BACK IN THE SADDLE

After a heart attack a year ago I just got my FAA approval to fly again. The FAA granted me a special issuance after taking the necessary steps to prove that I am safe to pilot my airplane again. Flying a 1958 J-25 V-Tail Bonanza is one of the greatest privilages I have and I am very grateful to be able to do it again. The airplane gained notoriety and great respect as one of the most talked about and loved aircraft of all times. The Bonanza has been in production since 1947 and is still in production today in a standard tail version.

I fell in love with the airplane when I was not a pilot as an avid radio control model airplane pilot. When I got my pilots license I flew many airplanes and continued to train obtaining my instrument rating and my multi-engine certifications. When I finally decided I could afford to own my own airplane after buying a home in an airpark whit a grass strip I zeroed in on the V-Tail Bonanza as my perfect airplane.

It's performance, comfort, speed and shear sex appeal won me over and I have never looked back

Come along with me on the adventure of owning a classic airplane with tremendous capabilties and a unique style.

The V-tail design gained a reputation as the "forked-tail doctor killer", due to crashes by overconfident wealthy amateur pilots, fatal accidents, and inflight 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 demonstrated 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 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. 1984 and later models 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 the late 1980s, repeated V-tail structural failures prompted the United States Department of Transportation and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) 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 (NTSB) 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 during the same time period. 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. Despite these issues, many Bonanza 35 owners insist that the aircraft is reasonably safe, and its reputation has lessened acquisition costs for budget-conscious buyers.

In 1982, the production of the V-tail Bonanza stopped but 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.

Many of us V-Tail pilots like to note that Bonanzas don't kill Doctors or any other pilots that pilot's who don't take good care and keep proficient kill perfectly good Bonanzas.

Good luck, enjoy aviation and V-Tail winds to you always!