear seats would be made significantly easier if I could use these certificated parts designed for a Bonanza of just a few years newer than mine. I realize that I will need an additional weight and balance for the different configurations. Am I allowed to purchase and use these style seat stops to get away from the bolted ones as they exist in my airplane now? For interested parties, the part numbers for these quick-release seat stops are:

Six months ago my A36’s flaps malfunctioned, blowing the circuit breaker each time they were activated. A new solenoid and flap motor were installed, and this seemed to have solved the problem. Now the flaps are again blowing the breaker each time they are activated. My A&P is at a loss as to what the cause of this problem might be. I would appreciate any advice as to troubleshooting the problem.

ABS extends a warm welcome to these members who recently became ABS Life Members: Year indicates when the member originally joined ABS.

For many ABS members, the next stop will be the EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh. This is the biggest yearly event where we can mingle with our peers, and we expect a good turnout. During our recent get-together at Sun ‘n Fun, more than 250 members visited the ABS booth during the week and more than 100 ABS members and guests attended our dinner event. We get about four times those numbers at Oshkosh.

October is the 40th anniversary of what became the ABS Air Safety Foundation’s Beechcraft Pilot Proficiency Program— BPPP. At its inception, BPPP was the industry pioneer in type-specific ground and flight instruction conducted by an aircraft owners’ “type club.” BPPP has morphed over the years to fit the changing patterns by which adults learn and pilots take instruction. No doubt it will continue to change.

My Beechcraft adventure began 33 years ago. Offered my choice of becoming FlightSafety International’s lead instructor for the Beech Starship or the Bonanza, I made what turned out to be a good long-term career decision. I taught at FSI for four years, learning tons from my students, fellow instructors, Beech resources (especially test pilots), others in the industry, and from my own research in the manuals and other available guidance.

Some time back there was a fatal mishap in a Beech Duke at Wilmington, Delaware. The failure that instigated the crash would be very hard to correctly identify from the pilot’s seat. As multiengine pilots we’re trained to respond to the indications this failure would present in exactly the wrong way. Although Model 60s are supported by the Duke Flyers Association, the aircraft system involved is almost identical to that in Barons and Travel Airs, so the vital lesson is valid for us as well.

At this writing in late May 2023, our B55 Baron, N47TG, is equipped with a factory-installed King KFC 200 autopilot with a KI 256 Flight Director and a Sandel SN3308 EHSI (electronic horizontal situation indicator) in place of the original KI 525A HSI. Soon after my wife and I bought our Baron in 2012, I had to replace the KG 102A remote directional gyro that failed during the airplane’s ferry flight from Greensboro, North Carolina, to our home base in Georgetown, Texas. Because of that event, I planned that if either the SN3308 or KI 256 became unreliable or failed, I would replace both of them with an Aspen PFD (primary flight display) or similar electronic PFD and HSI that might be developed somewhere in the future. That plan included retaining the mechanical altimeter, airspeed, vertical speed, and turn coordinator. I prefer large mechanical pointers that tell me what I need to know at a glance rather than having to read small numbers on a moving tape—yup, I’m old school. I liked the Aspen’s lower-cost installation in the two panel holes vacated by the flight director and EHSI versus an expensive major installation in a custom-fabricated panel. Additionally, since our…

The 2nd Annual Beech Bash in the Bluegrass is in the books! The event took place April 28-30, 2023, in Madisonville, Kentucky (2I0). While we initially had concerns about the weather, the event itself went off without a hitch and was spectacular, far exceeding everyone’s expectations. Additionally, the turnout we had was nothing less than amazing. Originally, we were expecting 144 airplanes based on the registrations, but the weather forecast, coupled with some unexpected issues for attendees, reduced the number of planes arriving to around 92. Nevertheless, the number of hardcore Beech Bashers that attended ended up being perfect and everyone had a blast without feeling “lost in a crowd.” Here is a quick synopsis of the events that took place.

In today’s economic environment with seemingly constant inflation, the cost of everything seems to increase at warp speed. Those of you who own aircraft know all too well how the operating costs of aircraft ownership have increased since 2020. Everything associated with your aircraft has gone up substantially and the cost to protect your investment (insurance) is no exception. Fortunately, insurance rates are beginning to level off for most consumers but there are some things you can do to make sure you are properly covered and that you are not paying too much. If you are already a policyholder, the renewal process is a critical time when you can directly affect the coverage and the premium on your policy. Once the policy gets issued, it becomes very difficult if not impossible to renegotiate, so here are some steps you can take to help your agent arrange the best solution for you.

The FAA has published its long-awaited Airworthiness Directive (AD) requiring periodic replacement of V-band turbocharger exhaust couplings on a wide range of aircraft and engines including turbocharged Beechcrafts. AD 2023-09-09 affects all turbocharged Continental and Lycoming turbocharged engines including Continental IO-520 and IO-550 series engines equipped with turbochargers, except those engines affected and in compliance with these previous ADs:

Congratulations to these ABS members who have earned a new ABS AVIATOR status:

ABS extends condolences to the families and friends of these ABS members who recently passed away:

Reaching cruise, you deftly ease forward on the control wheel to level precisely on altitude. As your Beechcraft accelerates you incrementally trim the nose down, softly pressing the controls a bit further, trim again, and repeat until the aircraft is level and trending to stay there. You adjust the propeller and/or throttle as you wish and lean the mixture to suit your flight goals and personal preferences. Once all is complete you pull out your Cruise checklist and confirm you’ve already done everything to complete the transition, or catch anything you might have missed—turning off the landing light, checking the auxiliary fuel pump(s) is/are off, double-checking the flow of oxygen through your cannula.

Over a week ago I received a phone call from an aircraft owner, I’ll call him Bob, who wants to move up to a light twin from his Cessna 182. He is currently taking multiengine instruction and his instructor, who knows me, suggested he call. On the phone, he explained he was considering a Cessna 310 or Baron, or perhaps a Piper Seneca, and wanted to learn about each aircraft before going to the aircraft market. I explained that I have owned a B55 Baron for over 10 years and I’d be glad to acquaint him with Beech as a make and the B55 as one of several Baron models. We agreed to meet at my hangar at 10 a.m. the next morning.

[I] just got done reading your “BPPP: More Beech Guidance on VA” in the April ABS Magazine. Good article and well researched, however, you make reference to two rather somewhat ambiguous conditions; Normal and Utility Categories without defining them or making reference where they can be found in the POH/AFM. Under what conditions is the aircraft considered in the Normal or Utility Category?

Conduct an internet search for aircraft cleaning tips and tricks, and you will find yourself inundated with numerous products, contradicting points of view, and more confusion than answers. Further complicating the subject is that many websites and forums are authored by or are paid advertisements from companies promoting their own products.

Wow, what a Beech Party it was. We had a record attendance of guests and aircraft. The most impressive numbers were the 91, yes, 91 Bonanzas and 19 Barons. ABS members represented over a hundred of the 180+ aircraft in attendance! The Beechcraft Heritage Museum is most thankful for our partnership with the ABS staff, Board of Directors, and membership.

Sixty-seven ABS members invested a day Saturday, May 6th, to become even safer and more proficient Beech pilots by attending BPPP LIVE at Arlington, Texas. The program, free to ABS members, consists of four presentations by Beech experts. Completing all four qualifies for the ground school requirement for a level of FAA WINGS, is worth 30 points in the ABS AVIATOR program, and qualifies the pilot to fly with a BPPP instructor for a full BPPP course completion certificate—making him or her a better Beech pilot, and with potential positive implications for aviation insurance renewal and premiums as well. Thirty-nine attendees indicated on the sign-in sheet that they intend to fly with a BPPP instructor.

Congratulations to these ABS members who have earned a new ABS AVIATOR status:

ABS extends a warm welcome to these members who recently became ABS Life Members: Year indicates when the member originally joined ABS.

ABS extends condolences to the families and friends of these ABS members who recently passed away:

I just concluded a maintenance and warranty episode and want to share some lessons and findings with the ABS group.

In 1961, as Beech Aircraft had done since introducing the Bonanza in 1947, the company’s marketing was dedicated to business aviation. The headline for this ad promoting the N35 Bonanza states “It’s fun to make money.” The copy entices the reader and prospective buyer to forget about travel by airliner and to “Pick up the phone, make a distant appointment, and go right now. Get the job done, return when you want to, in comfort and with speed. It’s easy when you have a roomy, comfortable 200 mph Beechcraft Bonanza ready to go when you are.

I fear I already know the answer: My G35 nose gear brace is unserviceable due to corrosion and pitting in the magnesium. Cygnet replacements are currently unavailable, and I am skeptical about spending money on one from salvage only to find it is in the same shape. I’ve located an entire assembly off an S35, and while there are visible differences, I am wondering if it is a feasible replacement option.

I am looking for guidance in where we’re going wrong in sourcing the parts catalog/listing for the 652432-3 fuel manifold for a Baron 58P. The Continental Illustrated Parts Catalog (IPC) for the TSIO-520-WB3F calls for a 652432-3A1 (installed on this aircraft). But as you know, there is no expanded parts listing for the components internal to the divider. We’d like to source a diaphragm and other wear items like seal and spring. The Beech 58P IPC calls for a 643397 manifold for TJ-339, but that part seems to have been superseded by the 652432. The modern version of “Overhaul and Parts Catalog for Fuel Injection Systems” by Teledyne in 1987 is exactly what we’re after, as it displays components internal to the 643397, along with part numbers. We don’t see an active version of this manual on Continental’s technical publications website. The TSIO-520 overhaul manual illustrates the internals of the manifold but doesn’t include parts numbers, unless we’re missing something. Could you point us toward either the correct source document that we’re missing, or the part number to replace the diaphragm?

I have a persistent misfire issue on the #5 cylinder of my IO-550B when below 1000 rpm. Above that, it seems to smooth out and EGT is within the usual range of other cylinders. This occurs whether cold or hot. So far, the following inspections and repairs have been made:

As I was shutting down (post flight) I heard a loud squeal, which stopped as the engine stopped. It seemed to be coming from the right side of the motor (as you sit in the cockpit), i.e., the odd cylinder number side. Is there a common thing that would cause this? Is there a recommended investigation?

My 1986 A36 has its fuel cap inner collars “clocked” wrong and as a result the latches are not parallel to wind direction. What is the proper technique for adjusting these inner rings so that they are safe and will not allow the fuel cap to pop off when locked? I can confirm this is not an O-ring issue, it is the inner metal collar that connects the fuel cap to the wing orifice.

I have ordered new rubber stops for my flap bumper stops from AVStar. They only sell the rubber portion, not the assembly. Do I need to unscrew the entire assembly out to replace the rubber? It looks like there is a Philips screw through the center that holds the rubber onto the fitting. Do I take that screw out?

I am repairing a leak in the alcohol tank of my Baron 95-B55 and would like to replace the quantity sensor and gasket parts numbers 58-380006 and 35-921503. Any idea who makes these parts?

"Thanks to years of EAA’s advocacy efforts, the FAA has unveiled a new program for the use of off-the-shelf parts in type-certificated aircraft. This is the first approval granted under the new Vintage Aircraft Replacement and Modification Article (VARMA) program, the next big step in keeping vintage aircraft flying.

An unfortunate truth when operating our ABS-type ships is that it can be uncomfortably warm when operating in the heat of the summer months. Beech recognized this early on by offering a rather clever “swamp cooler” evaporative-type air conditioner in all but the very early pre-1961 Bonanzas. These only worked in the air and relied on ram air entering through the adjustable air scoop evaporating water that the pilot poured into the air scoop before boarding. I’m not sure how effective they were (evaporative coolers work best in very low humidity), but they were discontinued and many of them have been deactivated.

I am a retired military pilot and I used briefing guides to prepare for every mission. The briefing guides included general sections like preflight and post-flight procedures but also had specialized sections for the type of mission—day, night, air-to-air, air-to-ground, cross country, deployments, etc. The purpose of the briefing guide was to standardize procedures, coordinate multiple aircraft, and ensure mission success. The real benefit was to walk through each mission in detail and prepare to fly it safely and successfully.

Matt Anker, an avionics and electrical engineer near Wichita, Kansas, has earned accreditation as an instructor in ABS’s Beechcraft Pilot Proficiency Program (BPPP). A CFI/CFII focused on teaching in Bonanzas and other airplanes in the Textron Aviation Flying Club, Matt lives with his wife and son in the Stearman Field fly-in community. They own a 1970 A36, N61SM, used primarily for family visits to Ohio and Iowa, and also to attend aviation events.

SkyWatch announces the launch of its fully digital Aircraft Owner's Insurance platform. This platform empowers light aircraft owners to customize their insurance and obtain coverage in a matter of minutes.

George Braly, chief scientist and co-founder of GAMI, was asked by Aviation Week on production and distribution plans for GAMI's G100UL unleaded aviation gasoline in an interview posted April 19, 2023:

Textron Aviation Parts and Distribution (TAPD) has launched a new online order tracker to keep you up to date on your part order’s progress. The system gives you a convenient way to check the status of your orders directly from the Parts home page. After logging in, you can view if your order is currently being picked, packed, or shipped from the moment your order is received. You may also opt in to text message notifications and status updates about your orders including back-ordered items.

Ellis & Associates has been issued STC Number SA02771LA, for modifying the Right Hand Door and/or Left Hand Door or Fuselage, replacing the existing fixed window to be become an openable window. The following Beech models are eligible for installation of the Openable Window STC:

I passed my Commercial checkride today [April 11, 2023] with examiner and BPPP instructor Seth Lake! The syllabus you sent on the maneuvers helped so much. Thanks for all you do!

I am curious how the sale of G100UL will be controlled. Specifically, how will non-compliant operators be prevented from simply obtaining fuel at the local self-serve fuel pump just as if they had bought the STC? Some sort of digital lockout on the pump that can only be released via a special code? Honor system…we know that doesn’t work. Any ideas?—Richard Druschel

Hi, I have an A36 Bonanza, 1981 (serial E-1788). It still has the original steam gauge engine instruments. After maintenance, the ammeter seems dead. Its needle no longer moves (left or right). It simply stays at 0. The maintenance included replacing the master relay (P/N 6041H189) and installing a B&C standby alternator (BC410-1). Do you have the wiring diagram of the ammeter instrument? I will help my mechanic troubleshoot the problem. Also, do you have a suggestion on the culprit? Of course, the ammeter could have simply died during maintenance, but my guess is some wiring is now simply disconnected.

My Bonanza H35 nose gear tension was a little low at 45 pounds. We cleaned up the retract rod and replaced the spring with a new one, then reinstalled it. Up tension is now 33 pounds and down tension is now 48 pounds. Is adding washers the correct answer to get tension above 55 pounds? The up tension with doors disconnected was 33 pounds. I have not added a washer, just a new spring. Washers should arrive soon. Just wanted to make sure I was on the right track.

My gear on my Baron 95-B55 is not retracting in the air. It cycles fine on the jacks in the hangar. Gear up selected with throttle closed gives a gear warning horn as it retracts (should it retract?), move throttle forward, and the gear warning horn goes off. Before pulling the motor to send off, any suggestions on what we might check first?

I had an electrical failure flying today. It seems to happen after an hour or so in the airplane. This is the second time it has happened. Basically, after an hour I show a discharge on the ammeter, 11.4V and the ALT Out light is on. I tried resetting everything in the air and nothing happened. However, after flying about 20 minutes and exiting the runway, I was able to cycle the power and get it working again on the ground. My gut instinct is the voltage regulator is acting up. The alternator has 245 hours on it. I know usually you have to throw parts at these kinds of problems. Any advice on how to proceed?

During the recent annual, it was called out that my airplane is missing the main landing gear actuator boots (inboard door and main gear, four in all). Are these required? For the flying I do and the climates I’m in, the extra breeze during takeoff and landing wasn’t noticeable. Is this for protection from contaminants or just for weather protection? I see that Performance Aero sells these, but they aren’t split boots and thus require disconnecting all rods. Does anyone else make split boots?

Where do I search to find the correct number of fuel senders installed in my Baron? I am considering replacing the original senders with CiES. I searched here, another Beech forum, spoke with two installers, and received a count from the CiES website. The answers vary from two per side to four per side. Is there a document I can access that tells me the correct answer for my airplane? My Baron has interconnected mains and auxiliaries with a total of 136 gallons useable.

At pre-purchase inspection I discovered that the electric propeller has 2400 hours since overhaul. 100- and 250-hour service/inspections have been faithfully done. What would be the biggest concerns? My thoughts range from “it must be overhauled” to “don’t open up a hornet’s nest as it’s been well maintained.”

Poking around in dark, turbulent clouds near Johnstown, Pennsylvania, with thunderstorms in the region and no autopilot or weather gear in our 1977 Cessna 172N and our two girls in car seats in the back, my wife looked at me and said, “Maybe you should look into getting a more capable airplane.” Permission is good!

ABS member Sam Guirguis invited me to represent ABS and make a presentation at his now-annual Beech Bash in the Bluegrass, held April 28-30 in Madisonville, Kentucky. The Bash attracted dozens of pilots and their Beechcraft for a full but laid-back weekend of music, seminars, a distillery tour, an evening barbeque, and a lot of hanging around talking about Beech airplanes. N504SJ looked a little overwhelmed parked in front of the seminar hangar with a pair of beautiful Beech 18s, and allowed me to log a lot of quality Bonanza time pointed into a 50-knot headwind for the flight home Sunday morning.

The ABS Air Safety Foundation held the first of two ABS Maintenance Academies for 2023 at the Beech Heritage Museum in Tullahoma, Tennessee, April 29-30. Twenty-one certified A&Ps and IAs from all over the country participated in the day-and-a-half class. These individuals want to learn more and soak up as much knowledge as they possibly can for working on Beechcraft mechanical systems.

ABS extends a warm welcome to the following new members who joined in April 2023:

Let’s say you are in the market to buy a Bonanza or a Baron and you find exactly what you are looking for. You feel exuberant and ready to make an offer. But almost immediately the words “prebuy inspection” enter your mind. Your joyous moment has turned solemn. You know that a prebuy can help you to decide whether you should purchase the bird you found, walk away from the deal, or try to renegotiate the purchase price because discrepancies were found that would be expensive to correct. Two questions enter your mind. First, who can do the prebuy inspection? The shop or mechanic should have expertise with your make and model, not been involved in maintaining the aircraft, and, ideally, be within a reasonable distance. Second, what instructions should be given to the shop in terms of the scope of the prebuy inspection in order to find “major” discrepancies?

Some of you will remember our big Online Learning Center (OLC) platform transition we made in early 2021. We migrated all of our online content from a different platform to what is called Brightspace. Over the last two years we have grown, added lots of new content, and learned so much about the Learning Management Systems (LMS) world. In an effort to push ourselves and be as effective as possible, we’ve decided to make the switch to a new LMS program that we believe will meet the needs of each of our members, YOU, much better.

INDEPENDENT AUDITOR’S REPORT ON SUMMARY CONSOLIDATING FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

I just got my K35 back from annual. I normally fly the throw-over yoke in its lower position, and it is returned in the upper position. I was unable to pull out the release T-handle pin and saw that the pin was not fully in by about 1/4 inch. With great force, I was able to pull out the pin to release the yoke to set it in the lower position. In the lower position, the pin could be set, but not all the way in just as in the upper position. Releasing it from the lower position also now requires great force and in the lower position there is about a 1/4 inch of the pin that does not go all the way in. I repeated the process several times with the same result. I talked to the mechanic and he did not notice the problem but said he would look into it. There is enough of the pin inserted that it does not affect the position of the yoke, but if ever there was a need by a copilot to throw the yoke over without knowing the problem, there could be consequences. I doubt this will ever affect…

My 1966 35-C33A is having a Garmin 275 EIS (Engine Information System) installed and my shop has a question regarding the compatibility with the original sending units in the aircraft. Below is some correspondence from my shop:

My E33A’s oil temperature gauge went intermittent and then stopped working. In troubleshooting, I have confirmed that the gauge is working, the lead between the gauge and the sensor is fine, but that the oil pressure sensor (aka bulb, aka sender) is not working. Reading past posts, I understand that the original part number, 1512926, has not been made for many years, and that a substitute part also is no longer made. Some posts suggested contacting Air Parts of Lock Haven. I did so, and they do not have anything nowadays. My most promising approach now is through UMA Instruments.

I attended the recent ABSWeb engine failure webinar. It was interesting. Via the chat box, I asked about stats on E185 and E225 engines and you said you did not come across any recorded failures of those two engines. What percentage of our fleet has older engines, and what do you think the absence of any engine failure reports means?

I just joined a club with an F33A. On my first flight the engine stopped on the runway during a stop-and-go. Also, the engine shut down on taxi back to the hangar. When I shut down to fuel, there is no rise in RPM when mixture is cut off. One of the ABS Technical Advisors I talked to described the process to check and set idle mixture, but I can’t remember the process. I am an A&P.

I have a Bonanza G33. I’m not getting any airflow from the pilot or passenger air vents down on the side kick panels. At last annual my mechanic removed one and verified with a shop-vac that airflow can get through from the wing vent. It appears the metal plate does move when the knob is twisted. It also appears there is some sort of padding material between the metal plate that moves back and the air vent completing the seal. I’m not sure if it should be connected to either side, but it is not. Suggestions on where to troubleshoot next to get airflow through the vent?

After installing two new engines in my Baron 95-C55, I have a fuel transferring problem. Approximately three gallons an hour are moving from right to left tanks, I have already changed both selector valves. There is a crossover tube near the valves I believe that’s how fuel is moving. Could too high of fuel flow on the right engine be the problem, or maybe too much return fuel?

I have the factory installed 49.8 cubic foot capacity steel oxygen tanks in my B36TC: DOT3HT – 1850. They have come to the end of their service life and need to be replaced. I’ve heard that composite tanks might be an option. Anyone have any experience with replacing these tanks?

My right-side engine cover, with the gills for my J35 Bonanza, is cracked and needs replacing. I’m having trouble finding a replacement online. Any suggestions for who has the part?

ABS member James McLeish of Hazelton, North Dakota, has been presented with the FAA Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award. The Wright Brothers award recognizes 50 or more years of safe operation as a certificated pilot. Jim writes:

I have a Concorde RG-35AXC battery and a BatteryMINDer® Model 128CEC2-AA-S5: 12V 8 AMP CONCORDE® Aviation Battery Charger-Maintainer-Desulfator. My plane has a factory installed external power receptacle. I saw on the BatteryMINDer website that they sell an APU plug (BatteryMINDer® Accessory: A2GPU-1: Anderson SB-50 to Cessna-style GPU Plug) to connect the BatteryMINDer to the aircraft via the external power plug. Looking at the wiring diagram for the external power plug for my aircraft, it shows that the APU plug uses one + pin to energize the external power relay which then connects the second + pin to the aircraft battery. I typically connect my BatteryMINDer to the battery and leave it on until my next flight, which could be up to 14 days later. My question is, if I use the BatteryMINDer APU plug to connect the BatteryMINDer to the aircraft, does the external power relay have a continuous use duty cycle or will it end up burning out due to continuous energize power to the relay?

My V35B’s prop governor has an uncertain amount of time, but probably over 500 hours. At takeoff, at maximum power the RPM reaches 2620-2660 [accurate – by JPI 830] and never more. Other than that, it is steady and reliable. My mechanic has adjusted it upwards to the maximum…and suggests overhauling the governor. I’ve heard enough horror stories [including from him] about bad overhauls that caused months of down time. Oil pressure varies [appropriately] with temperature – 65-70 psi when first taking off, then 50-ish in flight. The propeller is a two-blade McCauley, 2A36C23-D-G-848-O, rebalanced about a year ago. Other than that, no work has been done in past 500+ hours. Maximum RPM is never above 2650 – takeoff or in level cruise. That is the issue: can’t be adjusted any higher, because the adjustment is at its maximum per my A&P. Is this a sign of impending demise, or can I live with it?

The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) announced March 6th that it has received a grant from the FAA for its You Can Fly High School initiative. The $498,000 grant will be used to train additional educators on the program’s free high school science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) curriculum, which offers an aviation-oriented course of study for students in grades nine through twelve. Funding for the grant came from the FAA’s Aircraft Pilots Aviation Workforce Development Grants program.

I just lost the cover to the upper forward right-hand wing bolt, the cover that attaches to the little bathtub that the wing bolt resides in. My parts catalog is a little confusing as it lists four different part dash numbers when all four covers look identical to me. There are also two different dash numbers for the clip, which I assume is the spring part riveted to the outboard portion of the cover. Where is the best place to find one of these? I have a Bonanza S35.

The Federal Aviation Administration has issued Special Airworthiness Information Bulletin (SAIB) 2023-04, dated March 15, 2023, stating Trinity Specialized Services LLC, doing business as Specialized Propeller Services LLC, “improperly returned propellers to service between the dates of January 29, 2016 and March 25, 2021.” FAA “has not received any fleet-wide safety reports or failures” due to Hartzell and McCauley propellers serviced by Trinity during that time, but says “these discrepancies may affect the continued reliable operation of the propeller and related systems.”

Garmin Service Advisory 23018 revision A, dated March 14, 2023, announces that “comprehensive repair service for the Garmin GNS 430(W)/530(W) series is expected to become limited in the years ahead. Initially, these limitations are estimated to impact a small percentage of repairs beginning in 2024.” The first of the series of GPS/comms, the GNS 430, was introduced in 1998.

Superior Air Parts, Inc., proudly announces that the company’s Vice President of Product Support, William “Bill” Ross, has been named the General Aviation Awards (GAA) 2023 National Aviation Technician of the Year.

I am having trouble with my 58P’s door seal, as it has a bad spot in it. Does anyone have a resource to get a replacement seal?

I flew N504SJ to Reading, Pennsylvania (KRDG), for BPPP LIVE as reported in this month’s Operations ASF column. I left home a day early because of forecast extreme winds (50 mph and higher at the surface, bad even by Kansas standards) and the threat of strong storms at Wichita on my planned Friday departure. This was the system that on Friday and Saturday, March 31st and April 1st, created a deadly tornado outbreak across much of the eastern third of the United States. My Thursday departure included takeoff into 30-knot wind directly down Wichita Jabara Airport’s Runway 18, cruise in and out of the tops of clouds a few degrees above freezing at 9,000 feet with a tailwind that kept my groundspeed in the 190s, a turbulent touchdown for a fuel stop in Springfield, Ohio (a very nice in/out facility east of Dayton), and one of those brilliant, smooth but extremely cold (-10°C at 9,000 feet) early spring flights that terminated just as the sun set on the leg from Ohio to KRDG. Six point zero hours on the Hobbs, eight hours from my garage at home to the hotel room at Reading…what an amazing thing, travel by Bonanza.

Six states, two territories, 1910 nm in one day to join a flying competition and raise funds for a female pilot scholarship.

Well, it happened. It finally happened. After over 12 years of dreaming, we were finally Bonanza owners.

The ABS staff and your ABS Air Safety Foundation are running at high cruise.

Sun ’n Fun kicked off the 2023 flying season March 28- April 2 in Lakeland, Florida. The weather was outstanding: hot and no rain for the entire week. Sun ’n Fun officials reported more than 200,000 in attendance. ABS was once again an exhibitor with our MyBox booth located facing the flight line and a perfect location for the daily and two night airshows. The main highlight of the airshow was the U.S. Navy Blue Angels aerobatic team, and our members were front and center.

After three years of double-digit rate increases for most, rates may finally be topping out for the average aviation insurance consumer with some notable exceptions. This month we examine the health of the aviation insurance industry and the economic trends that are shaping its future, and how these might affect you the consumer.

ABS extends a warm welcome to the following new members who joined in March 2023:

For those of us who live in colder climates, the flying season has now arrived. Not having deicing or anti-icing capabilities often entails less flying during the winter months. If you’re instrument rated, starting the summer flying season with an Instrument Proficiency Check (IPC) is always a good idea. During the winter months we may have more time to work on our skills using online sources. Being an ABS member means that you have many resources available to you such as the ABS Magazine, ABS webinars, the BPPP BEST online program, and the ABS website, which also has a lot of maintenance related information.

I was chatting with ABS Member Ken Durkee the other day. As we were talking, he had several great questions about some statistics on our membership. I didn’t know the answer to these off the top of my head, but I created some reports inside our membership database to help me figure them out. I think these are interesting stats that are worth sharing! Note: These are the best numbers we have based on what information people have updated in their profile.

I’m happy to fly our V35B coast to coast just for fun. But my wife Amy, while a superb co-passenger, needs a reason to burn all that fuel. She is also a foodie – a true gourmande – with an unerring ability to find the best menu anywhere. I decided to tempt her by suggesting that I’d plan our fuel stops around her food stops, from our base in Fullerton (KFUL) in Southern California, to our former home in Boston.

Just for fun and in case we won the lottery, I began to wonder about upgrading the engine on our 1960 M35 Bonanza, which is equipped with the stock Continental 250 horsepower IO-470C. For several reasons, the best choice for an upgrade appeared to be the 260 HP IO-470N that was installed in the next year model Bonanza. While an even higher horsepower upgrade would be nice, the pre-S35 Bonanzas do not have the canted engine mounts of the later variants. This could present directional control issues on takeoff and make the conversion more involved (see “Crosswind Operations in the V-Tail Bonanza” in the February 2021 ABS Magazine).

In early 2022 the Australian Beechcraft Society approached me about traveling Down Under to the other side of the world to teach the ABS Maintenance Academy to a group of LAMEs: Licensed Aircraft Maintenance Engineers (pronounced “lamey” locally) or A&P Mechanics as we call them here in the States. I thought about it for about 10 minutes and said, “Sure I would love to.” After a great deal of planning and preparation, my wife Hazel and I departed Atlanta, Georgia, on February 13, 2023, for Los Angeles, California, and then caught a 14-hour nonstop flight to Sydney, Australia. The flight crosses the International Date Line East of Australia so you lose a day during the flight. We celebrated Valentine’s Day on the flight as we arrived in Sydney at 0830 on February 15, 2023.

We’re often asked how many Beech airplanes of the various models were built, and how many are still flying. It’s been more than five years since we last reported on this (ABS Magazine, March 2018), so here’s an update on the Baron/Travel Air fleet as of April 2023.

Service bulletins for glass panel avionics Line Replaceable Units (LRU- individual boxes exchangeable during maintenance or upgrade) and software can contain safety of flight information and need to be checked before each flight just like NOTAMS. As we all know, it is the responsibility of the Pilot-in-Command (PIC) of the flight to know about any information that might impact the safety of each flight. This is a particularly difficult situation for a flight instructor giving instruction in a client’s aircraft, or for a non-owner PIC. The roadblocks that make this difficult and recommendations for risk mitigation steps will be discussed.

There’ve been two recent articles about when one should no longer fly: Mike McNamara in February 2022 and Fred Furgang in June 2022. Both articles are written from the perspective of an instructor observing another. This is my perspective of myself.

Congratulations to these ABS members who have earned a new ABS AVIATOR status:

ABS extends condolences to the families and friends of these ABS members who recently passed away:

ABS extends a warm welcome to these members who recently became ABS Life Members: Year indicates when the member originally joined ABS.

As one of only a few people (I assume) to earn a Private Pilot License while flying a Beechcraft Bonanza, I took great interest in reading the question and answer between you and Kevin Nestle from San Diego, California, in the Tech Tips section of the February 2023 edition of ABS Magazine. As you may recall, my Bonanza was featured as the Beechcraft of the Month for May of 2020 and included the story of how I found, purchased, and now fly my dad's 1963 P35 Bonanza. I believe my experience gives me insight into Kevin's situation.

I was reading through the March ABS Magazine and a question that Mike Thompson responded to caught my attention. I have a 1975 Baron 58 and have owned it for about six months and 50 hours of flying. The load meters have been rock-solid and balanced the whole time I’ve owned it until this series of events.

I read George Brown’s interesting article about the Bonanza fuel tank evolution in the February 2023 issue.

I’m doing an annual on a 1972 A36 and noticed the uplock cable was about to break at the outboard end in the wheel well. The plastic sleeve had curved and was putting stress (a kink) on the cable close to the cable terminal end. I’ve ordered a replacement cable. I couldn’t find the plastic sleeve in the Illustrated Parts Catalog (IPC), but did find it called out in SI 0448-211 Rev.1 to be P/N 35-815101-5. The question is, what is the replacement of the sleeve? The sleeve is ¼” ID, 3/8” OD, 3” long, right?

I’ve been speaking to a customer of ours and while flying his 2013 G58 he has seen spikes in his CO monitor as high as 45 ppm. Heater hours are less than 400 since new. This is only a recent occurrence, since compliance with SB 21-4078 rev 1. His stick-on ASA monitor has turned black as well, and he has had headaches after longer flights. Have you heard of this before and what could be causing this?

I have Osborne tip tanks on our A36. The transfer pumps have been inoperative for years. We have just replaced the transfer pumps and now we make use of the fuel tanks. My understanding of the operation is to burn off about an hour’s fuel in the mains, and then transfer fuel into the lowest tank from the respective tip tank. I would like to find a manual for the operation and meaning of each switch, gauge, pilot light, etc., so I have total understanding of the system’s operation in my aircraft. I looked though the documentation from the deceased former owner and can’t find it. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Since the FAA issued AD 2023-04-08, it had determined the limitations in the special flight permit paragraph, specifying “no metal contamination in the oil filter,” did not account for trace metal particles that may be found in newer engines due to break-in of the engine. It has also added additional engines to the list affected by the crankshaft “quality escape,” but those new engine types are not installed on ABS-type airplanes.

It seems the original rotating beacon on my V35B is getting tired. I can take the lens off and give it a little nudge to get it operating again and that usually works for a while. My friends tell me to dig some old “moldy” 100s out of my pocket and buy a nice LED flashing beacon, but I’d like to know if there is a cost-saving alternative out there for keeping the original?

I am looking for details on who may do overhauls on the old Thompson TF1900 fuel pump for an E-engine Bonanza. So far a shop out of Oklahoma is the only one I have been able to find and I am just trying to get options and weigh out my choices.

Can you tell me a part number and source for an electric fuel boost pump for a 58P? I ordered 1D1-6 or 60-389010-15, I think, in error. I want the pump used to prime the engine, not the engine driven fuel pump.

I’m looking for a replacement altimeter for my J35. My old Weston 22-374-BAOB cannot be overhauled. Any thoughts on who I might try to get a new or overhauled one?

Six states, two territories, 1910 nm in one day to join a flying competition and raise funds for a female pilot scholarship

You’re thinking about flying down to Costa Rica on holiday, and the thought occurs: how about instead of the airlines, can you take your Baron 58 with 166 gallon nonstop from the States? The straight-line distance from Houston to San Jose, Costa Rica, is about 1400 nautical miles. But launch from Tampa, Florida, and it’s “only” about 1100 nm. Add maybe 100 extra miles for real-world routing and Tampa it is. That’s a long trip—but is it too long? Can you fly that far with a healthy fuel reserve? Can you load enough fuel plus the life raft and other safety gear you need for a long overwater flight, in addition to your family and baggage, and still have sufficient reserves? If airplane endurance works out, will the flight take so long you don’t want to do it?

I have been an ABS member for over 25 years. Based on the articles I have read in our magazine, I believe that most people who fly Beechcraft products fly them for fun and personal reasons rather than strictly professional reasons. Yes, many of us use our planes in the furtherance of business, but few of us get paid for flying them, even if we get paid in some other aspect of aviation.

Congratulations to these ABS members who have earned a new ABS AVIATOR status:

ABS member Tad Santino, a retired Alaska Airlines pilot, has opened Olympia Flight Simulator at the Olympia Regional Airport (KOLM) in Olympia, Washington. The simulator is a Frasca TruFlite that emulates a G58 Baron with a certified Garmin G1000 avionics suite and has an FAA Letter of Authorization that allows logging time toward pilot ratings and certificates. You can also maintain instrument currency on your own or bring your CFI to complete an Instrument Proficiency Check. “We are not CFIs, so your CFI is welcome. We run the simulator; all you have to do is fly!”

All of us who perform our own maintenance occasionally run into a task that seems impossible. The part you are trying to remove or install is in a difficult spot. More than one mechanic or owner has made the comment that Beech must have built the aircraft around whatever part they are working on.

ABS Air Safety Foundation purchased the first commercially available STCs (engine and airframe) for GAMI’s G100UL unleaded 100 octane aviation gasoline last December. Because any STC installation requires a certificated mechanic to sign and send in the FAA Forms 337 and then endorse the aircraft and/or engine logbooks, and because G100UL is not yet commercially available, we waited until annual inspection at Bob and Stephen Ripley’s Southern Aero in February to “modify” the aircraft. It’s all legal now and N504SJ is ready for an unleaded future.