Search

Owners of Aspen Primary Flight Displays must disable ADS-B interface before IFR flight or within 25 operating hours after February 7, 2019, whichever occurs first, under Airworthiness Directive (AD) 2019-01-02 issued today.

The ABS-BIC is a weekend gathering of experienced CFIs who provide or plan to provide type-specific transition training in Beechcraft Bonanzas, Debonairs, Barons and Travel Airs, in or out of ABS’ Beechcraft Pilot Proficiency Program (BPPP). Our meeting objectives are to:

BPPP Live will be held at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University 600 South Clyde Morris Boulevard Daytona Beach, Florida 32114 in the Willie Miller Gale Lemerand Auditorium.

These are the questions that have hounded us over our many years of flying. True, we are all pilots. We can navigate from point A to point B. We understand what a slip or a skid is. We know aerodynamically what makes a plane fly. We probably have absorbed all the fundamentals that our instructors imparted, but then we got our license! In most cases, the next time we saw a flight instructor was when we were trying to qualify for an advanced rating or when we needed special instruction to enable us to fly our variable pitch prop, retractable gear aircraft. Even at that, we only permitted ourselves the minimum time it took to get the job done.

The Bonanza was designed by Walter Beech from the very first as an aircraft capable of instrument flight. In our opinion, it is one of the best instrument planes (in its class) ever produced.

Model: 35 (35R) No. 24 Issued: August 14, 1952

One example of a Beechcraft Service Letter shown this month is in regard to low fuel take-off. This may not seem important to many pilots at first, who will say that they would never take-off with the fuel gauges reading on the low side. However, what happens is illustrated by a flight we once made to a small town airport in North Carolina. We landed about 9:00 AM after a long flight and planned to refuel. (The Airman's Guide listed this field as having fuel.) After landing we found that the fuel service had recently been discontinued and the nearest refueling spot was 20 miles away. A take-off was made with both gauges reading less than 1/4 full. We don't like low fuel take-offs, but in this case had little choice. Luckily, there were no obstructions, hills, etc. at the end of the runway as there are at many small fields and a straight-out climb was made without difficulty. If a tight turn had been made at low altitude, problems such as described in the Service Letter might have been encountered. Apparently there is not much danger of complete engine stoppage but it would be extremely disconcerting to hear the…

Model: 35 No. 49 Issued: February 22, 1955

In 1952 the Beechcraft Corp. issued Service Bulletin #24 which indicated the possibility of cracks developing in the welded steel wing truss assemblies of the Model 35. (Serial D-1 through D-1500). The FAA also issued a directive on this in 1952 (AD 52-22-1). This was followed by a second directive in 1956 (AD 56-25-1), another in 1961 (AD 61-10-1), another in 1962 (AD 62-2-1) and in 1963 the latest one (AD 63-25-1) was issued. A small amendment to AD 63-25-1 was issued in 1964 and another amendment was issued in 1967. So many directives have been issued on this subject that there is much confusion concerning the Model 35 wing spar. Therefore, the entire directive AD 63-25-1, will be published in the newsletter next month.

Model 35 No. 58 Issued: May, 1957