I'm currently working in Afghanistan as a Security Contractor but live in Northern California. I am looking at purchasing a Bonanza. I am just looking for some advice. The plane will be used for missions trip to Mexico, being an Angel Flight pilot and of course personal use with my family. I am 6'5" 280 but my wife is only 5'2" and my two kids are 10 and 5 so they are all average size. I would like to be able to make it to Florida with as few stops as possible as well for we will be looking to do missions work in Haiti as well. I realize that my request may be a bit vague so I apologize. The Bonanza is my dream plane and so I just want to make sure that I'm looking at the best option for me and my family.

Thank you all very much in advance!

Steven,

Welcome to BeechTalk, and good luck with your search for the right plane.

Steven,

Welcome to BeechTalk!

Your mission could best be handled by one of the 36 models equipped with tip tanks. These planes have nine hours endurance, or more, depending upon operating parameters. With proper fuel/engine management it is possible to fly one of those from No. CA to So. FL with one fuel stop (I wouldn't want to do that in one day...about 15 flight hours.).

Turbo-charged or turbo-normalized planes would add great utility for the western portion of the trip CA to FL.

Have fun with your search.

Steven

Welcome to Beech Talk and good luck! Max is right when he said you need to consider tip tanks. Fuel capacity and useful load may be crucial with consideration to your mission requirements.

Welcome aboard, and enjoy your plane shopping.
Picking one out is a very personal experience.

Welcome to BT and good luck with the search.

Although the tip-equipped Bonanza is a serious traveling machine, it's also a bladder buster. Your passengers will need to be comfortable with using portable facilities, though at least one enterprising member on this board has installed a camp potty in the back of the airplane. I doubt whether it has either an STC or PMA, however.

However, even with shorter legs, the tips are useful for tankering fuel when you're not sure of fuel availability on a trip.

Thank you everyone for the input. The long hauls will generally be just myself or myself and my wife. I wouldn't put the kiddos through that for 7-9 hours! I obviously don't own but I see that pictures are big on here so while I'm looking I'm going to try and post a picture of what I am looking for. It's an A36TC with the tip tanks. We're really praying that this is what will come along and work out for us! This is such a great site. I can't wait to post pics of OUR plane!

Steven,

Welcome to BeechTalk! We have done CA roundtrips three times by Bonanza and Florida more times than I can count. The Bonanza is great for that.

Our kids (now 12 and 7) tend to do best with 2 to 3 hour legs. Depending on how long your family is willing to sit in a plane in good humor, there are great options for an overnight between CA and FL.

Drew

Drew,

Thanks for the input! I think that we'll be looking at the A or B 36TC. And yes, after reading a lot of the other posts, there seems to be some wonderful places to stay along the way with the family!

Thanks again!