Beechcraft Bonanza

The Beechcraft Bonanza is an American general aviation aircraft introduced in 1947 by Beech Aircraft Corporation of Wichita, Kansas. The four-to-six seat, single-engined aircraft has been in continuous production longer than any other aircraft in history. More than 17,000 Bonanzas of all variants have been built, produced in both distinctive V-tail and conventional-tail configurations; early conventional-tail versions were marketed as the Debonair.
In November 2025, Textron Aviation announced that the Bonanza and the Beechcraft Baron were ceasing production once the final backlog of orders was filled. Textron assured existing owners that parts, maintenance, and support for the Bonanza will continue to be provided.

Design and development

At the end of World War II, two all-metal light aircraft emerged, the four-seat Model 35 Bonanza and the five-seat Cessna 195 -- both cruising up to 170 mph, but representing very different approaches to the premium end of the postwar civil-aviation market. The Cessna 195 -- with its high-wing, a 300-horsepower, seven-cylinder radial engine, fixed tailwheel undercarriage, and roll-down side windows -- was a continuation of prewar technology. The Bonanza, however, initially featured an easier-to-manage, 185-horsepower, horizontally opposed, six-cylinder engine, retractable tricycle undercarriage and low-wing configuration.
Designed by a team led by Ralph Harmon, the model 35 Bonanza was a relatively fast, low-wing, all-aluminum design, at a time when most light aircraft were still made with wood and fabric. The Model 35 featured retractable landing gear, and its signature V-tail. The prototype 35 Bonanza made its first flight on December 22, 1945, with the type receiving an airworthiness certificate on March 25, 1947. Production began that year. The first 30–40 Bonanzas produced had fabric-covered flaps and ailerons, after which those surfaces were covered with magnesium alloy sheet.
The Bonanza family eventually comprised three major variants:

Model 35 Bonanza
Model 33 Debonair or Bonanza
Model 36 Bonanza

The Model 33 Debonair was introduced in 1960 as a lower-priced model with more austere standard instrumentation, exterior equipment, paint schemes, and interior fabrics and trim than the more prestigious V-tail Bonanza. However, most Bonanza features were available as factory options on the Debonair, and by the mid 1960s, most Debonair buyers were ordering most or all of these options. Realizing this, Beechcraft dropped the Debonair name and most of the basic and seldom-ordered standard features with the introduction of the E33 in 1968.
Despite its name, the Twin Bonanza is a substantially wider and heavier aircraft that is mostly dissimilar to the single-engined Bonanza; the only major shared parts are the front fuselage sides, windows, and main cabin door. However, the Twin Bonanza had trouble competing with the similarly capable but substantially lighter Cessna 310 and Piper PA-23, so Beechcraft used the basic Bonanza fuselage and many other Bonanza parts to create the twin-engined Travel Air, which was later developed into the Baron.

Operational history

The V-tail design gained a reputation as the "forked-tail doctor killer", due to crashes by overconfident wealthy amateur pilots, fatal accidents, and in-flight breakups. "Doctor killer" has sometimes been used to describe the conventional-tailed version as well. However, a detailed analysis by the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association of accident records for common single-engine retractable-gear airplanes in the United States between 1982 and 1989 found that the Bonanza had a slightly lower accident rate than other types in the study. Pilot error was cited in 73% of V-tail crashes and 83% of conventional-tail crashes, with aircraft-related causes accounting for 15% and 11% of crashes respectively. However, the study noted that the aircraft had an unusually high incidence of gear-up landings and inadvertent landing gear retractions on the ground, which were attributed to a non-standard gear-retraction switch on early models that is easily confused with the switch that operates the flaps. Models starting in 1984 use a more distinctive relocated landing-gear switch, augmented by "squat switches" in the landing gear that prevent its operation while compressed by the aircraft's weight, and a throttle position switch that prevents gear retraction at low engine power settings.
In 1982, the production of the V-tail Model 35 ended. In the late 1980s, repeated V-tail structural failures prompted the United States Department of Transportation and Federal Aviation Administration to conduct extensive wind tunnel and flight tests, which proved that the V-tail did not meet type certification standards under certain conditions; the effort culminated with the issuance of an airworthiness directive to strengthen the tail, which significantly reduced the incidence of in-flight breakups. Despite this, Beech has long contended that most V-tail failures involve operations well beyond the aircraft's intended flight envelope.
Subsequent analysis of National Transportation Safety Board accident records between 1962 and 2007 revealed an average of three V-tail structural failures per year, while the conventional-tailed Bonanza 33 and 36 suffered only eleven such failures in total during the same 45 years. Most V-tail failures involved flight under visual flight rules into instrument meteorological conditions, flight into thunderstorms, or airframe icing.
In addition to the structural issues, the Bonanza 35 has a relatively narrow center of gravity envelope, and the tail design is intolerant of imbalances caused by damage, improper maintenance, or repainting. Such imbalances may induce dangerous aeroelastic flutter. Due to the anodic properties of the magnesium used for the V-tail ruddervator skins, they tend to corrode, often resulting in permanent grounding of affected aircraft because the problem can only be fixed by complete replacement of the skins or the entire empennage, and the required parts are no longer available. The American Bonanza Society has issued a reward of $500,000 to encourage the development of aftermarket replacement skins under a supplemental type certificate. Despite these issues, many Bonanza 35 owners insist that the aircraft is reasonably safe, and its reputation has resulted in reduced purchase costs for budget-conscious buyers.
The conventional-tail Model 33 continued in production until 1995. Still built today is the Model 36 Bonanza, a longer-bodied, straight-tail variant of the original design, introduced in 1968. No Bonanzas were delivered in 2021, but on April 10, 2022, it was announced that production of the Bonanza G36 had restarted.
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 and that have forwarded elevator control cables that are 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 requesting that the elevator control cables be inspected during the annual inspection.

QU-22 Pave Eagle

The QU-22B was a Beech 36/A36 Bonanza modified during the Vietnam War to be an electronic monitoring signal relay aircraft, developed under the project name "Pave Eagle" for the United States Air Force. An AiResearch turbocharged, reduction-geared Continental GTSIO-520-G engine was used to reduce its noise signature, much like the later Army-Lockheed YO-3A. These aircraft were intended to be used as unmanned drones to monitor seismic and acoustic sensors dropped along the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos and report troop and supply movements. When the project was put into operation in 1968, however, the aircraft were all flown by pilots of the 554th Reconnaissance Squadron Detachment 1, call sign "Vampire". A separate operation "Compass Flag" monitored the General Directorate of Rear Services along the Ho Chi Minh Trail, linking to the 6908th security squadron.
Six YQU-22A prototypes were combat-tested in 1968, and two were lost during operations, with a civilian test pilot killed. Twenty-seven QU-22Bs were modified, using Beech Baron wings -- 13 in 1969 and 14 in 1970, with six lost in combat. Two Air Force pilots were killed in action. All the losses were due to engine failures or effects of turbulence. A large cowl bump above the spinner was faired-in for an AC current generator, and a higher weight set of Baron wings and spars were used to handle the fuel load.

Variants

Model 35 Bonanza

;35
;A35
; B35
; C35
;35R
; D35
; E35
; F35
; G35
; H35
; J35
; K35
; M35
; N35
; O35
; P35
; S35
; V35
;V35A
;V35B
;UC-35
;B.S.5

Model 33 Debonair/Bonanza

; 35-33 Debonair
; 35-A33 Debonair
; B33 Debonair
; C33 Debonair
; C33A Debonair
; D33
; E33 Bonanza
; E33A Bonanza
; E33B Bonanza
; E33C Bonanza
; F33 Bonanza
; F33A Bonanza
; F33C Bonanza
; G33 Bonanza

Model 36 Bonanza

;36
;A36
;A36AT
;A36TC
;T36TC
;B36TC
; G36

QU-22

;YQU-22A
;YAU-22A
;QU-22B

Model 40

;Model 40

Modifications

;Allison Turbine Bonanza
;Continental Voyager Bonanza
;Propjet Bonanza
;TurbineAir Bonanza
;Whirlwind System II Turbonormalized Bonanza
;Whirlwind TCP Bonanza
;Bay Super V
;Parastu 14

Operators

Civil

The Bonanza is popular with air charter companies, and is operated by private individuals and companies.
In 1949, Turner Airlines commenced operations using three V-tail Bonanzas. That same year,
Central Airlines began operations using eight Bonanzas, later adding three more to the fleet before starting to phase them out in 1950 in favor of the Douglas DC-3.

Military

;

Notable flights

In January 1949, the fourth Bonanza to come off the production line was piloted by Captain William Odom from Honolulu, Hawaii, to the continental United States, the first light airplane to do so. The airplane was called Waikiki Beech, and its 40-gallon fuel capacity was increased to 268 gallons, which gave a still-air range of nearly 5,000 statute miles.
In March 1949, Captain Odom piloted Waikiki Beech a distance of from Honolulu to Teterboro, New Jersey, setting a nonstop record. The flight time was 36:01 hours, at an average speed of, consuming of fuel. After that flight, the airplane was donated to the Smithsonian Institution's National Air Museum, as the National [Air and Space Museum] was then called.
On October 7, 1951, an American congressman from Illinois, Peter F. Mack, Jr., began an around-the-world trip in Waikiki Beech, on loan from the museum and reconditioned at the Beech factory, and renamed Friendship Flame. He spent 15 weeks traveling through 30 countries. The plane was again refurbished in 1975 and returned to the National Air and Space Museum. It is still on display there, with both names painted on its sides.
On May 31, 2014, 19-year-old MIT student Matt Guthmiller from Aberdeen, South Dakota, departed Gillespie Field in El Cajon, California, in a 1981 A36 Bonanza on a 44-day-12-hour solo circumnavigation, making him the Guinness World Record holder as the youngest person to fly solo around the world when he landed back in El Cajon on July 14, 2014, at 19 years, 7 months, and 15 days of age. During 170 hours of flight time, he made 23 stops in 15 countries on five continents, and covered about, while raising awareness for computer science education and supporting Code.org.
Accidents and incidents
On October 28, 1947, Oregon Governor Earl Snell, Oregon Secretary of State Robert S. Farrell Jr., and State Senate President Marshall E. Cornett were killed along with pilot Cliff Hogue when their Bonanza 35 crashed in stormy weather southwest of Dog Lake in Lake County, Oregon.
On January 26, 1952, Zubeida Begum and Hanwant Singh, Maharaja of Jodhpur, died when their Beechcraft Bonanza crashed in Godwar, India. Hanwant Singh was overworked while campaigning for elections and is reported to have been sleeping only four hours a night. The wreckage from this crash was discovered in storage in the cellar of the Central Jail in Jodhpur in 2011.
On July 31, 1955, the rising Hollywood star Robert Francis died with two others when the Bonanza he was piloting crashed immediately after take-off from Burbank Airport.
On February 3, 1959, rock and roll stars Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and The Big Bopper, as well as pilot Roger Peterson, died when their Beechcraft Bonanza 35, registration N3794N, crashed shortly after takeoff at night in poor weather. The accident in northern Iowa later became known as "The Day the Music Died", after Don McLean referred to it by that name in his song "American Pie".
On July 31, 1964, country music star Jim Reeves and his pianist Dean Manuel died when the Beechcraft Debonair N8972M Reeves was piloting crashed in the Brentwood area of Nashville during a violent thunderstorm.
On February 14, 1975, Congressman Jerry Pettis was killed when the Beechcraft Model V35B Bonanza he was piloting crashed near Cherry Valley, California, after he encountered adverse weather conditions. The Jerry Pettis Memorial Veterans Administration Hospital in Loma Linda, California, is named in his honor.
On February 7, 1981, Apple Computer cofounder Steve Wozniak crashed his Beechcraft Bonanza while taking off from Santa Cruz Sky Park. The NTSB investigation revealed Wozniak did not have a "high performance" endorsement and had a "lack of familiarity with the aircraft." The cause of the crash was determined to be a premature liftoff, followed by a stall and "mush" into a 12-foot embankment. Wozniak later made a full recovery, albeit with a case of temporary anterograde amnesia.
On March 19, 1982, Ozzy Osbourne's guitarist Randy Rhoads was killed when the wing of the Bonanza F35 in which he was riding hit the band's tour bus then crashed into a tree and a nearby residence. Both of the other people on the aircraft, pilot Andrew Aycock and Osbourne's makeup artist Rachel Youngblood, also died in the crash. The NTSB cited the causes of the crash as poor judgement, buzzing, and misjudged clearance, as well as indicating that the use of the aircraft was not authorized by the aircraft's owner.
On January 14, 1996, Armenian-Turkish musician Onno Tunç died when a private Bonanza crashed in bad weather on a mountain at Tazdağ near Selimiye village of Armutlu, Yalova on his journey from Bursa to Istanbul.
On March 13, 2006, game show host Peter Tomarken crashed his Bonanza A36 into Santa Monica Bay while climbing from Santa Monica Airport in California. He was en route to San Diego to pick up a cancer patient who needed transportation to UCLA Medical Center for treatment. Tomarken and his wife were killed in the crash.
On July 23, 2014, Haris Suleman, a Pakistani-American pilot attempting to fly around the world in 30 days to promote education, crashed his Beechcraft Bonanza in the Pacific Ocean, killing him and leaving his father Babar Suleman, also on board, missing.
Specifications (2011 model G36)