Beechcraft Twin Bonanza

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beechcraft_Twin_Bonanza

The Beechcraft Model 50 Twin Bonanza is a small twin-engined aircraft designed
by Beechcraft as an executive transport for the business market. It was
developed to fill a gap in Beechcraft's product line between the single-engined
Model 35 Bonanza and the larger Model 18. The Twin Bonanza is about 50% larger
than the Bonanza, has more powerful engines, and is significantly heavier, while
in its earliest form having only half the passenger capacity of the Model 18.

The Twin Bonanza is not a true twin-engined derivative of the Bonanza since the
cabin is wider and longer, however it did use some of the tooling jigs for the
Bonanza as did the Travel Air (which was a closer derivative designed later).

The Twin Bonanza was first flown on November 15, 1949 after rapid development,
begun only in April of that year. The Model 50's type certificate was awarded in
1951, and production began the same year. The United States Army adopted the
Twin Bonanza as the L-23 Seminole utility transport, making it the largest
fixed-wing aircraft in its inventory at that time. According to Ralph Harmon,
the airplane's designer, during an initial demonstration flight for the Army,
Claude Palmer, a Beechcraft Demonstration Test Pilot, crashed while trying to
land over a 50-foot (15 m) tree line while full of soldiers and sandbags.
Everyone on board walked away from the crash. The Army was impressed with the
structural strength of the Twin Bonanza, eventually purchasing 216 of the 994
examples produced. It was also the first twin-engined aircraft in its class to
be offered to the business market, but the Korean War was raging in the early
1950s and the US Army took almost the entire production for 1952 and 1953. The
Beechcraft Model 65 Queen Air and Model 90 King Air are both direct descendents
of the Model 50 Twin Bonanza. All three aircraft share the same basic wing
design, as well as landing gear, flaps, instrument panels, fuel cells, and more.
The Queen Air added a larger cabin to the design, while the later King Air added
turbine power and pressurization. Twin Bonanza production ended in 1963 while
the King Air was under development.

In January 2012 the Australian Civil Aviation Safety Authority issued an
airworthiness directive grounding all Bonanzas, Twin Bonanzas and Debonairs
equipped with a single pole-style yoke, having forward elevator control cables
more than 15 years old, until they could be inspected. The AD was issued based
on two aircraft found to have frayed cables, one of which suffered a cable
failure just prior to takeoff and resulting concerns about the age of the cables
in fleet aircraft of this age. At the time of the grounding some Bonanzas had
reached 64 years in service. Aircraft with frayed cables were grounded until the
cables were replaced and those that passed inspection were required to have
their cables replaced within 60 days regardless. The AD affected only Australian
aircraft and was not adopted by the airworthiness authority responsible for the
type certificate, the US Federal Aviation Administration. The FAA instead opted
to issue a Special Airworthiness Information Bulletin (SAIB) requesting that the
elevator control cables be inspected during the annual inspection.


Role
Utility aircraft

Manufacturer
Beech Aircraft Corporation

First flight
November 15, 1949

Introduction
1951

Status
Active

Primary user
Private operators

Produced
1951–1961

Number built
975 (includes 195 L-23)

Variants
L-23/U-8 Seminole

Developed into
Beechcraft Queen Air


The Twin Bonanza is an all-metal low-wing cantilever cabin monoplane initially
powered by two wing-mounted Lycoming GO-435 piston engines each with a wooden
two-bladed propeller. The cabin has room for six people on bench seats, three in
the front and three in the rear accessed by a side door on the right side. To
gain access to the door a retractable three-tread steps is used. The Twin
Bonanza has a tricycle landing gear with the nose wheel retracting rearwards and
the main landing gears retracting partially into the engine nacelles, this
leaves the tire exposed to assist in the event of a wheels-up landing.

Specifications (D50)

General characteristics
Crew: 1
Capacity: 5 passengers
Length: 31 ft 6 in (9.60 m)
Wingspan: 45 ft 3 in (13.79 m)
Height: 11 ft 4 in (3.45 m)
Wing area: 277 sq ft (25.7 m2)
Aspect ratio: 7.51:1
Empty weight: 3,981 lb (1,806 kg)
Gross weight: 6,300 lb (2,858 kg)
Fuel capacity: 180 US gal (150 imp gal; 680 L)
Powerplant: 2 × Lycoming GO-480-C206 air-cooled flat-six, 295 hp (220 kW) each

Performance
Maximum speed: 214 mph (344 km/h; 186 kn) at 2,500 ft (760 m)
Cruise speed: 203 mph (327 km/h; 176 kn) at 7,000 ft (2,100 m) (70% power)
Range: 1,650 mi (1,434 nmi; 2,655 km) at 10,000 ft (3,000 m) and 160 mph (140
kn; 260 km/h)
Service ceiling: 20,000 ft (6,100 m)
Rate of climb: 1,450 ft/min (7.4 m/s)
Take-off run to 50 ft (15 m): 410 yd (1,230 ft; 370 m)
Landing run from 50 ft (15 m): 458 yd (1,374 ft; 419 m)





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