Intro

The Bonanza 35 is a single engine,piston driven, four seat, low wing, civil utility aircraft built byBeechcraft since the late 1940's. The model 35 is part of the famousseries of Bonanza aircraft covering also the Model 33 and 36.

The production of the Model 35 featuring the very distinctiveV-tail stopped back in 1982, but still today the Model 36 is onthe production line. The Model 33 is basically the Model 35 featuringa conventional tail instead of the V-tail and the Model 36 is astretched version of the Model 33 adding up to six seats.

Over the years the Bonanza 35 got quite a reputation and peoplefound that to fly the aircraft required a high skill level. There wereseveral accidents as well as fatal accidents and the aircraft becameknown as the "forked-tail doctor killer".

The version tested in this review is the V35B as stated in themanual from A2A Simulations, meaning the V-tail version, so I reallyhope that I have a high enough skill level to meet the requirementsfor this legendary bird.

General Information & Aircraft Specs for Bonanza 35

• Produced by: Beechcraft
• National Origin: United States
• First Flight: December 22nd, 1945
• Introduction: 1947
• Role: Civil Utility Aircraft
• Produced: 1947 - 1982 (V-tail)
• Built: >17,000 (873 V35B)
• Status: Out of production

• Crew: One
• Capacity: Four including the pilot
• Length: 26 ft 5 in
• Height: 7 ft 7 in
• Wingspan: 33 ft 6 in
• Empty Weight: 2,088 lbs
• Gross Weight: 3,412 lbs
• Power Plant: Teledyne Continental IO-520-BA/BB 285 hp / IO-550 300 hp
• Propeller: 3-bladed McCauley constant speed

• Max Cruise VNO/VC: 165 KCAS / 167 KIAS
• Max VNE: 195 KCAS / 196 KIAS
• Max Flap VFE: 15° KCAS 152 / KIAS 154
• Max Flap VFE: 30° KCAS 122 / KIAS 123
• MTOW: 3,400 lbs
• Fuel Capacity: 80 gal (usable 74 gal)
• Range: 800 nm incl. taxi and 45 min. reserve fuel

Purchase, Download and Installation

I purchased this aircraft at the new FlightSim.Com Store atStore.FlightSim.Com.This was my first time using this store so first I had to beregistered before being able to make the purchase and download of theaircraft. This was super easy and I was up and running on the web sitewithin half a minute or so.

Making the purchase and thereafter the download of the aircraft wasalso easy - the store functions are very similar to the shop that Inormally use, so I found the user interface to be very familiar andvery user friendly.

The download was completed with about 1.9 MB/sec which is a fairdownload speed - this meant that the entire download took about 3minutes since the zip-file for download was of 363 MB. This is actuallynot that huge a file for such a comprehensive, feature full anddetailed aircraft.

The filename is 'ATS-295-Bonanza_P3Dv4_Professional.zip' and thisis the professional version for the Prepar3D v4 platform; the testplatform used is the Prepar3D v4.3. The downloaded version was thev18.9.15.1 however, during the installation I got a notice about anupdate that was ready and if I wanted to download and install thatupdate as well - of course I did; this was just about 25 MB more sothat took no time to also download and the aircraft now became thev18.9.29.0 which is the version used for this test and review.

Before starting the installation process I read the 'Read beforeInstallation' file found next to the installer.exe in the downloadfolder. Basically the file gives you a heads up for what could be agood idea as e.g. it's recommended to not install the aircraft withinthe default P3Dv4 directory structure as also stated from LM - You canof course select whichever location or folder you wish but by defaultthe path to the installation folder is on your C:\Users etc.

The installation itself only took about 15-20 seconds and was veryeasy - the installer was very user friendly and quickly guided methrough the very simple process.

This installation also features a huge and very comprehensiveaircraft manual created as a 112 pages PDF file and featuring anabundance of specific data, information, procedures, requirements,etc. This manual I would recommend going through or at least skimmingthe most important parts before taking on the first flight.

Included in this aircraft add-on is one model with four highquality liveries that are perfectly placed within the virtual hangarand to be found under A2A Simulations.

Tools And Programs

Included in this aircraft pack is also two smaller programs whichboth support this add-on; one is the Bonanza Aircraft Configurator andthe other is the Bonanza Input Configurator. Both programs are placedas default on your C-drive and can also be found in your Windows startmenu.

C:\Users\'your specific user'\Documents\Prepar3D v4 Add-Ons\A2A\A2A\Bonanza35\Tools

The Bonanza Aircraft Configurator is a program where you cancustomize the aircraft within certain specifics and thereby gain moreon the visual appearance as well as to add 3rd party GPS systems; thisof course will have an impact on your system performance.

On your starting screen you can select e.g. the entry of the GPSwhich directs you to the sub page where you are now able to select adefault GPS, the Reality XP version or the Flight1 version - theReality XP and Flight1 GPS systems are not included in this add-on andwill have to be purchased separately before being able to addthese.

You can also enter the menu of Dynamic Lights where youselect/de-select which lights that should be impacted which is awesomesince you now can control the impact on the performance in greaterdetails. The 4K is for use with the 2D panel where you can set the 4Ktexture scale from 100% - 200% and the Mirrors are the detailedvisuals for several options. Here you are also able to select thetexture size from 8 - 256 but please do be aware that the more youselect and the higher texture size, the more the performance will beimpacted - this also on high end systems flying over dense and highquality sceneries. I did my test primarily with the settings of'Enable Mirror' and 'Show Weather' with a texture size of 32 and thisI found to be a nice setting for my system still getting me a smoothand realistic flight experience.

The Bonanza Input Configurator is intended to be a tool forassigning various functions to e.g. a joystick or buttons/toggleswitches, etc. This is basically a standard assigning tool with anumber of functions found within the add-on and which here easily canbe mapped to various buttons on a joystick or similar device. Thistool I did not use since I do all my assigning of functions usingeither the standard P3Dv4 tool or the FSUIPC from Pete Dowson, howeverthe tool seems to be very simple and user friendly with a limitednumber of functions available.

Furthermore A2A has included another feature which is theauto-search-and-install-update feature which can be found andtriggered also from the Windows Start Menu under 'A'.

For the serious sim-pilot that enjoys all aspects of flight, A2Ahas also included an awesome extra set of features using the'Shift+Number keys' - please do note that these features are onlyavailable when the aircraft is loaded and some of the features areonly available when the engine is off. E.g. the very popularmaintenance hangar which is also found for several other A2A add-onsand also the pre-flight inspection / walk-around to check and verifythat the aircraft is fit for flight.

Here below are the various selectable feature windows where you canfind payload and fuel load manager, controls also featuringselectable auto-start, cold & dark start, damage setting, etc. Thereare also pilot's notes, power settings, quick radios, map and ofcourse the pre-flight inspection and maintenance hangar. All theseextra features are very nicely integrated; they are very user friendlyand absolutely add greatly to the experience of being a real Bonanzapilot. Visually I personally like the payload and fuel load manager verymuch together with the pre-flight inspection and the maintenancehangar because A2A has really put a lot of effort into making this asreal as possible for all aspects of flight as well as super userfriendly.

The 'Shift+7' keys opens up the maintenance hangar - please do notethat the hangar only opens up if the engine is off. In the maintenancehangar you are now able to perform quite detailed maintenance on youraircraft with inspection, repair or even an engine overhaul. You canalso select a specific tire type, a specific battery or even if theengine should be the IO520 or IO550.

You can also add or remove the wingtip tanks and also the curtainsinside the cabin - flying the aircraft with curtains adds to therealism and experience of the aircraft but is a pain in my opinionbecause they take a lot of the view from the pilot seat over thewings.

The 'Shift+8' keys open up the window featuring the Pre-FlightInspection - this feature is absolutely a very awesome extra featurefor this add-on which also adds greatly to the realism and experienceof being a real pilot. This feature enables you to perform the walkaround of the aircraft and do the various inspections. On the featuremap of the aircraft there are a bobble for each inspection point andthese bobbles are clickable meaning that if you click a bobble youwill open up the visual of that specific inspection point - Now thatis awesome and certainly a huge plus for the serioussimmer. Additionally when you have clicked on an inspection point, younow get the inspection info of what to inspect and also thepossibility to actually do an action.

For example, you can click the inspection point on the tail which nowchanges the view to the tail section and provides a shortdescription. If you click the first icon in the 'Actions' menu, thenthis action will tie down the tail. Clicking the second icon will openup the extra detailed window as seen here below, which indicates whatto look for and what to inspect. The third icon checks theconnectivity of the elevator and the mechanics behind by pressing onthe elevators up/down - this is also animated so that when you clickthis action you will see the elevators move slightly and also hear themovement.

External

Loading the aircraft and taking a look at the model itself I foundas I also expected, a very detailed and beautiful rendition of theV-tailed Bonanza. The model features lots of unique and realisticdetails and for sure awesome eye candy everywhere I looked.

Everything from the sharp and pointy spinner to the fuselage, thewings and wing roots and of course the famous and unique anddistinctive tail section is beautifully modeled and covered with highquality, multi-layer textures featuring a polished look of an oldaircraft that shows signs of wear and tear - beautiful and veryauthentic for sure.

The various metal plates including all the rivets, the variousmarkings and labels, etc. are all nicely included in the textures andall this absolutely does provide a greater and enhanced visualexperience of this classic bird. The model stands out as being verytrue to real life and very authentic with a great and realisticappearance.

The model also features numerous animations like door, gear andgear suspension, control surfaces (elevator, aileron and rudder),flaps, trims, etc. All animations are created very life-like with arealistic motion and it seems like A2A has really put a lot of focusin creating this aircraft as realistic as possible. As far as I knowA2A actually also had or maybe still have this aircraft in their realworld hangar, and this in my opinion increases the trust towards A2Afor really going into deep detailing for the pleasure of the simpilots.

Setting the focus on the effects for this model, then certainlythere are also added various effects like the lights, the propellerand the smoke when starting up the engine. There is also a light shakeeffect of the aircraft when the engine starts up but this is quicklyover when the engine is running at idle.

The lights are crystal clear and feature a warm and realisticbright shine that certainly is very enjoyable viewing the aircraft atnight time. The smoke effect is only when starting the engine whichprovides a small but fair amount of relatively dense smoke which veryquickly is blown away by the propeller - if you throttle up and downrapidly and get the engine to choke, you will also experience smallbursts of smoke coming from the engine exhausts just below thecockpit.

The propeller effect is good and fair with a realistic look to itand I of course like that by increasing the rpms the propeller alsochanges visually - not much but enough for it to be good andrealistic.

Internal

Going into the aircraft was certainly a very good and realisticexperience - the cockpit is a beautiful virtual cockpit completelyfilled with an abundance of details, high quality modeling, 100%working buttons, switches and systems; truly a very authenticrendition of the classic Bonanza cockpit.

The cockpit in general is very lifelike and the seats with theleather cracks and stitches are just perfect for creating a veryauthentic atmosphere. I very much enjoy that an old aircraft like thisone also shows a certain degree of wear and tear on both the outsidebut certainly also on the inside and this was exactly what Ifound. Perfect!

There is no 2D cockpit included, only the virtual cockpit but thisis so well made that I think most simmers would prefer the virtualcockpit anyway. There are so many details included and the modeling ofeverything is done to perfection - down to even extremely smalldetails and then everything is hereafter covered with high quality,multi-layer, very lifelike textures that just creates the most perfectand authentic atmosphere when sitting in the seat and powering up theengine.

The panel is true to real life images that I found on the internetand I very much like that all around the panel and cockpit there aresigns of wear and tear - this give character to the completeexperience. The depth performance is awesome and the finish is spoton; this is absolutely a cockpit that has had a lot of focus.

Inside the cockpit I also found nummerous animations such as thecontrols (yoke and pedals), various levers, buttons, switches and ofcourse the gauges. All animations are carefully created andfeature a very realistic and smooth motion. One thing I did noticeabout the gauges was that when taxiing over a rough surface likegrass or small bumps or similar, I would expect some of the needles inthe gauges to be impacted - meaning that I would expect a needlemovement behavior as e.g. in the A2A Cherokee. What I found wasalmost perfect un-impacted needles except for the VSI which wasalready impacted by the shake from the engine at idle but also the EGTneedle showed a tiny impact which just again adds to the experience,the realism and the atmosphere of this aircraft.

There are some various effects included like the light effect whichis really superb. You can control the cockpit lights in the overheadwhere you can switch on/off the white color for both left and rightside, but you can also turn on either the red or green light or both,which gives a much more soft light when flying at night thanthe whte lights. The landing light is very powerful and illuminatesthe gound perfectly with a bright shine.

When the engine starts up the cockpit panel shakes heavily and evenwhen the engine is running at idle, the panel still features the shakeeffect. This shake effect corresponds nicely to the rpms meaning thatthe higher rpms on the engine the smaller the shake effect becomes -really nice, this also when just having the engine at idle whileperforming the preps before taxiing, it's just so awesome to sit in anenvironment that seems so realistic.

Finally there is another really awesome effect that I noticed whenflying the aircraft on a rainy day. The rain effect is really good andvery realistic - when you get into the aircraft with engine off thereis not really anything out of the ordinary, but when you start up theengine you will experience the raindrops shaking on the windshield andsuddenly the raindrops will start moving upwards due to the windprovided by the propeller. It does not stop there because when youthrottle up and accelerates down the runway, the raindrops movementupwards will also accelerate - really a superb and very realisticdetail.

Sound

The sounds included in this aircraft are absolutely high qualityand authentic sounds - especially the sound of the engine. Externallythe sound of the engine is very similar to other GA aircraftavailable for P3Dv4, however with a superb idle sound for thepropeller when standing behind the wings - here you can really hearthe propeller blades cutting through the air molecules. The sound ofthe engine when sitting in the cockpit is much enhanced and isabsolutely awesome!

The sound set is very complex and provides the entire parts fromengine start, idle, rpms increasing and to engine shut-down. Even justthe sound of the engine when running at idle is superb with a veryauthentic and realistic deep rumble. Increasing the rpms alsoincreases the deep rumble which then pitches up a bit but still keepsthe powerful roar that certainly provides the simmer with a sense ofgreat power - I almost got the chills when testing this on my 7.1surround sound with the subwoofer turned up a bit more thannormal...Wow!

Also included are several other sound sets such as the environmentalsounds featuring clicks when clicking buttons or toggle switchesor using the flaps. You also have the stall horn which sounds veryrealistic and when flying you can also hear the wind outside thewindow - flying faster the wind outside increases in volume but whenflying slowly with the engine at idle or with the engine off, the windis also very noticeable and good quality.

I tested both the external and internal sounds in both ordinarystereo, 2.1 with front speakers and an active sub and finally alsowith my 7.1 surround sound setup - all the included sounds are createdperfectly and of a great quality and certainly represents thisaircraft beautifully with a real and authentic experience. Actuallythere are also a sound set that covers the pre-flight inspection aswell as a sound set for the maintenance hangar - these sound sets arenot that complex but provide an extra deep experience of theaircraft.

Flight Dynamics And Characteristics

The flight dynamics was great fun to test and even though I haven'tflown this bird in real life, I am quite stunned by the effort putinto all aspects of this add-on, and here especially how this aircraftflies and behaves during various settings and weather themes.

The aircraft is very challenging to fly and certainly not easy so Iunderstand why it got its bad nickname for sure. I started out with ataxi which actually is very easy to perform. The engine reacts fairlyquickly, the steering is with a quick and firm reaction, the aircraftcan turn 180 degrees on a very small radius and to top that, thebrakes are very efficient.

Powering up the engine for takeoff generates quite some torquewhich of course is controllable but do be very careful when liftingoff; now you will be impacted with a heavy torque throwing the nose tothe left. If this is true to real life I am uncertain, it is really aheavy torque and I experienced it on all my test flights - maybe ithas something to do with the V-tail not being as efficient as astraight upward tail? To overcome this I found that when the nosewheel lifted off the runway I applied additional rudder to the rightside to compensate for the torque impacted when the main wheels liftedoff - this made the takeoff smoother, but wow it did take me quitesome time to master since the controls are very sensitive.

Flying the Bonanza was much like flying other smaller GA aircraftbut the controls are certainly sensitive and you need to plan everyturn and coordinate correctly with all controls, just like in reallife. I did a test on the secondary impacts of both the ailerons andthe rudder. When just applying the rudder as e.g. the right rudderpushing the nose to the right, the secondary impact will be that theright wing also slowly drops like if you were using the ailerons -this was perfectly simulated into this add-on but when testing thesecondary effect on the ailerons the aircraft failed. When usingonly the ailerons for a left turn (meaning without the use of therudder), the secondary impact should be that the nose would be pushedto the right (going upwards) thereby creating a very dangerous flyingposition - what I found was that applying left ailerons also gave meleft rudder. I checked the function with the auto-rudder in the P3Dmenu to see if that was activated and thereby would override thesimulation, but no, the auto-rudder was disabled. That was a smallminus on the realism.

Moving on I tested the behavior of the aircraft when stalling itand whether it would or would not enter a realistic spin. My firststall test was straight up 10 degrees, flaps and gear up and throttleat idle - the result was a shake, nose drop and a spin that wasentered to the right. I now did the test once again but with the flapsand gear down instead; the result was a shake at a lower IAS which Ihad also expected, nose drop but no spin entry - the aircraftcontinued to be controllable however extremely wobbly.

The next stall test was with nose up 10 degrees, 45 degree bankangle, flaps and gear up and throttle at idle. This I did to both theleft and the right and the result was a shake, nose drop and full spinentry primarily to the right even when banking to the left. Only a fewtimes I encountered a spin-like state to the left. I am not sure ifthat is realistic but it could of course have something to do with thetorque, however this was all performed with the engine at idle.

Just to see if the engine speed would impact the stall I did thestalls once again but now with both 50% and 100% rpms - now the resultwas a full spin to the left instead of the right so my guess is thatthe aircraft would normally spin to the right but due to the powerfultorque, the aircraft is forced into a spin to the left. It was veryinteresting to see how the aircraft behaved under these conditions andalso a very good way to experience and learn how this aircraft fliesand where the borders for safe flight are.

There are not that many chimes included and I only experienced achime/warning if I had the throttle at idle with flaps and gear upmeaning the landing gear warning. I did not hear any overspeed warningor other warnings but that might be very true to real life since thisaircraft is just an old GA.

I also tested the max speed in level flight with no wind andaccording to the specs I should reach 167 KIAS and what I saw on theneedle was 168 KIAS meaning that was like spot-on. Secondary to thistest I noticed the wind outside which was low volume flying slow butdid increase greatly when flying fast - really nice and realisticdetail.

A couple of other things I also tested were when lowering theflaps I would expect the nose to also lower automatically and viseversa. This was beautifully integrated into the flight dynamics andcertainly provided me for a more realistic but also more challengingflight.

Coming in high for landing on a small strip you have in real lifethe option of performing a wing-glide/sideslip, but most availableadd-ons does not have this feature,however the A2A Bonanza does and itis awesome. You are able to drop altitude very fast but it is not easyand you certainly need to be 100% in control all the time because thisaircraft is a challenge to fly and performing this action requireseven more skills. Luckily I often trained in real life thewing-glide/sideslip as well as stall and spins since I did a lot ofaerobatics, so I quickly adapted to the behavior of the Bonanza.

Landing the aircraft with no wind is fairly easy and much like aregular GA but in windy conditions the Bonanza is very much alive anddoes require 100% focus - the flight dynamics are absolutely one of myfavorite things about this aircraft because they are so realistic andauthentic and take me back in memory of all the hours I spent flyingseveral years ago.

Conclusion

To wrap up my complete experience of this aircraft created by A2ASimulations, then this is really a high quality add-on featuring asuperb and authentic rendition of the famous classic V-tailedBonanza. Not only high quality modeling, but just as much highquality, life-like, multi-layer textures showing tiny details andawesome realistic wear and tear.

You have an authentic virtual cockpit and cabin area with yet againhigh quality modeling and textures, you have an abundance of uniqueand specific details and eye candy where ever you look - I see thatA2A Simulations has indeed had a great focus on all aspects of thisadd-on and they have succeeded perfectly. The sound is very realisticand provides the extra touch to the experience of the aircraft.

If you like flying GA aircraft once in a while or always, then Iwill certainly recommend this aircraft to you - it has so many greatfeatures and provides you with the complete package where you are alsoable to perform the pre-flight inspection and the maintenance to makesure the aircraft does not run into failures during flight.

This is one of the best GA aircraft that I have tested ever and Iwant to thank A2A Simulations for creating this awesome, authentic andrealistic classic aircraft for the flight simulation community. Youhave certainly kept your focus and high level of quality as also seenin your previous releases. Thanks and keep up the excellent work!

The aircraft scored a beautiful 4.90 out of 5 - it is rarely that Isee such a comprehensive and awesome aircraft with such a level ofquality.

Ray Andersen

Rays Aviation

The Accu-Sim V35B Bonanza can be purchased five differentways. Please make sure you have the correct version of the Accu-SimBonanza to match your simulator(s). It is available for:

• FSX and FSX: Steam
• Prepar3D v4 Professional
• Prepar3D v4 Academic
• Bundle: FSX, FSX: Steam and Prepar3D v4 Professional
• Bundle: FSX, FSX: Steam and Prepar3D v4 Academic

Review Computer Specifications

• Windows 10 (64-bit)
• Windows 7 (32-bit) (secondary system)
• Intel Core™ i7-4790K 4x4.00GHz (Turbo 4x4.40GHz)
• Asus Maximus VII Ranger (ROG-series)
• Antec Kuhler H20 650 Water Cooler
• Kingston HyperX Beast-series 32Gb DDR3-2133 RAM
• 500Gb Samsung 850 EVO SSD
• 3Tb Seagate Barracura (7200rpm, 6Gb/s)
• Asus GeForce GTX 980 Strix OC 4Gb
• 150/150Mbit Fiber Internet Connection
• Prepar3D v4+
• REX SkyForce 3D
• X-Plane 11
• FSX + Acceleration Pack
• REX Overdrive for FSX