My first hour in a complex aircraft, the Beech V35B

With the ownership formalities almost complete, today was the first day
of my transition to a complex aircraft, a '73 Beech Bonanza V35B. On
this cold but clear Northeast US afternoon, the instructor and soon-to-
be-previous owner both took turns flying the first leg while I sat in
the back, taking note of the particulars of leaning a turbo-normalized,
Gami-injected engine.

After a short climb, cruse, and descent demonstration, the owner landed
at a sleepy uncontrolled airport, taxied down to the approach end, then
shut it down. We all swapped seats so that the s-t-b-previous owner was
in the back, I was in the left seat, and the instructor was in the right
for the beginning of my instruction.

It was apparent that my 550 hours of experience in a slower, high-wing
aircraft etched a different outside picture than what I was now seeing.
I was not used to all that visibility in the V35 and my first
inclination was to climb steeper on takeoff than was comfortable for the
previous owner (and ultimately, the aircraft's engine). Lower the nose
a bit, gear up, prop back to 2500 RPM, and retrim. 110 kts on the
climb.

At level cruise, I had a tendency to drift up 300 to 500 fpm. Again, at
this attitude the extra visibility fooled me into thinking the aircraft
was in a descent, causing me to subconsciously pitch up.

The instructor requested a few turns, then sent me back to the
uncontrolled airport for my first landing. Slow down before entering
the 45, gear down, which dropped the airspeed from 140 to about 110 kts,
then turn downwind. Wow, are we moving fast on the downwind.

GUMPS check on downwind, turn base, GUMPS check on base, turn final,
GUMPS check on final. Yep, the was gear still down.

My first landing was a bit slow, as I pulled power back too fast on
short final. The stall warning horn went off about a second before
mains touched. The previous owner commented that I was too slow. Did I
mention that I had a different outside approach picture than the one I
was used to?

We pulled off the runway, I cleaned it up, then back to the approach end
for my second takeoff and return to our class C airport. Twilight was
now turning to night, so by the time we reached the class C airport, my
second landing in this aircraft was a night landing.

This time, I slowly pulled power back as we crossed the fence and was
able to maintain a more comfortable airspeed right to a smooth
touchdown. As a few Bonanza owners in this group commented, this
aircraft does appear to land easily.

On the ground and in the warmth of the FBO, the instructor and I had an
informative debriefing. I then scheduled him for several more days over
the next two weeks. This will be a challenging, yet fun transition.

--
Peter







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