Another turbo flat 6. . . 8.5L of it!

General Discussion
#1

Well, it finally happened.

We added another turbo flat 6 to the stable, but this time with it has 8.5L and she’ll only be burning 100 octane leaded fuel!

But this one isn’t staying on the ground!


http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk89/mbgt72/flying/N7707R/024C9CDA-4AA5-4CE7-BCE5-C8638F9C8A65_zpsgyegqeom.jpg

She’s a Beechcraft Bonanza 36 with the IO-520-BB engine and a Turbo Normalizer kit. She’s gonna be a lot of fun and I’m looking forward to making a lot of great memories.

We closed the deal yesterday, and I’ve just been ecstatic ever since. I just thought I’d share here since AR is much more than the average car forum. Wasn’t sure if there are any other pilots in the bunch.

#2

Haha that is sweet!! Now you can fly out and visit us ;D

#3

Wow! That’s awesome dude… Would love to hear more details about the plane… passenger count? range? etc.

#4

Are you IFR rated?

#5

Thanks guys. It was a BIG step and a huge dream come true. It’s still a bit surreal. She obviously was someone’s baby before me and they dumped a ton of money into her (all to my advantage!).

She’s a 1968 model 36 Bonanza with just shy of 9000 total airframe hours (but Beechcraft are some of the best built planes on the market and are built to do 20,000hrs if maintained). The engine has ~1100hrs and has a TBO (overhaul) at 1800hrs. I’ll probably swap in the IO-550 engine at that point though (~38k for overhaul or $50k for new 550 engine).

Previous owner installed new engine in 2001, did paint and interior fresh around 2006, and then major panel upgrade in 2008, and then installed the Turbo Normalizer kit in 2010 ($40k for just the TN kit) with a new prop at that time as well. So there’s not much that hasn’t been touched. I had a really good mechanical pre-inspection done and then once I flew her it was a done deal and closed on her yesterday. Plane was based out of north Atlanta, but seller flew her up here since I’m not checked out in the make/model yet to fly solo in it (just a matter of some instruction). I am IFR rated and obviously High Performance and Complex endorsed but lower total time due to inconvenience of renting, but plan on that changing quickly lol.

Anyhow, for anyone that knows what it means, avionics wise it has:
Dual Garmin 530 with WAAS
Garmin 200 MFD
Stec 55x autopilot with GNSS
JPI 700 engine monitor with gps coupled fuel flow
HSI and backup electric attitude indicator
Previous owner probably spent north of $50k for the avionics upgrade at the time =)

As far as range, speed, UL (useful load), etc.
-at cruise it’ll burn around 12.5gph running LOP (lean of peak) and should cruise at ~150-155IAS around 12,000ft which is closer to 165TAS or ~185mph ground speed. Go higher and it gets even better! (But oxygen is needed)
-Running it ROP (rich of peak) picks up another 5-7knts but at the cost of 6-7 more gph and the engine like burning cleaner LOP anyhow
-max gross weight is 3792 in its current configuration (Tip Tanks raised it from 3600), if I went to the IO-550 engine it’d go to 4,000#. Basic empty weight (everything but fuel & passengers) is 2394. So each # of 100LL weighs 6# and technically it can carry 110 gallons of fuel (80 in mains and 30 tot in tips). But you can figure that at 12gph LOP that’d put you in the air way longer than you bladder could hold and cuts into your UL pretty significantly. More likely is carrying ~50-70 gallons and the passengers/baggage you want.
-it’s technically a 6 person plane, but that’s based on 170# passengers and thus only half fuel. I’m pulling the rear two seats as there isn’t enough space there anyhow and that’ll get me ~40# back and some good baggage space.

Anyhow, it’s the pictures that count right lol. So here’s the fun stuff.

http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/12/04/23f29bb2235e03fc5528b559faaec0f2.jpg

http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/12/04/a86bf63b394e84ab57fe767e2a92e847.jpg

http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/12/04/e059208082d888cb76c94d1dc6010190.jpg

http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/12/04/d38e6fc6c68f3fcc8a42fc1eb328b810.jpg

As far as a representative of speed/range/possibilities. Here’s a quick example from Nashville to Tampa FL based of the numbers I’ve calculated (haven’t flown enough to completely iron them out but should be close).
533nm ~3.5hr ~48gal -> carry 60-65gal this 375# in fuel so it leaves 1025# for passengers and baggage.

http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/12/04/3f650960156fb596b6c4426d8a42dacd.jpg

Also, for the engine geeks, the “fixed speed” props with engine monitors is really pretty sweet. You manually control propeller efficiency and obviously have control of mixture as well as manifold pressure.

And with the engine monitor, it reports INDIVIDUAL cylinder EGT, CHT, TIT (Turbine inlet temp), fuel flow, total fuel remaining, voltage, difference between max/min cylinder, “lean find” which calculates which cylinder hits peak EGT FIRST so that you can pull temps back based on that cylinder, oil temp/pressure and a lot more. Also will allow you to record and download past 100hrs of info.

http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/12/04/769935e98fee3f3bb8a6aace9346e0bc.jpg

#6

Damn that’s some next level vehicle purchasing, congrats!

What sort of 1/4 mile does it run? ;D

#7

Pretty cool. There’s a tour player with something very similar and he hops all over the place in it. Palmer used to do the same but he quickly upgraded to a jet. Being the king and all.

That Tampa Tennessee trip… What would it take in time
Leave house get to airport, ready plane, leave, land, park etc walk out of Tampa airport?

What would it take in cost (ignoring the quartermillion dollar plane and maintainence etc. Just departure landing and fuel costs?

#8

Haha, thanks Meistah. It will also be used for work through a couple different companies. Without that, would have been tough to justify. But definitely going to defer as much operational cost as possible!

[quote=“Maddog,post:5,topic:8158”]

From my house it’s about 25min drive to the base airport or about 35min to Nashville international (just for reference). I can actually call and they’ll open my t-hangar and fuel to where I tell them and pull out slightly for no additional fee. I can park my car about 25yds from the hangar in a gated area. Preflight is about 10-15min, loading plane another 10-15min with passengers, taxi, run-up etc another 10min or so and then departure. I’d probably already have flight plan filed before heading out there via ForeFlight and activate on the ramp.

Avgas is anywhere from $3.50-$6.50/gal depending on where you are with avg around high $4’s. A plane this size, would probably have no ramp fee for the first day if I bought ~40gal or so at destination airport. If I didn’t it’d prob be $15-$40/day for ramp storage, or if you were doing long term, a tie down is probably $75-100 for 1 month. (It’s only $35/month at my home airport, but that’s not a “destination” location and would probably be a 6mo lease). Now, there are some shitty FBO’s that may try to CHG $50 just to drop someone off and turn around, but that’s not too common.

Landing at destination would be 5 min taxi to FBO and kill the engine. 5 or so min for passengers to disembark and another couple to secure everything post flight. They’ll direct ya to where it needs to be tied down or move it for you with the tug.

So all in all, say an 1:15 from my house to being in the air, 3.5hrs to Tampa, and within a 20-30 min of landing I’d be in a uber headed to wherever.

A more global picture is most guys with this model plane budget ~$135-165/hr for all expenses (insurance, hangar, mx, gas). So if you fly 100hrs in a year, it should avg out to around ~$15k operational cost (assuming no depreciation/loan/etc on actual airplane). Granted, that is on the “long run of ownership” and one bad annual (yearly mx inspection) could cost ya $10k alone. Then there’s also the slippery slope of modification that we all know so well, and planes burn money fast when it comes to upgrades!

One funny thing was, even though I’m a lower time pilot building hours, insurance was only $2800. Granted I’d like higher limits, but after I build another 100-150hrs in this by next year I’ll be able to get a smooth million policy for probably close to the same rate (or a ~500 deduction off of current 100k/1M)

As they say, all it takes is airspeed and money to fly! Private travel is often not the cheapest, and your schedule will have to be much more flexible with weather, but there’s a great amount of freedom to it. And it makes some shorter hops or more remote destinations MUCH more feasible and logical. At the end of the day, it’s about enjoyment, and making some great memories.

#9

Also, just another interesting note. We set up an LLC as the ownership entity for a couple reasons. But mainly because I’m planning on selling 50% ownership and going into a co-ownership setup in a year or so. A good friend is one candidate, and I know a couple others too (obviously with very specific partnership language, responsibilities, etc). But this way shares of the plane, i.e. Company, can be sold without triggering a registration of the plane and sales tax etc. With two people, the fixed cost and mx can be shared and scheduling shouldn’t be too much of a conflict while making the burden of ownership a lot lighter.

Also because of this format, we deferred the sales tax of the purchase to the actual hourly “rental” of the plane to myself or other entities on an hourly “dry” rental rate. So there’s a break even obviously where this is beneficial and beyond it is an added expense. But for us that was around 1100hrs so it made sense to set it up this way. Thought it was an interesting and creative way to structure it while still being completely legal.

#10

So basically you can go to Florida on vacation for about 600 bucks for two of you ( NOT counting other stuff).

Convenience is world class. Anyone who has flown private knows it’s unbeatable. This I imagine is even better because you just do what you want when you want.

What’s the longest realistic range with 500 lbs of passengers/kuggage (basically two of you with a little buffer )

PS best part: you can easily and safely bring your dog on vacation

#11

Yea, pretty much. And the wife is very happy about the dog(s) part!

For longer hauls, it also wouldn’t take that much more work if we took 4 and minimal luggage (or fedexing is an option if it gets real tight) and/or making a fuel stop halfway. That would let you carry less fuel and would add about a half hour to the trip and give everyone a bathroom break. I’ve been using a club shipping service for my last couple golf trips just to not deal with them for example (flying commercial). If it was just me and a buddy and possibly a wife though, our sticks would go in the plane.

For your second question, max range with 500# of people. Max gross as configured is 3792, basic empty weight 2394, so 1400 useful load. So I can carry 110gallons of fuel, thus660#, so that leaves 740 for passengers/baggage if so desired. Obviously lighter the better and faster though!

Then for calculation side, I’ll burn ~4 gal for taxi & takeoff, then 18gph for cruise climb (15 min if going to ~12k), and then you could throttle her back to 10gph if you wanted, but I plan for 12-13gph and more speed (prob ~15-20knt difference if going for “max range”). But you’ll also pickup some free airspeed in decent so that offsets the fuel used in climb some.

In other words, 110 gallons gets you right around 1,000NM with a bit of reserve fuel. But that’s around 6.5hrs in a plane which I have no intention of doing.

On the flip side, you can run ROP and pick up another 10+knts and burn 18-19gal the whole time and get there a bit faster but a bit less range obviously.

Using LOP I could go direct to the tip of Maine. And obviously winds could greatly increase or decrease these numbers.

http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/12/05/b6d6b6c8d49fba56451144b7327be3ee.jpg

But if you’re really asking about max range, I’ve seen posts of a guy in a V35 (smaller older v-tail bonanza that added 40gal tip tanks and a 60gal fuel bladder in the back seat) has gone transatlantic via a couple of islands. He’s done the easier “north” route, but also done the “south” route basically at the equator. But that’s bordering on insanity lol.

#12

I can’t begin to tell you how jealous I am.

Please give us regular reports on your progress.

Some of us mere mortals need a vicarious thrill now and then.

Thanks

#13

That’s awesome! Look fwd to some stories.

#14

I know I’m a bit late to the thread but I just wanted to say congrats! That plane is sweet! I fly professionally and I have to say I’ve never flown a Bonanza sadly. One of my favorite aircraft. I have used the S-tec 55x autopilot. They were installed in some of the Twin Cessnas I flew when I worked for Cape Air. The GPS steer function was amazing. Once again congrats and enjoy the convenience of owning your own aircraft. I hope to do the same one day.

#15

Thanks! If you ever make it to the Nashville area, you know who to hit up to get the Bonanza checked off your list.

Yes, I’ve been very happy/impressed with the Stec-55x autopilot. Honestly I wouldn’t want anything more in a autopilot.

Popped down to birmingham to grab dinner a couple nights ago. Nice flight, about 45min each way from takeoff to landing. A lot better than the 2.5hr drive each way.