The world's largest community of Beechcraft owners and enthusiasts.

It was August 2010. My wife Lisa and I had just bought a beautiful 1966 V35 Bonanza, N113X. My safety pilot in the right seat was an airline captain who also owns a Bonanza. We were on our way from a Phoenix suburb to home, Bourland Field (50F) just southwest of Fort Worth, Texas. We were just past Sweetwater, Texas, in an enroute descent to 7,500 feet to stay VMC, when all of the sudden… BANG! There was extreme vibration, a blue cloud of smoke in the cockpit, pieces of engine crankcase coming through the heat and vent ducts, and oil all over the windshield. The engine had spun a bearing, which blocked an oil passage and threw a connecting rod on cylinder #2. The rod came through the engine case under the left magneto and knocked the mag completely off the engine.