Yesterday, I flew home my new (to me) 1977 V35B. It's a gorgeous plane and has awesome performance...

GONE is my Maule... and the days of cheap annuals, inexpensive parts and unbelievably short dirt strips. I guess now I'll have to get spiritually right with expensive annuals, parts and long swaths of concrete...

Over time my mission has changed and I really needed a bigger, faster family hauler. I'm going to miss my Maule but will likely pick up some other form of backcountry bird in the future!

Until then, I'll lurk around here watching you guy's do cool things with bad-ass birds!

Pics:
Before takeoff:

In her new home:

Sweet Ride Jaudette! What does the panel look like?

Talk to "Bonanzaman" on here.....he goes a lot of places with his Bonanza in backcountry, and does so in style and comfort.

Learn to fly the thing, and I think you'll open many backcountry destinations.

Congrats on buying a great airplane.

MTV

Scolopax wrote:Sweet Ride Jaudette! What does the panel look like?

Hey Scolopax - The panel has dual King 155's, Century III AP an older Apollo GPS and an old Moving map thing that must weigh a ton. My plan is to go with dual 430W's, G327 Transponder, 340 Audio panel and I'm thinking about an Avidyne MFD (not sure on that). I'm going to fly it like it is right now and start accumulating avionics...

I knew when I bought it that I was going to do a new panel and feel like it will be a good investment (in other words, I'll still lose all the money I put into it, but it will be fun).

Jim

mtv wrote:Talk to "Bonanzaman" on here.....he goes a lot of places with his Bonanza in backcountry, and does so in style and comfort.

Learn to fly the thing, and I think you'll open many backcountry destinations.

Congrats on buying a great airplane.

MTV

MTV: From all I've read and some other Bonanza owners I've spoken with, they say you can take this thing in to most smooth dirt/grass strips. I'm sure I'll figure out how to get it in short. I looked at 182RG's, Mooneys, Cirrus and a few others. The V35B seemed to have best balance of X-country and short performance. Not only that, but I can haul 1,200lbs of Gas, family and other crap to far away destinations.

I'm happy with the decision to get rid of the Maule - I'm sure that will change about the time i need to buy parts...

Jim

I have taken my Bo everywhere I ever took my 182. I have an S35 and you'd be hard pressed to find a lighter one. I am at 2004 pounds with two seats in. Get yourself to BeechTalk for everything you need to know about your plane. Expensive Beech parts is a throw away phrase. I've owned mine for nearly 9 years now and have yet to buy a part from Beech. Annuals...find a Bonanza guy first and foremost. Just had my annual last month. No squawks and out the door for $1500. My average annual is less than $2,000.
You are not limited to smooth dirt. The gear on my bird is the same as on that years Baron that grosses 2,000 pounds more, the last thing you'll break is the gear. Here's a YouTube link to some places I've been to.

https://www.youtube.com/user/Newps2600/videos

Bonanza Man wrote:I have taken my Bo everywhere I ever took my 182. I have an S35 and you'd be hard pressed to find a lighter one. I am at 2004 pounds with two seats in. Get yourself to BeechTalk for everything you need to know about your plane. Expensive Beech parts is a throw away phrase. I've owned mine for nearly 9 years now and have yet to buy a part from Beech. Annuals...find a Bonanza guy first and foremost. Just had my annual last month. No squawks and out the door for $1500. My average annual is less than $2,000.
You are not limited to smooth dirt. The gear on my bird is the same as on that years Baron that grosses 2,000 pounds more, the last thing you'll break is the gear. Here's a YouTube link to some places I've been to.

https://www.youtube.com/user/Newps2600/videos

Bonanza Man - Inspiring videos! I guess I'm not totally out of the Back-Country gig!

I joined BeechTalk a few days ago and have been reading as much as I can.

I looked hard at an S35 and then the V35B came along... Would have gladly bought an S model!

Jim

I feel your pain . I sold my 180 and got a 206 cause I was tired of trying to smash the family into the 180 . Now I can take the kitchen sink with us , arrive back at my mtn airport at 2 pm in August when the wind is going in circles and not have my palms all sweaty. Oh , and it's faster than my 180 ( trying to stay positive) I miss my 180 a lot but find that I'm going many more places now that there is more room for the crew .Oh , and I can sleep in it as well. ( still trying to stay positive)

Congrats on your new purchase. She's a good looking bird. Enjoy!

Bonanza Man wrote:I have taken my Bo everywhere I ever took my 182. I have an S35 and you'd be hard pressed to find a lighter one. I am at 2004 pounds with two seats in. Get yourself to BeechTalk for everything you need to know about your plane. Expensive Beech parts is a throw away phrase. I've owned mine for nearly 9 years now and have yet to buy a part from Beech. Annuals...find a Bonanza guy first and foremost. Just had my annual last month. No squawks and out the door for $1500. My average annual is less than $2,000.
You are not limited to smooth dirt. The gear on my bird is the same as on that years Baron that grosses 2,000 pounds more, the last thing you'll break is the gear. Here's a YouTube link to some places I've been to.

https://www.youtube.com/user/Newps2600/videos

What BM said especially about the BO mechanic, search, search, and find a good one, even if a couple of hours away, it's worth it!!
Great choice, My S model is the only plane I wish I had never gotten rid of!

Congrats Jim! Glad to see you found a good one.

I echo what others have said, no reason to keep the V35 restricted to pavement.

Nice bird!

Most of the parts cost horror stories I've heard on the Bonanza are about re-skinning control surfaces in some models. I've always wanted a BO though I'm a big time Mooney fan for a variety of reasons.

Congrats Jaudette. We still should get together and swap stories.

At least we are not losing another pilot. I sold my Mooney 252 last summer and with good luck I take delivery of a Maule M7-235 next week.

Thanks for all your comment guys!

I really struggled with the decision to get rid of the Maule - There were a bunch of things I absolutely loved about the bird: Obviously the STOL performance, great avionics, great slow speed handling, all the back-country mods, etc... I even contemplated selling my T hangar and getting a box so that I could keep it.

In the end, I always felt like I getting less and less proficient landing the thing. Staying proficient landing the Maule means that your constantly doing Stop & Go's - I felt like I just didn't have the time I needed to feel safe landing on pavement with passengers. Add to that I was going to find good X-C bird and that meant I would likely spend even less time in the Maule. And then, I started going out and flying a bunch of different AC and many had a lot of the same flight characteristics as the Maule and I didn't have to worry about x-winds - The decision became very clear.

In any event - I will own another back-country bird - Likely a something in the two-seat category - Something docile compared to a Maule, in terms of landing. In those cases where I'll be flying in the back-country, it will likely just be me and my son.

Jim

Congrats, let me know when you fly it down here to AZ. Where did the Maule go? Sold it fast I am guessing.

29singlespeed wrote:Congrats, let me know when you fly it down here to AZ. Where did the Maule go? Sold it fast I am guessing.

It went to a really nice guy here in Colorado. Yes it went fast! I think if you do the maintenance, keep the logs orderly & keep airplanes clean they are a heck of a lot easier to move...

I should be down in Phoenix in the next few weeks. I'll reach out to you!

Congratulations on the new Bonanza and I am sure the new Maule owner is thrilled as well.

A well maintained Bonanza is no more of a problem child in the shop over anything else in its category. A Bonanza is such a nice flying airplane too. I used to go from flying my own 250 comanche to flying my uncle's '60 M model Bonanza and the beech would make me almost throw rocks at my comanche. I bought my airstrip/farm from a retired TWA pilot who flew his early Bonanza from my 1900 ft airstrip. When you get to know the airplane well you will go a lot of places you didn't imagine at first. Congrats, god looking ship.