Carenado Beech F33 and V35 for FS2004

By Andrew Herd (28 January 2007)

lthough Beechcraft have long since been eclipsed by the likes of Cessna and Piper, to the extent that Beech GA singles have become something of a rarity, it wasn't always so. In 1945, at a time when most leisure pilots were flying fixed gear fabric covered biplanes, Beech rolled out a design that changed everything - a plane so radical that it looks futuristic even now, over sixty years after it first flew. When you consider that the competition consisted of planes like the Cessna 120 and 170 and the Piper Cub and Super Cruiser, it isn't hard to imagine the sharp intake of breath that the new Beech caused. It is fair to say that it changed the way people thought of leisure avaition forever.

Apart from its signature V-tail, the Bonanza used extensive flush riveting on a fuselage and wings that had undergone extensive wind tunnel testing until they were fine-tuned for the least possible drag; but other distinguishing features of the design were its retractible gear and a powerful 165 hp Continental that was responsible for a head-turning 175 mph cruise. The first model became known as the 'straight 35', but as the hull went through successive iterations of modifications and improvements, it turned out that Beech had unwittingly built in a flaw - this led to 240 in-flight break-ups, which were eventually traced to failure of the tail surfaces after a long investigation. The A35 had a strengthened hull; the B35 offered extra power on take-off; the C35 had a redesigned tail to reduce yawing (it was this mod that led to the crashes); E35 customers got aileron trim for the first time and the option of a more powerful 225 hp engine; the G35 had more wing mods, which allowed a higher gear extension speed - useful in a plane that was so streamlined it was hard to slow down; the H35 had a 240 hp engine as standard, while the J had 250 hp; the K had more tankage, to ease the reduced range consequent on fitting bigger engines; the instrument panel was modernised on the P and the gear extension speed went up yet again; the S had a 285 hp engine and a redesigned cabin which theoretically made it a six seater as long as the rear two passengers were kids. The most visible difference between the V35 and V35A is a one-piece windshield, the V35B having baffled fuel-tanks to prevent problems with unporting during maneuvers; and finally there is the turbocharged V35TC, which has a gear-down speed higher than most GA singles' top speed, at 175 mph.

Accidents notwithstanding, the 35 sold well until the late fifties, when the cheaper Piper Comanche began to eat into its sales potential. The Beech 35 had always been a premium airplane and Beech weren't anxious to rock the boat by repositioning it, so they designed a new hull which looked like the Bonanza, but lacked the V-tail and most of the interior refinements of their flagship, put a 225 hp engine in it and sold it as the Beech 33 Debonair. Although the 33 cost much the same as the opposition, it didn't sell that well to begin with, so the A33 had a few more gizmos, the B33 got a redesigned panel, the C33 an improved interior and the C33A a 285 hp engine, making it to all intents and purposes a less well equipped Bonanza. In 1968, Beech came clean, dropped the Debonair name and called the E33 a Bonanza (interestingly, they made 25 fully aerobatic hulls, known as the E33C). The F33 was the last Bonanza 33 to be offered with a 225 hp engine and to all intents and purposes the last model was the F33A, which has the 285 hp engine and proved extremely popular until production ended in 1995. Although the Beech 33 started out as a less expensive version of the Beech 35, one of life's little ironies is that 33s tend to fetch more on the second-hand market, largely because they have no history of airframe failures, thanks to that conventional tail - this is despite the fact that there shouldn't be any unmodded 35s left on the register any more.

So, whichever model you buy, the Beech 35 is a powerful plane, but the good news doesn't stop there: all the 35s handle really well, with light control forces and few vices you wouldn't expect in a high performance hull, apart from a tendency to yaw in turbulence, a feature which, oddly enough, is common to the conventional tailed variants too. The interior is extremely roomy compared to more modern singles and passengers travel in considerable comfort; although it pays to remember that it is easy to load the later variants beyond the aft limit of their CofG. Earlier models have rather agricultural interiors with massive control yokes and less than totally logical fuel management systems, while the gear and flap controls are the wrong way around compared to other airplanes, which has led to some expensive mistakes, but the later planes are a joy to operate. Bonanzas make excellent IFR platforms and as long as you don't have plans to operate out of short grass strips, they are real workhorses, although fuel consumption of 13 to 15 gallons per hour in the 185 hp examples might give some pause for thought and the cost of spares will make your head spin.

While DreamFleet have provided us with the ultimate A36 Bonanza for FS2004, Carenado have taken a different approach and are offering V and conventional tailed model 35 Bonanzas at at just over half the price, with the added bonus that the both addons are available as instant downloads from the Pilot Shop. Neither file runs to any particular size and if you have got bored of the default planes and are looking for something a little different that isn't going to break the bank while you save up for that DirectX 10 capable video card that will finally let you run FSX at a sensible speed, read on...

I had no problems with installation, which followed the usual Pilot Shop routine of requiring a license key to unlock the products. In theory, a free patch to upgrade the addons to full FSX compatibility is available, but despite several attempts I couldn't get it to work on my system and the routine terminated with an error - hence the decision to review the packages in FS2004. Both packages install a single livery and make no additions to the start menu, the documentation being confined to a couple of pdfs found in the respective aircraft folders - it would have been nice to see a start menu item or at the very least a desktop link to these. One of the documents comprises the checklists, while the other is a twenty six page guide to flying the Bonanza which makes little reference to the addon - effectively you are left to figure out what does what on the panel, but since this is a reasonably simple sim, it shouldn't present too many problems, but newbies should take note that there won't be any hand-holding.

I didn't make a detailed study of what the addon did to frame rates in FS2004, largely because everything ran incredibly smoothly and I would say that any difference between the Carenado Bonanzas and the more complex default GA planes are fairly minimal in terms of performance hit.

The visual models are early Carenado productions, but very neat for all that and while they aren't quite up to the majesty of the Stationair, they definitely beat the default planes out of sight. There is as much detailing as you can expect on what is still one of the smoothest skinned aluminum singles around and the gear bays are particularly well done.

The panel is shared between the two sims and is a good representation of a later model Bonanza fit - by the time Beech reached these models there wasn't much difference between the interiors and the avionics. While it is better than the default planes, there is quite noticeable dithering on the windshield pillar in the 2D panel and some of the legends are hard to read, but at the price I can't say this particularly bothers me. The gauges are all very neat, with realistic reflections, but the space cadets will be disappointed to see that there are no gizmos and no instruments that you can't see in the default planes. The pop ups are limited to an enlarged set of radios, the fuel selector and the default GPS and all. The editing of the bitmaps could have been better but it is by no means bad.

The virtual cockpit is best described as passable - I didn't find it wholly convincing and where the Bonanza glareshield has smooth sweeps, the addon has angles, but on the whole it isn't at all bad and once again, at the price you can hardly complain. As far as I can tell, given the lack of documentation, all the gauges do what the developers think they should do and there were no bugs.

The flight model is, like the rest of the addon, in the middle of the pack, having nothing about it that particularly makes it stand out and no particular vices either, beyond the fact that on the V35 it is much more difficult to coordinate turns than it is on the real thing. If you are used to the default Cessnas and the Mooney, you won't have any problems with either of these addons, beyond the fact that they build up speed quickly, which means that Cessna-style dive bomber approaches are out. The sound set, before I forget, is small, but perfectly formed.

Verdict? A pair of middle-of-the-road sims that do the job, but are beginning to show their age a little, although they are the best Beech 35 sims available. However, both the F33 and the V35 are a huge improvement on the default planes and if you are looking for something a little different to while away a few idle hours, then there really isn't any competition out there. The DreamFleet A36 is a better sim, but of a later model Bonanza with a much more sophisticated avionics fit.