Piloting, Owning and Operating a Beech Bonanza A36 - www.gotoair.com

Vacuum Pump has gone wrong

Stuart Forrest — Sat, 03 May 2008 17:48:00 +0000

I flew the A36 Bonanza to Newquay yesterday to drop off my wife climbing to flight level 100 on both the outward and return journey. The Bonanza flew beautifully and today I decided that while my wife was away I would visit some friends in Milton Keynes. I loaded up the plane, strapped in the kids and filled up with fuel and was ready to taxi to the hold when I noticed that the attitude indicator was toppled to the side. I had never seen this in four years of flying the A36.

I called ATC and notified them of the problem and taxied back to Hangar 3 at Blackpool and sat and fiddled with everything I could think of including switching on the standby gyro and everything came back on.

I shot down the plane and Scott from Hangar 3 had called G-FOZZ's engineer who had already diagnosed a vacuum pump failiure which I believe is fairly common. All I can say is I am very glad that didnt happen in hard IMC to me. I am also glad to have expereinced the failure so I can put it and the symptoms down to experience.

The only problem now is how I get Mrs Forrest back from Newquay on Monday! Thankfully another helpful plane owner has agreed to take me to collect her in his Mirage so that will be a treat.

A headset update for the Bonanza

Stuart Forrest — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 16:59:00 +0000

A few years ago I purchased some Senheisser noise cancelling headsets. No they were OK but I have always wondered how they compared to the Bose X ones fitted to most high end planes and today I found out.

The Senheissers have the clamping force of a an elephant standing on the side of your skull so become a little uncomfortable after about one hour of flying and I often find myself taking them off and putting the intercom speaker on in case any ATC calls come through.

These headsets have also been pretty poor from a reliability front with wires coming loose several times and odd strange noises coming through the headsets during flight that go away on their own.

The Bose ones despite being expensive are fantastic and address the clamping force issue as they advertise. In addition the noise cancelling was hugely superior to the Senheissers. In the Bonanza I would normally use the squelch on the intercom and the noise cancelling but now with the Bose the squelch has no effect because all pointless background noise has already been removed I guess.

It seems you do pay for what you get in life!

My first Bonanza flight of 2008

Stuart Forrest — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 18:00:00 +0000

Would you believe the my first flight in my Beech Bonanza A36 was on today. Now that doesnt get me off to a great start for 2008 in building my hours does it?

Today I managed to get roped into a dropping a colleague off in London who had been visiting our offices. It seemed a pretty nice day for flying with very clear skies and pretty good visibility so I happily volunteered for the trip.

I managed to get the first 2.5 hours of my year under my belt and did a wonderful (if I say so myself) landing at Denham in a bit of a crosswind.

Its great owning a plane, it would be even better if I ever flew it

Stuart Forrest — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 17:36:00 +0000

I have been so frustrated during 2007. As usual I have flown nowhere near as much as I would have liked. Despite the utility of owning a plane and being able to jet off (or is it piston off!) wherever I like, the whenever has been a bigger problem.

What with seemingly hundreds of small kids (four), a very busy business (that pays the bills to fly) and a wife that demands at least some attention I have just not been able to dedicate the time I should to my hobby of flying.

That said, last year I managed a trip to Paris, a trip to Inverness, several beach days with the kids at faraway places and lots of other small trips and I thoroughly enjoyed being a Beech Bonanza owner.

Roll on 2008 where again I will make some prediction of flying hundreds of hours and miss my target by much the same amount!

Its annual inspection time for Beech Bonanza G-FOZZ

Stuart Forrest — Sat, 13 Oct 2007 21:32:00 +0000

Its that time again, it comes around too soon where our wonderful regulatory authority make sure that aviation costs too much for most people. To be fair I think most authorities are much the same on time frames for annual inspections but it does cheese me off none the less that you must have a full detailed annual inspection for my A36 Bonanza (or indeed any other plane) every year despite activity and the bill is usually huge.

Now to be fair again, on one of the annuals they did discover low compressions which meant it was an even more expensive operation that year but I still cant help feeling that there could be a better way to decide when you need inspecting and to what extent. Take the example of a plane that spends most of a year sat in a warm hangar, no in fact all of the year, now I know there are things that can go wrong sitting still but does it really need a full strip down and inspection to the same degree as a commercial plane that has done 1000 hours in the year?

Surely there could be a more intelligent regime that means that we don't all have to spend ludicrous amounts for our planes to sit still. Surely it could be longer periods for low hours planes perhaps based on hours and with a sensible time frame if the hours are not reached.

Now to back up my argument, there are very few accidents that come about because of failure of the plane in any way including engines (please don't let me become a mechanical failure statistic to prove me wrong). In the cases that do, in most circumstances no amount of inspecting would predict the problem (my low compressions excluded). Now you could argue that the accident rate is so low for mechanical reasons precisely because of this regime but frankly I think that is not true. Pilots are the weakest link and therefore the argument should be to encourage more training and practice but its a catch 22 because pilots are spending all their cash maintaining their planes so cant afford to go flying!

As a last point on this, how do you feel flying your plane immediately after an annual inspection, I am always worried that the inspection has made rather than found a problem, perhaps a pair of pliers left somewhere or something.

Before anyone send me messages saying I am wrong I am not arguing for no inspections because actually it is quite nice that some checks that the cables that connect the rudder etc to the wiggly bits in the cockpit but I just reckon it could be made into a more cost efficient setup. Then again isn't that the same for all aviation.

Keeping my fingers crossed that my Beech Bonanza A36 is back in the air tomorrow and without requiring too much to pass it fit for another year!

The Bonanza is back in Blackpool safely

Stuart Forrest — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 06:17:00 +0000

Well what a great day out I had to St Marys in the Isle of Scilly yesterday to recover the A36 Bonanza.

I like most pilots are desperate for a mission, just tell me your cat needs running to a specialist vet in France and I am your man and the Bonanza is the plane for the job. Last year I picked up two ancient clocks from Biggin Hill for a friend. I think the fuel cost more than the clocks!

Now yesterdays mission, if I chose to accept it, along with my two musketeers was to fly to St Marys on some island just off my favourite place (Cornwall) with a new tyre which need to be fitted to my Beech Bonanza and then I was to fly off the island from a 600 metre strip with a severe upward slope along the first 60% of the runway.

I have to say I was a little apprehensive but I thoroughly enjoyed my day out in the end and the Bonanza is safely back in Hangar 3 at Blackpool who look after G-FOZZ so well when it is not slumming it on a windswept island somewhere.

The flight down in M-GINZ was interesting as it was the first time I had been in a TB20 and also seemingly the first time a Manx registered plane had been into Scilly as they were confused about the registration.

The wind was 360 at 20 gusting 28 knots and the runway was 310 so it was an exciting approach. My willing volunteer pilot made a fantastic job of getting us down which if I am honest I didn't envy having to do. In the end the TB20 was stopped in under 300 metres with three on board so I couldn't grumble and within minutes we had the wheel changed and were off for a quick lunch in the island capital which was very nice. (if you have been to a nice village in Cornwall you will know what it looks like)

Now when it came to leaving I have to say I had a little apprehension about the take off run up a severe incline and only 600 metres to play with so like a gentleman I let a Warrior with only 140 horsepower go first, then my friend in the TB20 and assuming they didn't end in a field or the sea I deemed it fit to go. In fact I lifted off at the top of the hill with at least 250 metres remaining so it wasnt too bad. I would have been worried if I had been heavy however.

The flight home mostly at FL70 was great despite picking up a little ice. A pit stop at Sleap for tea and cakes in the cafe there run by a delightful filipino lady who made her own cakes. (If you are thinking of dropping in she is away for 6 weeks she says now).

Now the Bonanza A36 performed fantastically and it is the first day out playing in planes that I have been able to enjoy for a long time so I wasn't too unhappy about the mission but a word of caution for fellow pilots going in to Scilly. It really is a challenging runway and you must be very familiar with your steed if you want to avoid embarrassment or even death. Its a lovely place to visit but just make sure you are comfortable with your landing technique including crosswinds, short field, wind shear etc. The Scilly landing can provide you with all sorts of excitement and this tale proves that.

Having said all that dont let me put you off going there as it is a lovely place and well worth seeing.

How to get an A36 Bonanza well and truly stuck

Stuart Forrest — Sun, 23 Sep 2007 19:59:00 +0000

This weekend one of the members of my group took the Bonanza for his first away day trip and chose to go to the Isles of Scilly. A beautiful place just about 25 miles off the tip of Cornwall. Unfortunately the Bonanza was not to return.........

...........well at least not the same day because the pilot was to suffer a blow out on the runway that made news on the Scilly Isles, blocking the runway for a while.

Unfortunately Scilly does not have a maintenance facility and not even the equipment to jack up the Bonanza so the pilot was forced to leave the plane parked safely and return to Blackpool via a combination of a helicopter, a train and a long car journey.

The Bonanza A36 is currently well and truly stuck just off the runway at St Mary's so if you see a Beechcraft Bonanza looking sorry for itself with a flat tyre down there you please tell it I still love it and will be down soon. :)

I have the pleasure of going down on Wednesday with the new tyre and a mechanic with the appropriate jack to change the wheel and then fly out of the 600 metre airport that serves these lovely islands.

I am however strangely looking forward to it. Its a great excuse to take a day off work and go flying. Best of all I am getting a lift down in a well equipped TB20.

Its cold in a microlight. I love my A36

Stuart Forrest — Sun, 16 Sep 2007 18:00:00 +0000

Well recently I got the opportunity to have a flight in a microlight and I was pretty impressed with it.

A friend of a friend agreed to swap a flight in a Pegasus Flex Wing with a Rotax 912 engine that powers many light aircraft today with a flight in the Bonanza A36. It seemed a fair swap to me.

I visited the friends "hangar" which was a small but well organised shed in a farmers field in a secret location in deepest Lancashire. I was truly amazed at the power and performance of this machine. It was literally up and away before you could blink from a field to short to walk your dog.

The machine cruised at 55mph but could do a little more but frankly it was so cold at that speed I wouldn't really want to go much faster.

The view was amazing and the experience was great but I wouldnt want to swap my A36 Bonanza for one. Beechcraft are not in any danger of losing me as a customer just yet!

If I had £25k spare and a field big enough and Mrs F would allow me I would however have one of these things at home. They are great.

IMC in the Beech Bonanza A36 to Fairford Military Air Tattoo

Stuart Forrest — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 16:08:00 +0000

Yesterday I took the kids and granddad to Fairford for the Military Air Tattoo for the day. We flew out from Blackpool and I wasnt sure if you could actually fly into Fairford on the day so instead we flew into Kemble.

I have been self teaching weather which I have to say is skimpily covered in the PPL and I have begun to understand the types of conditions to expect when flying through frontal weather. Yesterday we were forecast to be flying towards a warm front and I expected a lowering cloudbase and wet showery weather and that is exactly what we got.

It is remarkably reassuring to find that the weather you expect is actually visible when you expect it. I was better prepared to deal with the conditions and in fact the flight was a relative non-event on the day so long as you didn't want to see much. The Bonanza A36 is a great machine for this type of IMC work and I fly pretty much everywhere on autopilot. I know many people will say I am not a proper pilot but I do sometimes turn it off and fly an approach but I feel that for the type of flying I do it is most important for me to be fully prepared and familiar with the equipment in the Bonanza so I use it all the time. My current area of practice is to get better with the Garmin 430's and I have been watching a series of videos from the FAA website that has helped me in this quest. My Bonanza A36 has two Garmin 430's fitted.

Thankfully the weather at Fairford was a bit better with a 3500ft cloudbase I think and the displays were excellent.

I felt I need to post my favourite picture of the day.

The return journey was much the same as the outgoing but as the front had moved north the cloudbases lowered as we approached Blackpool but again flying the plan worked out fine. The only slight difference on the way back was mild turbulence whereas the outbound journey was completely still. It is amazing how a few hundred foot change of altitude can change the level of turbulence or remove it completely. In this case I was able to position the Bonanza up or down just small amounts and stop the turbulence. I guess this is something to do with the slope of the front but I am not fully sorted on that bit yet.

I really enjoy flying IMC in the Bonanza A36. In fact in my flights this year it seems I rarely get to see anything out of the window. Perhaps I will have to start logging when I fly VFR instead of IMC time!

Bonanza A36 to Inverness and Back.

Stuart Forrest — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 16:38:00 +0000

Well that's my trip to Inverness done. I left on Monday in glorious weather at Blackpool although with slightly poor visibility and was forced to fly an ILS into Edinburgh to pick up one of my passengers and then carry on to Inverness where I flew yet another ILS due to poor weather.

Once on the ground in Inverness and onto my final destination the weather on Monday was magnificent but it just shows how much different it is when you leave the ground. I really don't think that the PPL syllabus covers enough about preparing you for the weather hazards that are around. I believe that people should have to take compulsory ground school and have some exposure to real weather during their first year or two flying.

There is so much to learn about flying that nobody tells you and you have to work out for yourself. I am lucky that I have some good contacts that know much more than me and I can call them up and ask the daft questions that arise.

On our return today the forecast was poor and without the IMC rating I would certainly have been stuck in Inverness (if I had got there in the first place) but thankfully I was able to depart and climb to a safe altitude and fly an ILS into Edinburgh and then another into Blackpool. The conditions at Blackpool were very wet and a very low cloud base but the Bonanza A36 is equipped well for the task.

En-route from Inverness to Edinburgh we picked up some icing at FL065 but a quick decent to FL055 got that melting off.

More experience and four ILS's in the memory bank. It was a very enjoyable trip and I am more impressed with the Beech Bonanza A36.

That Bonanza is going to think I dont love it.

Stuart Forrest — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 19:57:00 +0000

Work and kids mean I am not getting to fly much just lately. Just been away on business and was going to go in the plane but on the day I was due to go, horrendous weather over France scuppered that. If I had waited until the next day (which was an option) then I could have gone fine but the forecast looked rubbish so I went on Sleezyjet and left the Bonanza at home sadly.

Next week I have to go to Edinburgh and then onto Inverness on Monday and back on Wednesday so this is the perfect trip for this plane. Its a nice distance and a journey that would take me months by car I think so I am looking forward to it. I hope the weather remains reasonably nice so the trip is kind to one of my passengers who is a very nervous flyer. Fingers crossed that his faith in Beech Bonanza travel will be restored by this trip.

Interestingly at Barcelona airport where I had to fly to last week I spotted the Spanish version of G-FOZZ.

Beech Bonanza A36 to the Isle Of Wight

Stuart Forrest — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 20:12:00 +0000

Well I have always fancied the Isle of Wight in the Bonanza but never quite got there but today we made it after one hour fifteen minutes of flying time from Blackpool. I would like to say it was a great day for flying but the visibility was absolutely awful but the Bonanza A36 is a great machine for this sort of stuff.

I parked it at 5000ft and with a bit of careful routing we stayed there all the way and it was dead smooth and so long as you didn't want to see much it was perfect conditions. Apparently Blackpool was fog bound during the day but thankfully it cleared enough for us to make it back in.

The Bonanza A36 is a great load lugger with 2 adults, 4 kids, a double buggy, two picnic bags, several changes of clothes and easily slipping in and out of the Isle of Wight's grass strip which is just a walk from the beech. We are so lucky to be able to do this I think.

We didn't see much of the island apart from the beach where we basked in the globally warmed unseasonable sunshine and the kids had a great time.

If I was an MP you could vote for me and my aviation friendly policy. Personally I would vote for a bit more aviation pollution to help crank up UK temperatures just a couple more degrees then think about all the flying that will be saved by people not having to go to Spain for their holidays. A novel way to cut pollution you see!

Bonanza A36 Alternator Bushes replaced

Stuart Forrest — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 19:19:00 +0000

For the second time in two years we have needed to replace the alternator bushes on the Bonanza. This was fixed last time about two annuals ago and about 150 hours flying time so the fix hasn't lasted too long. The other option was to replace the whole alternator which “may” make the bushes last longer apparently but they are also notorious for not lasting very long on Beechcraft Bonanza's. In other words unless it happens more frequently we will stick with replacing the bushes as required.

Bonanza A36 Group is now full

Stuart Forrest — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 17:16:00 +0000

We have had a great response to the G-FOZZ Bonanza A36 group meeting and I am pleased to say that we have welcomed two new members to the group and this means that we are full. G-FOZZ will always remain a very limited group so there is plenty of availability for the members so if you fancy joining the group let me know and I can keep you on file for the future. For the forseeable future however you have missed your chance I am afraid.

Modes S Transponder for the A36

Stuart Forrest — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 17:22:00 +0000

Recently like most people I have been scrambling around to find out what I should be doing about Mode S for the Bonanza. Obviously by now for an IFR plane like the A36 it should be done and dusted but like many people I felt it would be better to ignore it and hope it went away but it didn't.

I have now narrowed down the company to fit a Mode S transponder to G-FOZZ. It is going to be done at Tatenhill Aviation. We are just firming up a date but it is likely to be in May.

They have told me that currently there is very little loss to only having the Mode C in UK airspace as only London TMA is Mode S at the moment. Apparently in France and Germany there is more Mode S Airspace and details can be found on Euro Control Website. Apparently it changes often as they add more airspace before it all becomes Modes S next March.

It really annoys me that in the US you get full traffic service but in Europe our governments do not have the foresight to enable this feature. If it saved just one life it would be worth everyone paying out loads of cash to have them fitted but unfortunately it wont. It makes me really angry. What could have been a great safety benefit especially for light aviation has been skipped over.

Meeting re pilots flying in the G-FOZZ Bonanza A36 group

Stuart Forrest — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 21:23:00 +0000

We are meeting on the 28th March 2007 at 8pm to discuss the future arrangements for the members of the G-FOZZ flying group. If you are interested in becoming a no-equity member in the group then give me a call on 07880 736073 and we can have a chat.

Get to fly one of the nicest piston engine planes there is for very little investment. We are looking for a couple of very sensible and careful pilots to join us in contributing to the running costs of this machine without having the commitment of an upfront fee.

This is a £200,000 aeroplane and quite unlike the hire machines you can fly at most airfields.

Granny and Gramps to Castle Kennedy

Stuart Forrest — Sun, 25 Mar 2007 20:51:00 +0000

I really have discovered a jewel of an airfield in South West Scotland called Castle Kennedy. I have often overflown the strip but before Xmas I managed to land there and go for a lovely lunch in a hotel across from the airfield.

We were looking for somewhere to go on today to take Granny who had never been in the Bonanza to date) and Gramps out with Mrs F and my son Max and time wasn't on our side as we had to be back in Blackpool for 5pm so it needed to be somewhere near and is just half an hour (90 miles) from Blackpool in the A36 Bonanza. In the past my choice would have been Kirkbride just this side of the Solway Firth but recently they changed their friendly club house to be no access to non members and our kids just don't like going their as much.

Castle Kennedy is owned by the extremely helpful Jamie and Mrs Stair of Stair Estates who are incredibly welcoming and I believe actively trying to encourage visitors to make the airfield more viable. They have started to restore much of the old runway and although the official length is 600 metres it is actually much much longer than that because the 600 metres is in the middle of an older and much longer runway that is not in too bad a state unless you have a jet.The Bonanza is in its element going into places like this.

There is not loads to see and do around the airfield in walking distance apart from the Plantings Inn which does lovely food and I believe Stair Estates are developing an attraction centred around a very old castle structure which is about 15 minutes walk from the airfield. Give them a call and they can tell you more.

I cant stress enough what a nice place this is to fly into. It is not very busy (yet perhaps) but is in lovely countryside and has interesting approaches from one end.

Myself and Mrs Forrest and our happy little family will certainly be regular visitors.

Castle Kennedy Airfield

I wish I could own an airfield like Castle Kennedy!!

Death of two pilots from Blackpool and the cost of practice

Stuart Forrest — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 13:42:00 +0000

I was, like everyone I am sure, very saddened to hear of the death of two pilots at Blackpool on Saturday. I am not sure of the conditions and problems they were faced with but it does make you aware of the dangers of flying. It doesn't put me off but makes me keener to learn everything I can to make my flights as safe as possible.

I now know of 4 pilots (and six people) from Blackpool in the last five years that have died in crashes. Two of them that I have met and spoken to personally (not the two from Friday).

It really shows how careful you have to be and how much practice you need to become safer. It therefore really annoys me that governments are not working to make safety in aviation cheaper to attain. Clearly currency for pilots is vital but currency comes a t a huge cost because of the ridiculous red tape around light aviation. Sure the red tape saves lives but how many does it take by making it so expensive that people cant practice this hobby more.

Owning my own plane I have realised how ridiculously expensive it is and this is discouraging me from flying as often as I would like to. Surely all the over the top servicing requirements have to filter through to the pilot who rents a plane so the costs are too high for them to fly often and remain proficient. That frustrates me.

If my plane does not move from the last annual inspection to the next it costs me still the price of a full annual inspection. We are talking about £4000 here. That is ludicrous. It means that for every hour my A36 Bonanza flies there is about £40 just in annual inspection fees!

The new compulsory insurance for the Bonanza costs me over £5,000 per year. That's another £50 per hour.

The list goes on and on.

Bonanza A36 slow speed handling

Stuart Forrest — Sat, 03 Feb 2007 13:36:00 +0000

I went out on Friday to have a flight to get me back in practice and decided to do some slow speed handling in the Bonanza. Its not often I do this as I usually take off, turn on the auto pilot and press a few more buttons then land.

It was amazing just how differently the A36 handled when flying at about 100 knots with no flap down. In fact it was plain scary, how mushy the handling becomes. I guess it is like this so you have no excuse for recognising the signs of a stall.

Next chance I get I am going to go out again and get some height and try some stalls while on a simulated approach. I have always thought that is is funny that you practice stalls with the nose of the plane in the air but actually the most likely and dangerous time you will stall is when going slow in the circuit and perhaps when turning on finals or something. I guess its more important to practice in that configuration.

A36 Beech Bonanza Useage for the year 2006

Stuart Forrest — Fri, 29 Dec 2006 15:08:00 +0000

I have to say that just lately I have been using the plane far less than I would have liked.

After aiming for a hundred hours at the start of the year I managed a miserly 55. Just over half way I suppose but less than I would have liked by a good margin. Part of my plan this year was to use the plane for our honeymoon but time and cost constraints meant that we went by Easyjet. This lopped a good 12 hours off my times but the rest I am afraid is down to work and family commitments. Thankfully the plane is used by a couple of other people and that helps contribute to its upkeep but between four of us we managed in total only about 100 hours.

Try again next year I suppose!

A xmas trip to Castle Kennedy in the Bonanza

Stuart Forrest — Thu, 21 Dec 2006 15:06:00 +0000

Today was another one of those excuses to use the Bonanza A36.

I decided that as my development team had worked very hard and just finished an important project i would take them on a lunch in the Bonanza and we chose an airfield and restaurant near Stranraer. The airfield is called Castle Kennedy and is owned by the very friendly Lord Stair.

I have tried to go to this previously disused airfield on several occasions since it reopened that the Lord Stairs efforts but for various reasons including weather and other things happening at the airfield I have never made it but today was different.

Castle Kennedy requires that you book in first which we did with Stair Estates very helpful office and then we made the trip on a day when traffic all over the UK was grounded due to fog. The Northwest had reasonable visibility and South West Scotland's was excellent. The main runway (26) is about 1500 metres long at least but is mostly poorly surfaced but Lord Stair has been gradually creating a newly tarmaced area which now stretches to a little over 600 metres. He intends to make this even longer but frankly this was fine in the Bonanza even at nearly max weight with five adults on board because of the huge run off areas at both ends and the sides which are usable for most light planes I would guess. If you get it slightly wrong on approach you will probably over run onto some rough tarmac but I have landed on rougher grass.

Lord Stair kindly met us at the intersection of the cross runway which is still disused and after some pleasantries he ran us down to the pub/restaurant which is across a road from the very end of 26.

We enjoyed a very nice lunch at the pub owned by a couple from Lancashire then crossed the road back into the airfield and walked back down 26 to where we left the plane. I was surprised just how long the runway was when you are walking it!

I have to say that although there isn't much going on at Castle Kennedy yet this should be on anyones list if you are looking for a trip out. The restaurant was nice and reasonably priced and beats airport food and Castle Kennedy is an easy airfield to fly into despite its reported 600 metres and Lord Stair is spending the landing fees (£10) on repairing more of the runway for future generations. I will definitely go back again soon.

The return flight was a chance to get above the clouds and my passengers were amazed when we popped back through at Blackpool and it was nearly dark. All in all a lovely day out.

Wolverhampton in the Bonanza A36

Stuart Forrest — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 18:58:00 +0000

Today I had the opportunity to attend a none too exciting meeting in Wolverhampton but thankfully it was an excuse to fly which I have not had often. I accepted the invitation.

The flight took about 30 minutes on the way there and was uneventful and on the way back we flew back across the Welsh mountains towards EGCK and at about 5,000ft we picked up light icing when going in and out of cloud. I descended at the earliest opportunity down towards the Menai straights. The rest of the flight was uneventful.

The whole journey there and back including a detour over Wales took 1.5 hours. Now that is a wonderful example of the time saving that can be had when flying assuming all the flying gods come together.

Lack of flying in the Bonanza A36

Stuart Forrest — Sat, 16 Sep 2006 12:21:00 +0000

I have managed about another 10 hours since my TT trip. All was going well towards my 100 hour target this year but then our wedding took charge and my jobs in the garden, preparing for a Marquee etc took priority.

Because I got absolutely no time to plan it my intended honeymoon around France in G-FOZZ was watered down to a direct flight to Nice where we decided to stay. At the last minute due to lack of time to prepare for my longest flight ever I chickened out and decided to book on Easyjet. The flight on G-FOZZ didnt happen :(

Since my return from honeymoon at the end of July I flew only once in August to take my mum out for her birthday. Since then I have been away on holiday twice more (yes I know, three holidays in six weeks!) and so I have had no time to fly the Bonanza A36.

During this time we took advantage and brought the annualinspection forward a month and so I have not missed too much flying. I cant wait to get going again but now work is interfering. One day I may get to fly.

Owning a plane is an expensive hobby, it feels more expensive if you never actually get to do it!

Meeting in London in Bonanza at Max weight

Stuart Forrest — Sun, 10 Sep 2006 13:42:00 +0000

I had a requirement to attend a meeting in the cityon the 1st of November and decided to take the Bonanza A36. Interestingly I was to fly it at max weight which I dont often do. More interestingly it was with half fuel but four big blokes including myself at 14.5 stone and one guy who was nearer 30 stone.

I chose Stapleford because of the good transport links. On approach to Stapleford I was somewhat aware of the extra load as normally I fly about two thirds full with my whole family of six on board so I carried some extra speed and made the mistake of taking full flap with a 15 knot crosswind going directly across the runway.

For those who have not been into Stapleford, the runway starts with grass and goes down hill. This was also very disconcerting and all in all I made a poor landing, drifting to the very right of the runway. I wasnt happy or proud of that one.

I have to say that I can see why it is always a series of things that contribute to an accident because of all of the different factors that contriubted to my poor landing could easily have made it a very poor one. Luckily I had enough experience to sort it out that day but in hindsight I believe that was mainly because it was my own plane that I fly often and also because the Beech Bonanza A36 is such a stable platform for landing. I know now that I should have gone around that day and tried again to get more sorted out.

I have since practised my crosswind landings (which I had not done for years) and feel much more at ease with what I would do next time given the same circumstances.

The meeting was uneventful and so too was the flight home.

By Bonanza to the Isle of Man for the TT

Stuart Forrest — Sun, 04 Jun 2006 12:11:00 +0000

I always seem to become popular around the time of the TT. I think it is something to do with owning a 6 seat plane and having access to the TT by way of a 20 minute flight from Blackpool to the Isle of Man.

This year I got a call from a guy who wanted to know if I fancied flying him and his two friends to the Island in the Bonanza and they would share the cost and take me along to see the race from a good spot.

I leapt at the chance having nothing on that day and me and Max, my 18 month old son went for a day out with our new friends.

As it happened the guys we went with were friends with the main sponsor of the best rider and consequently we had a wonderful day out with a lovely meal, great views and made somne new friends. Thanks to the Bonanza me and Max have a wonderful day to add to our memory banks. Thankyou G-FOZZ