Pete got the ball rolling with the posts here again, so I'll keep it going. It's going to be a long one!
Most everyone knows now that I finally bought an airplane. The search was quite a task. I settled on a model in the beginning of May. The decision of what to buy is rather daunting. Tons of airplanes were in my price range. Everything from the 2-seat Cessna 150 on up to Piper Comanches were available to me. I knew I wanted a single engine retractible-gear airplane, and Gloria (my Wife) knew it had to be a low wing (she hates sitting under the wings). So That ruled out almost the entire cessna line. Piper only had two airplanes (in my price range) that could qualify, the Arrow and the Comanche. I have a few hours in an Arrow, and the entire time I wondered if I'd accidentally left the gear down; it was a dog. The only thing left was a Comanche.
I've flown lots of hours behind Comanches. Long hours. Trips to Texas, Las Vegas, Maine, North Carolina, etc. I like Comanches just fine, but they have their limitations. Reliability of the parts is one thing. Availability of those parts is another. According to Gloria, the back seat of a Comanche is much less comfortable than the back seat of a 172. Getting out of the airplane from the front passenger seat is either a matter of contorting your right leg, or a matter of crawling on the wing before standing. When pregnant, the only way Gloria could get down from the wing was to have me lift her and set her on the ground, not very graceful. Price is another issue, I could only find an underpowered Comanche or one with a runout engine.
Browsing Ebay one day, just for fun, I found a Beech Bonanza for sale. The Bonanza line was started in 1947 (right after WWII) and is still being produced today. Granted, MUCH has changed in those 62 years, but the reliability and value of the line stands. The original Bonanza's didn't have your standard tail configuration (vertical and horizontal stabilazors), they had "V tails." The purpose of the V-tail was to reduce drag, weight and cost while maintaing controlability. The Bonanza wasn't the first airplane with a V-tail, but it has certainly been the most popular. The Bonanza's from 1947 until early 1970's (maybe even later???) were built with a V-Tail. In 1959, Beech began selling a standard tail "Debonair" which was a less elegant (read: cheaper) version of the Bonanza, in 1968 they simply called both the Bonanza.
Beech Aircraft Company (aka Beechcraft) has always been known for making beautiful, comfortable airplanes. Dubbed the "Cadillac of the Sky," the Bonanza was their model for elegant personal travel in the era after WWII. This was an era when everyone was going to learn how to fly and buy an airplane. Beech provided a design which was unparalled in its day. In 1947 most personal aircraft were covered in fabric and had fixed conventional gear. The Bonanza was far beyond its years! It has tricycle retractible gear, a "flat" (non-radial) engine, electrically operated gear and flaps and a full panel of instruments. The Interior is downright roomy both horizontally and in headroom, and no expense was spared for comfort. All four seats can recline and slide forward and back. The Bagage compartment can hold 270 pounds of gear, almost enough for Gloria's shoe collection!
I was sold on the Bonanza. Finding a few in my price range was spectacular. The first Bonanza model was the 35 (later dubbed the "straight-35"), modifications were made and two years later the A35 was created. Beech continued making modifications every year or so and the A35 was followed by the B35, C35, etc, etc,etc up to the V35. After a few V35's they ended production of the V-tail and created the 36 line. (Alos note the standard tail models were A33,B33,C33, etc). All 35's have a Continental engine. Prior to the H35 model, the engine was an "E-series Continental." The E-series was designed specifically for the Bonanza, starting with the E165 and followed by the E185 and E225. The number roughly represents the horsepower of the engine (except some E185's produced 205HP ina certain configuration). Additionally the pitch (blade angle) of the propeller could be adjusted in flight, a common feature on all high performance aircraft today, but advanced for 1947. On the E-series engines, the blade angle was adjusted electrically and managed by the pilot. Today the blade angle is always adjusted hydraulically (with oil) and a "governor" maintains a particular speed, not a blade angle.
My buddy Ray offered his help at purchasing the airplane. He's owned many airplanes and provided a wealth of knowledge on the subject.
The first airplane I looked at was a C35, it had an old E185 engine, converted to 205HP and an electrically controlled propeller. The prop did have a sort of governor on it so it would maintian a speed, not a blade angle. Unfortunatly, when I got into looking at it, the engine was near the end of its useful life (TBO). The cost to overhaul an E185 engine was nearly $30,000, which put the total price of the airplane well out of my limits. So on to the next one.
The second airplane was an H35. This had a Continental O-470 engine and a hydraulic prop. The instrument panel was nothing fancy and there was stuff scattered everywhere. It had a GPS, but the GPS had never been certified for IFR flight. I took a good long look at the log books and discovered that the propeller hadn't been overhauled in 19 years. Under normal circumstances a propeller should be overhauled about every 10 years. The propeller manufacturers recommend every 6 years, but most everyone agrees that's too agressive. This propeller had gone nearly twice it's useful life without being looked at. I expected that the propeller might be shot and need to be replaced at a cost of about $7,000. Factoring this into the equation, the airplane was still in my price range. The airplane was in for its annual inspection at the time and I was going to fly down to NC to have a look at it with my mechanic. Unfortunately the owner didn't like the idea of my mechanic poking away at the airplane. Being a New Yorker, I smelled this as a lemon and pulled out of the deal faster than I can call for a cab!
I was waiting for Ray to show up for dinner one evening and decided to look on Trade-A-Plane for my next option. A K35 Bonanza had just been reduced in price because of this horrible economy. I called the owner and discovered it was just over my price range. I spoke with Gloria about it that evening and we decided that the $3000 extra could buy us this very nice K35 which is valued much higher. Considering the age on the engine and propeller, the airplane (hopefully) wouldn't need any major work done in the next few years and we definitely liked the way she looked. The K35 has a higher useful load than the H35 and and has a fuel injected engine (IO-470). This particular airplane had balanced "Gami-jectors" installed which allows for better fuel management and the ability of the airplane to run on much less fuel (Lean Of Peak). A few calculations showed that if we tried we could save that $3000 on fuel costs in a few years time.
So the next morning I made an appointment to see the airplane. We arranged to see it on Sunday, 7 June at the Glen's Falls Airport. Pete, Ray and I would fly up and look her over. On that Sunday morning, we piled into Ray's Comanche for the trip to GFL. The day was nice and the trip went quickly with good chatter and good friends. We met the owner, an eye doctor in the area, and looked over the airplane. Not being a mechanic, I couldn't find anything wrong with it. The paint was in excellent condition
with only minor nicks here and there. The interior was clean and the instrument panel was just amazing. I fell in love with her when the owner let me fly! We went around the area a little bit. Checked out the handling, pushed and pulled on levers, turned dials and all that jazz. We turned on the autopilot and had it track the localizer into the airport (it disconnected for some unknown reason, but otherwise worked fine). The ADF worked, the DME worked, the fuel gauges were right on the money (no silly moving around even in turbulence) and I could control her well. When we got on the ground, I signed the purchase order, showing intent to buy.
The purchase was subject to a "pre-buy" inspection of the airplane to be done with my mechanic but at the shop in Middlebury, VT. The cost differential between having the shop open the airplane up for my mechanic to inspect and the cost of an annual inspection (which would be required in about three months) was negligable. They would do the annual, and we would show up in the middle to look at things. I headed up there with Charlie on the 19th. The mechanic had opened her all up and found the forward bulkhead plate in the spinner to be cracked. No worries, it's a $45 plastic part which can easily be replaced. Charlie looked over everything and found her to be in top shape. He had a concern about the compression numbers on the engine, but my conversations with other mechanics showed that the numbers were totally normal. Charlie was concerned that it might have a particular kind of magneto (provides a spark for the engine) but it turns out, it doesn't.
The process of buying an airplane is far more difficult to coordinate that buying a car. Once you've decided to buy the airplane, you need to find funding for it, get insurance, find a place to keep it, find a mechanic to work on it, get title insurance, and find a name for it. In addition, we want to use a broker, so we needed one of those. All this took up an enormous amount of time, and I'm amazed Gloria put up with my alocating that much time, given that Aidan is only 3 months old. I spent many sleepless nights pouring over manuals and recommendations, considering costs and just downright planning!
On Friday, the 26th of June, my dream came true, sort of. I became an airplane owner. My insurance required that I get 2 hours of dual instruction and 3 hours of solo flight time before I carried passengers. I had arrainged to take an instructor to Lebanon, NH (where the airplane was to be kept for the sale) in order to get my 2 hours of dual on the way back. On that Friday we would fly up to LEB with the instructor, sign the final paperwork, take the keys, release the money from escrow, and fly off. The best laid plans... Thunderstorms decided to park themselves in between us. So on that Friday, I had a trusted person take a last look over the airplane to make sure nothing obvious had changed since the annual was signed off a few days before (like hitting something on the way to LEB) and I signed the paperwork and faxed it to the escrow. They filed the paperwork with the FAA, and I owned the airplane... though it was stuck in a hanger in LEB...
So Saturday I arranged to fly with Ray and another instructor (the first wasn't available) to LEB to get the airplane. The Storms were still there, but much more isolated. So off we went. The trip up was not as chipper since the new instructor (a Bonanza Society recommended guy) I had contracted was a bit of a pompus a**. Regardless, Pilots can always get along as long as the conversation stays on the topic of airplanes. We arrived in LEB, got MY AIRPLANE fuelled and took off. I have to say, I learned very little from that instructor on the way to HVN (New Haven, CT) where we would meet Ray for lunch. He asked me to fly the final too fast, told me nothing of the airplane I was flying and left me with big gaping holes in my knowledge about hw to operate her. The only thing I did get was my required two hours of instruction, but I do feel like I wasted good money on him.
Enroute to HVN we discovered the transponder wasn't working, which would make it difficult to get back into Linden, NJ. A transponder is required to fly in the New York airspace. So Ray and I flew in formation to LDJ so that I wouldn't need a transponder. Quite a challenge when I only had 2.5 hours in the airplane and I was flying solo.
I landed just fine (although too fast) and pushed her back into her new parking spot. Unfortunately I discovered that the $45 plastic part they had installed during the annual was the incorrect size and as a result had damaged my spinner. The airplane was grounded. Damn. Just got her and can't fly her.
Sensenich has agreed to make right by the propeller and spinner. They will repair the prop and replace the spinner. Unfortunatley in the mean time, I can't fly my airplane. Then once they get it fixed, I have to get the transponder repaired and finish out my 0.9 hours of solo time.
And I'm the proud owner of "Gigi," a 1959 K35 Beech Bonanza. We're alreayd planning a trip to FFA and another to Vegas in her!
