My First Airplane: N8138RPre-purchase PicturesMay 26, 2001 -- I shot a few pictures just before the pre-purchase inspection. They're not very good... it was raining that day and I didn't want to stand in the rain to take the pictures, so I took them in the hangar. Exterior. The plane was re-painted in December 2000.
John and DIllon in the cockpit. The Bonanza has a throw-over yoke so it can be flown from either seat without the inconvenience of a permanent control yoke on the passenger side of the front seat.
Another exterior shot. The plane is 27' 6" long and has a wing span of 33' 6". It has a useful load of about 1400 lbs (passengers plus fuel).
Close-up of the logo from the picture above. One of the interesting things you do when you re-paint an older plane is you use the current model-year's paint scheme. So this 1974 Bonanza sports the 2001 logo and design.
The rear passenger area seats four in either club style (shown here) or "bus style" with the middle row facing forward. The double doors permit easy loading of both passengers and cargo. I believe the interior is original. Someday soon I'll re-do the upholstery, etc. The reflective panels in the windows are removed for flight; their purpose is just to control inside temperature when the plane is on the ramp. We've fixed that door now so Johnna doesn't have to prop it open.
A view into the back from the front. There's a small luggage area above the rear seats, and another between the front seats and middle seats.
The panel was updated in July 1999 and features a Garmin GNS-430 GPS (certified for IFR en route and approach use), NSD 360 HSI, Century 2000 autopilot, WX-900 storm scope, JPI engine monitor with fuel flow, digital tachometer, and BF Goodrich electric backup horizon. The yoke-mounted Lowrance handheld GPS was removed and sold on eBay. I also sold my Garmin GPSMAP-195 and replaced both with a Garmin GPSMAP-295 color handheld GPS.. Some sites I've found useful during the process of buying the airplane: www.aeroprice.com - This is your one-stop source for everything you need to know about buying and selling an airplane. This site was a rich source of information for this first-time buyer. www.bonanza.org - The American Bonanza Society. ABS offers a monthly magazine dedicated to Bonanzas, annual fly-in conventions, and in-depth training opportunities. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/beech_bonanza This is currently a fairly small group, but on the off-chance that some Bonanza owners will wander by and look at my pictures, I'll throw in a link. Come help us build an online discussion group for Bonanza owners! www.aso.com - Aircraft Shopper Online. There are many sites that list used airplanes for sale, but this one has the largest selection and the most information. www.aopa.org - The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association. I never realized how much this organization does for pilots until I started thinking about buying. They offer help with all phases of the purchase process, including the all-important title search and escrow services. www.beryldshannon.com - Beryl D'Shannon offers a large number of Bonanza modifications. They are the source of my engine upgrade. 6/20/01: They are better at apologizing than delivering. I ordered my engine on 5/25/01; paid on 6/4/01 and was told it would ship within a day or two. It shipped two weeks later only after my repeated calls. It was supposed to arrive on 6/22/01 but now they're saying 6/25/01. They claim it's Continental's fault, but had I not been making phone calls, Beryl D'Shannon would still be sitting on their hands "hoping" my engine was going to show up. In addition to the above, there were several parts missing. The latest to arrive was a fuel hose that didn't show up until 8/13/01! Also the STC paperwork was incorrect and had to be re-done. Anyone who's done the IO-550 upgrade from Beryl D'Shannon should re-check their STC and 337 paperwork. Pictorial History of the Engine ConversionAirplane engines have a fixed "time between overhauls" (TBO). Once your engine has gone beyond its TBO you either overhaul it or replace it. When I bought N8138R it was within a few hours of TBO so I had the shop install a bigger, 300 HP engine. The pictures below tell the story. The project started on June 4, 2001 and wrapped up on July 27.
June 20 -- No engine; no nose gear. The engine compartment (see below) is ready for the IO-550. We found out we need major repairs to the nose gear, so it's missing in the picture above. The passenger windows are open so they can get new seals.
Interior stripped of seats and floor. From the aft seating area shooting forward.
Close-up of panel. Easier to get this shot with no seats.
The rudder was removed to test for a cracked spar. None was found. We're upgrading the hinges to avoid having to check for the cracked spar during every annual.
These guys are working on rigging the ailerons. They were off slightly (control neutral resulted in a slight turn). You can't really see it from here, but they've also repaired the courtesy light wiring in the front door.
Looking in the engine compartment through the front of the plane. The battery box is on the left. That's about all that's left until the new engine shows up.
June 26 -- Continental IO-550 engine fresh out of the crate. I've never seen so many mechanics as teary-eyed (and drooling) as when they caught a glimpse of this engine.
June 28 -- John with the IO-550. The engine is standing prop-end-down. The baffles have been added (aids in cooling the engine). EGT probes are in place. Backup vacuum clutch mounted.
This is the back side of the engine. Starter motor on the left, backup vacuum clutch in the middle, primary vacuum pump on the right. The old IO-520 is in the upper right background.
You don't often get to see the under-side of the engine. Now you've seen it.
June 30 -- I dropped by the shop today (Saturday) and nobody was there but my engine was mounted and the front landing gear is back on!
July 18 -- The IO-550 is completely installed. Just need to balance the prop. Then we'll do some static tests on the ground before test flying next week.
The guys are installing the fuel flow monitor we'll need during ground testing and adjustments. Once we do that we just need to put the new elevator on and we'll be ready to test fly.
July 23 -- Checking fuel flow. You can see the pressure gauge hoses running out of the side of the engine compartment and up into the cabin through the window. Turns out the fuel flow gauge on the panel isn't working right, so they had to send that in for repair. You can't really tell but the left elevator is still missing. It should get painted tomorrow and be ready for flight tests on Wednesday or Thursday.
We made a low pass and the tower said the gear was down. We contacted the shop and they suggested testing to see if the gear was down by turning the manual gear extension crank. It seemed to be down OK. Another low pass said all was well so we went ahead and landed. We were somewhat surprised to see they scrambled a fire truck "just in case" and the whole FBO came out to watch. Other than that, everything was fine. The gear problem is related to the indicator lights, not the landing gear itself. (Turns out we think the indicator lights were fine -- they dim automatically when the nav lights are on.) Audio and GPS UpgradeJune 17-July 1, 2002 -- I'm in the process of adding Nexrad weather to my GPS display. I'll be installing a Garmin GDL-49 satellite data link receiver to give me updated radar information every five minutes or so. Phase one was upgrading my single Garmin GNS 430 GPS moving map display to a dual GNS 430 and GNS 530 stack. The bigger size of the GNS 530 display will be much better for weather display. The GDL-49 is not yet available, but all the wiring and antenna has been installed so we can drop it in when it ships later this month.
From the top: PS Engineering PMA6000M-S/CD audio panel, Garmin GNS 530, Garmin GNS 430, Century 2000 auto-pilot, and King transponder. While doing this work I also upgraded from a 5-place monaural audio system to a 6-place stereo system with built-in CD player (to the right of the radio stack in the picture above). The new system allows me to listen to CDs while flying. The music automatically mutes when you talk or something comes over the radio. There are provisions for a second music input source, which would plug into a jack between the seats. I have a portable DVD player that I can plug in for in-flight movies. :-) The backseat passengers can choose to listen to the CD in the panel or they can plug in their own music source. I can isolate my headset from the passengers so they can listen to their own music and talk among themselves without disturbing me.
Rear audio panel allows four backset passengers to select a music source (front CD planer or rear auxiliary music) and control their own volume. This work was expertly performed by JA Air at DuPage (DPA) airport near Chicago. So phase two will be the GDL-49 later this year. Phase three will be to replace the transponder with the new Garmin GTX-330 which will display nearby air traffic overlayed on my GPS map. Final Panel ConfigurationMay 2003 - The GTX 330 was installed, giving me traffic information when I'm flying in one of the 110 or so areas around the country equipped with TIS uplink. This lets me see what the controllers on the ground are seeing. I find it gives me about a 15 second head-start on ATC when there is an airplane nearby. I see it on my Garmin display and can usually find it just as ATC is calling to tell me about it (if they even call!).
From the top center: PS Engineering PMA7000M-S audio panel; Garmin GNS 530 GPS Comm/Nav; Garmin GNS 430 GPS Comm/Nav; Century 2000 autopilot; Garmin GTX 330 Mode S transponder with TIS traffic uplink. To the right is the vacuum pressure gauge and below it, the CD player. To the left is the manifold pressure/fuel flow gauge, Horizon digital tachometer, fuel and temperature gauges, and JPI EDM-700 engine analyzer with fuel flow.
For completeness, here's the left side of the panel (left to right): Analog clock, airspeed indicator, artificial horizon, altimeter, electric backup horizon, turn coordinator, NSD 360 HSI (unslaved), vertical speed indicator. Directly below the HSI is the VOR/ILS CDI for the Garmin GNS 430 and to its right, the WX-900 Stormscope. 38R's New Home at SDMApril 8, 2004 -- Today I delivered N8138R to its new owner at Brown Field (SDM) in San Diego. He came to Cedar Rapids and we flew together to SDM so he could get some pointers on flying the plane. My instructor flew my Baron out to meet me and we flew home the next day after completing the sale of the Bonanza.
The new owner is studying to become an A&P so he has a well-equipped hangar. He plans to re-do the interior, which is definitely in need of some work.
Just for fun, we turned around the middle row of seats to see what it would be like. Hmmm.... I should have done this three years ago. Plenty of leg room! Miscellaneous PicturesFeb 26, 2004 -- These would be better without the hangar in the background, but they're reasonably cool nonetheless.
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