I’ve learned that I am, in-fact, a sucker for classic GA aircraft. Over the last several months, Asobo and Carenado have partnered together to bring us several including some Beechcraft classics like the Model 17 Staggerwing, the classic Model 18 and now we have the retro-futuristic Bonanza V35. It’s just come out and I’ve done a flight with it and decided that I’d do a first impressions piece now and then you’ll get much more out of a full review later.
Just a bit of history
I intend to dig into the history of the Bonanza much more deeply in time for the full review but I wanted to do a bit of an overview anyways so you know what this plane is about.
Six seat, single engine, and sporting classic lines, Beechcraft introduced the Bonanza back in 1947 and the type has been in continuous production ever since. It is the longest running aircraft line in history according to my reading so far. Although it hasn’t been produced in the numbers of the Cessna 172 series, there are still 17,000 Bonanza’s that have flown off the production line since its introduction. Not a small number!
The type proved popular and it was designed to be an airplane that returning war vets might find appealing after spending time in combat aircraft like the P-51 Mustang. The v-tail design just helps cement that forward looking appeal.
Visuals & sounds
Every time I review a Carenado aircraft I say roughly the same thing. My first impressions of the visuals in with the Bonanza V35 is that they are outstanding. Almost indistinguishable from the real thing, Carenado’s artists have once again knocked it out the park both inside and out.
I still need to have a close inspection of some of the fine details but I can say that on first inspection that this is a beautiful aircraft.
The sound is a typical Carenado effort. It’s good and it has all of those extra airframe squeaks and tire squeals that I’ve come to expect from them. The engine noise is adequate but never fully pleasing as it continues to have that slight drone feeling to it. Still, I’ve taken some of their other types on long distance runs and it usually fades into the background.
Flying it (so far)
So far I’ve done a few circuits and a longer distance cruise from Catalina island to Los Angeles and back. It was very well behaved in my experience although I haven’t put it into more extreme circumstances.
Takeoff was easily managed with just a little counter rudder needed to keep things going true. Turns are, as I’ve read in pilot notes, very well coordinated on their own with little or no rudder really needed. That’s the advantage of the V-tail evidently!
This airplane has a GNS530 paired with a semi-modern autopilot system. There’s a transponder and all of the other usual features that you’d want to have in a cross country aircraft. You can absolutely take this airplane on one of those long distance journeys without issue and you’ll do it at speed with 160 knots indicated kicking in without effort. It might just replace the Beech 18 on my US cross country tour.
Landing was similarly relatively good although I did not anticipate the speed loss when I kicked in the landing flaps and I nearly bought it on landing. Note to self to keep the speed and power up a bit!
I also was so carried away looking at the airplane that I forgot to switch the fuel tank and I nearly crashed it until I found the fuel lever and switched to the right tank. Again, oops, and note to self. Bad habits and all!
I haven’t done stall testing or crosswind landings or anything like that yet so more to come there.
Final thoughts
This is, clearly, like the other Carenado/Asobo collaborations a quality product being sold for a very cheap price relative to other items out there. While Carenado products on their own pack in a few more features (like a tablet, static ground objects, tie downs, etc.) they also end up running for about twice the price.
Here we have a quality looking product with absolutely top notch visuals, decent flight model and useful avionics. The classic V-tail look and older classic style avionics makes this stand out from the default Bonanza G36 version already in the sim.
I like it! I’ll be flying it some more before writing up the full review! If you want it right now, visit the Marketplace and pick it up for $15.99 USD.
Stormbirds 
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