Top5 Reasons Bonanzas and Barons Crash Part1

Top 5 Reasons Bonanzas and Barons Crash Part 1

Top 5 Reasons Bonanzas and Barons Crash Part 2

Patreon

FlyWire is about exploring flight and the freedom this incredible experience brings us on a personal level. Flying has always captured the imagination and excitement of living life to its fullest. Hi, I'm Scott Perdue. In a former life I flew the F-4 and F-15E, more recently I retired from a major airline. I've written for several aviation magazines over the years, was a consultant for RAND, the USAF, Navy, NASA as well as few others, wrote a military thriller- 'Pale Moon Rising' (still on Kindle). But mostly I like flying, or teaching flying. Some of the most fun I had was with Tom Gresham on a TV show called 'Wings to Adventure". We flew lots of different airplanes all over the country. Now with FlyWire I want to showcase the fun in flying, share the joy and freedom of flight and explore the world with you. Make sure you subscribe if you want to go along for the ride!

#Pilot #Fly #Flying #Fly yourself #aviation #FlyingTraining #LearntoFly #adventure #military aviation #aviationhistory

[rael]

I saw a Bonanza land gear up once. I was in A&P school and we were on a lunch break at Meacham Field in Fort Worth Texas. Everybody was just sitting there quietly watching planes land. The smokers were smoking. Beautiful summer day. I was standing by the door and I turned to go inside and all the guys went, "WHOA ! ! ! ! I looked to see what they were whoaing about and a Bonanza had landed with his gear up. He skidded to a stop on the runway with what looked like minimal damage. I bet it was shocking as hell though.

[jameshuggins]

I worked a contract with the Mexican Air Force a while back - they are good at wrecking things.

[jimmbbo]

Scott, early in my flying career, I flew and instructed in Bonanzas, as well as having done an accident investigation of an inflight breakup of an early model 35. A couple of observations:
1) The Bonanza is delightfully light in roll control, much more so than a C-210. For that it gives up some roll stability, meaning that a slight upset can initiate a turn. In IMC, an overloaded pilot may not notice the upset and respond after a "graveyard spiral" has developed, where he pulls back too rapidly on the yoke, causing the tail to fail. This is a common Bonanza crash scenario.
2) To save weight, the early model 35s had no shear web between the upper and lower surfaces of the wing, but relied on the "D" section of the leading edge to carry the shear loads normally resisted by a web between spar caps that extended the length of the wing. With age, the rivets holding the lower "D" section skin to the spar cap work loose, leaving telltale black aluminum oxide streaks. If those rivets fail, the "D" section "unzips" from the spar, allowing the airflow to enter the wing interior, leading to its destruction.

[radioacela]

The Twain quote was awesome, Scott. I say If you are flying a twin, you double your chances of losing an engine. ~ Rick Shelton

[jackoneil]

I am reminded of a couple of aviation applicable lines from Twain's 'The Innocents Abroad': "One day when the ship's tail was pointing at the sky ... " and: "It occurred to me if two cooks in one kitchen can spoil the soup, then what can 5 captains in one ship spoil?"

[roytaylor]

I have flown a lot of planes single and twin over the last 50 years, mainly Bonanza's and reviewing some hairy situations that I found myself in had they ended in a fatality it would have been my fault pilot error, so when you make a mistake don't make it a second time, some really bad mistakes you don't get the chance to see it a second time, so keep up revision training, particularly recovery from unusual attitudes, that has what has kept me alive for so long.

[zidoocfi]

Thanks Scott. I'm looking forward to part 2, and maybe beyond.

[Joe_Not_A_Fed]

Fascinating. Thanks, Scott. Looking forward for part 2.

[lohring]

My father owned 5 model 35 Bonanzas from 1950 until the mid 1980s when he lost his medical. His log shows more than 7, 000 hours in the type. He loved the airplane. The last two were full IFR airplanes. Three of these airplanes were crashed by subsequent owners, 2 fatally. The second is still flying but there is some question about the third. The fatal accidents were weather related including flying into icing. These "statistics" are a lot worse than yours. My father, a very careful pilot, felt many V tail accidents were from pilots not accustomed to flying a lot higher performance airplane than others in this era.

[tortureborn]

"For those of you in Rio Linda". Thanks for the reference, great men all around!

[jackoneil]

Excellent Scot. Interesting data. I was surprised to see the 36 series so high and the 55-58 series were not higher. Which leads me to question factors of pilot proficiency, qualifications and experience. Having been an aircraft dealer for a few decades and my father a Cessna, Beech or Mooney dealer for much of my life, and having bought flown and sold quite a few copies of all Beech singles and twins, including most versions, from T-34, to A to V35b, A36s, a couple of B36TCs, B, D and E55s, a 56, a couple of B58s and three 58Ps, and having flown each one of those aircraft from 30 to several hundred hours, my sense is the Barons, especially the B58 and 58P models are more demanding and unforgiving for even an above average pilot than an A36 or V series, and I would say the Barons generally place the average low time pilot at higher risk than a single-engine Bonanza.

I also think it could be telling if we could look at personality factors and types. Most of my customers who bought A36s and 33s (about 15) had about 250 hours and with more money than time to dedicate to the aircraft and proficiency but they took flying seriously. Those guys and a couple of gals were scared of the V-sires and would not consider them. By contrast, I would say that the V-buyers (at least 20 of them) were on average mid time, and very much above average in awareness and skill level. None of the V35 buyers under 200 hours had any incidents, but the three of the A36 buyers did, and pretty early on. Most of the V35 buyers stayed out of moderate IMC and icing but the 36 guys didn't. One B36TC doctor ran off a runway on landing and nearly lost it in icing. He got scared and bought a helicopter, so go figure?

I also sold a lot of 200, 300 and 400 sires Cessnas, and we used to joke about the differences between Cessna, Bonanza, Piper and Mooney buyers. The 210 Cessna buyers were almost always type-A with big egos and little flying time and patience, nor much ability to take advice. Most managed ok but one T210 customer who had a major landing incident and totaled the aircraft was a B747 Captain who was a "COB" on the controls. I had to take control during the first demo flight on a crosswind landing when he got it up on the nose wheel and right main and the wingtip just inches from the grass. That poor guy was more disconnected from the aircraft than most student pilots I've seen, and like a few other "Cobby" big iron pilots, I attribute that to training and a lot of cross-country/coffee time in "ONE" type.

I also recall an Airbus FO buyer who managed to crash a 337 with an instructor on takeoff after attempting a takeoff with a rear engine that vapor locked and quit on taxi. The Tower even told them their rear engine was not running early in the take off roll but they elected to continue the takeoff with 8000 ft of runway remaining, then elected to leave the gear and flaps down. What they were thinking is hard to imagine.

By contrast, I sold one 421 Cessna, A 58P and a 500 Citation to guys who had between 50 to 200 hours. The 421 and 500 buyer had less than 100 hours, but all had tons of bucks and time to learn . They were considering buying high-dollar, high performance singles to take their family and friends on long distance Cross country IFR trips. But out of safety concerns I advised they consider the right aircraft for the mission and develop the skills required for the mission. I set them up with experienced Instructor pilots to get them proficient on the FUN trips they wanted to make. In each case the IPs loved it, the families loved it, Their Insurance companies loved it, and the the owner-pilots loved it. They all flew a lot and today they are some of he most solid and safe pilots I know who also have a huge love of aviation, largely because they learned "Right" from the beginning and respected the limitations of their abilities and the aircraft.

[alessio]

I flew a Baron 58 and lost an engine after lift off. If I hadn’t been practicing on these single engine procedures, the results would have been catastrophic.

[craighobart]

Hi Scott, G’day from Oz ! I have been following your u tube channel for a couple of years, since I bought a 33 1965 model. I have learned a lot from you and continue to do so. Thanks for your work, not only is it interesting, it SAVES LIVES.

[evangreen]

Great video! Looking forward to the next episode.

[iamhis]

Thank you Scott for your fidelity of effort. Value of Learning is bonus. Your content is top shelf by good margin.

[tsmgguy]

I've loved all Beechcraft products since I demonstrated and sold the entire product line years ago. These aircraft appeal to people with a great deal of money. Some of them are not very good pilots, and don't survive. I learned that Beechcraft Bonanzas and Barons, with the exception of the B36TC, have stall characteristics best described as "abrupt". Don't go there without plenty of altitude in which to recover. The B36TC remains fully controllable in a deep stall with the wheel full aft, but the descent rate is tremendous.

[thomasturner]

Well done as always, Gunny. Your data parallel with mine from tracking piston Beech mishaps since 1990. Like you, I focus not on definitive conclusions—because we don’t have enough data to draw them—and more on the apparent trends, the lessons we can learn (and many pilots forget). Of course less than a third of what most would consider to be “accidents” don’t meet NTSB reporting criteria so never are entered into the CAROL database at all. I look forward to Parts 2 and 3. - Thomas P. Turner

[paulhendershott]

Awesome presentation! Keep 'em coming!

[SGTSnakeUSMC]

Good stuff, looking forward to part 2.

[FutureSystem]

That’s always been one of my favourite lines: “Lies, damned lies, and statistics”.
Great video as always thanks Scott.