Start here
A few places to begin, from the aircraft’s story to the people who fly it.
Meet the aircraft
The Bonanza appeared in 1947 as an all-metal aircraft with retractable landing gear. Its distinctive early V-tail became one of general aviation's best-known silhouettes. Conventional-tail versions also developed into a major branch of the family, including the longer Model 36. Tail arrangement, fuselage and equipment distinguish the V35 and G36 branches.
Aircraft background
Wikipedia contributors · Read more ↗A first aircraft becomes a travelling companion
Ovad bought his F33A as a relatively new private pilot looking for an aircraft that could take him places. He started instrument training before collecting it, then spent the following years using it for both work and exploration. Interviewed after more than 600 hours of ownership, he valued the comfortable cabin and the flexibility of its additional tip-tank fuel. He sometimes flew long days and preferred economical reduced-power cruising to extracting the last few knots.
AOPA Pilot, September 1998. Owner account of an F33A with Osborne tip tanks, balanced fuel injectors and updated avionics.
AOPA Pilot · Read more ↗Released product and variants
PAE’s A36 and G36 products are complete X-Plane 12 aircraft with REP included. The F33A and V35B packs are separate enhancements requiring the corresponding Carenado aircraft; they are not PAE airframes.
Bonanza aircraft and Reality Expansion Packs · X-Plane 11 · X-Plane 12
SimCoders · Read more ↗Into the cockpit
YouTube Martin Pauly
Flying the Beech Bonanza
A complete cockpit flight account from Cedar Rapids to Madison.
Real 1978 A36; equipment differs from an A36TC
Watch on YouTube ↗Preview images are served by AirframeDB. Videos open on YouTube only when you choose to watch.
Meet Beechcraft Bonanza family
The Bonanza appeared in 1947 as an all-metal aircraft with retractable landing gear. Its distinctive early V-tail became one of general aviation's best-known silhouettes. Conventional-tail versions also developed into a major branch of the family, including the longer Model 36.
Tail arrangement, fuselage and equipment distinguish the V35 and G36 branches. Simulator products range from conventional instruments to integrated glass cockpits.
Beechcraft Bonanza
Beechcraft → · Explore the family →
Beechcraft Bonanza family
Wikipedia contributors · Beechcraft Bonanza ↗Aircraft type designators
Use the code for the model you are flying. The linked authority lists the applicable aircraft.
Bonanza 33 / Debonair, including F33A
ICAO Doc 8643 — aircraft type designators ↗Checked 2026-09-14History & design
Postwar ideas, several tails
The original Model 35 combined a low wing, retractable tricycle landing gear and a V-tail in a fast personal aircraft. Its two tail surfaces combined pitch and yaw functions through ruddervators. Later Bonanzas also used conventional tails: the Model 33 began as the Debonair, while the longer Model 36 developed the family into a six-seat aircraft. “Bonanza” therefore describes a family with distinct layouts and equipment.
Wikipedia contributors · Beechcraft Bonanza ↗Research-based history of the real aircraft family; see the linked source.
Development milestones
First flight: December 22, 1945
Wikipedia contributors · Beechcraft Bonanza ↗Beechcraft Bonanza · family/variant named by the source · Wikipedia revision 1372209707
Pilot accounts
A first aircraft becomes a travelling companion
Ovad bought his F33A as a relatively new private pilot looking for an aircraft that could take him places. He started instrument training before collecting it, then spent the following years using it for both work and exploration. Interviewed after more than 600 hours of ownership, he valued the comfortable cabin and the flexibility of its additional tip-tank fuel. He sometimes flew long days and preferred economical reduced-power cruising to extracting the last few knots.
The Bonanza carried Ovad and his fiancée Deb Mathein to places including Nova Scotia, Belize and Colorado. Shorter trips took clients sightseeing or delivered urgently needed electrical supplies for his business. His attachment went hand in hand with close attention to maintenance: he tracked oil-analysis results and engine data, and found being without the aircraft during a propeller replacement particularly difficult. His range and operating experience concern his specifically equipped F33A.
AOPA Pilot, September 1998. Owner account of an F33A with Osborne tip tanks, balanced fuel injectors and updated avionics.
Read the full account · AOPA Pilot ↗Across the Pacific in a specially prepared A36TC
Cox ferried Barry Andrews' A36TC from California to Singapore after its owner accepted an overseas posting. Fuel shortages at intended Pacific stops forced a longer route through island destinations and northern Australia. The aircraft had additional ferry tanks, substantially more fuel than a standard Bonanza and a recently overhauled engine. Cox remembers the long ocean legs as hours of repetitive flying punctuated by the relief of seeing the next island.
Andrews joined him in Darwin for the final leg. With two people, luggage, ferry fuel and tropical heat, the overloaded aircraft climbed slowly, making the departure a very different experience from an ordinary lightly loaded demonstration. Later, Cox used the Stormscope while working around thunderstorms toward Singapore. After roughly 65 flying hours over a week, he delivered the Bonanza at Seletar. His account conveys both confidence in the aeroplane and his continuing awareness of the water beneath it; the special ferry configuration is essential context for the distances and handling he describes.
Plane + Pilot, 26 May 2009. Retrospective A36TC ferry flight with additional tanks; deliberately overloaded ferry configuration described by the author.
Read the full account · Plane + Pilot ↗Around the world with Lucy
Maeda completed a six-week circumnavigation in June 2021 in Lucy, his 1963 P-model V-tail Bonanza. Speaking to David Tulis after returning to Washington, he recalled a journey complicated by fuel availability, altered routes, paperwork and pandemic restrictions. Weather added its own challenges, from desert dust to Russian fog and an encounter with icing. He also remembers the loneliness of parts of the trip and the help of a support network following his progress.
One particularly vivid memory was flying over Greenland alongside mentor Adrian Eichhorn in another Bonanza. Clear skies revealed an extraordinary landscape, but looking down at the glaciers also made Maeda intensely conscious of depending on a single engine. He found himself talking encouragingly to Lucy. Elsewhere, welcoming airport staff and strangers helped keep the mission moving. His account ends with a return to his family and a renewed appreciation for the people along the route, giving the long-distance Bonanza journey a distinctly personal scale.
AOPA, 17 June 2021. Shinji Maeda’s account after his May–June 2021 circumnavigation in a 1963 P35 Bonanza.
Read the full account · AOPA ↗In your simulator
Systems, equipment and documentation for each developer’s aircraft.
Compare simulator versions →MSFS 2024Bonanza G36
Microsoft Flight Simulator · Released
Bonanza G36
Microsoft Flight Simulator · Released
MSFS 2024Bonanza V35
Microsoft Flight Simulator · Released
Bonanza V35
Microsoft Flight Simulator · Released
MSFS 2020Beechcraft Bonanza G36
Microsoft Flight Simulator · Released
Beechcraft Bonanza G36
Microsoft Flight Simulator · Released
MSFS 2020 · MSFS 2024Beechcraft Bonanza family · Black Square
Black Square · Released
Beechcraft Bonanza family · Black Square
Black Square · Released
X-Plane 12Beechcraft Bonanza family · Thranda
Thranda · Released
Beechcraft Bonanza family · Thranda
Thranda · Released
X-Plane 11 · X-Plane 12Bonanza aircraft and Reality Expansion Packs
SimCoders · Released
Bonanza aircraft and Reality Expansion Packs
SimCoders · Released
MSFS 2020Bonanza V35
Microsoft Flight Simulator · Released
Bonanza V35
Microsoft Flight Simulator · Released
MSFS 2020 · MSFS 2024F33A
Carenado · Released
F33A
Carenado · Released
Aircraft specifications
Published figures for the named real-aircraft variant. Simulator equipment and performance can differ.
| Specification | Published value |
|---|---|
| Length | 27 ft 6 in (8.38 m) |
| Wingspan | 33 ft 6 in (10.21 m) |
| Height | 8 ft 7 in (2.62 m) |
| Wing area | 181 sq ft (16.8 m² ) |
| Empty weight | 2,517 lb (1,142 kg) |
| Gross weight | 3,650 lb (1,656 kg) |
| Powerplant | 1 × Continental IO-550-B , 300 hp (220 kW) |
| Propellers | three-bladed Hartzell Propeller , 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) diameter |
| Cruise speed | 176 kn (203 mph, 326 km/h) |
| Range | 716 nmi (824 mi, 1,326 km) with full passenger load |
| Service ceiling | 18,500 ft (5,600 m) |
| Rate of climb | 1,230 ft/min (6.2 m/s) |
Manuals & resources
Find your next read
Choose a topic for a short introduction and a link to the original source. Simulator references identify the developer and edition they cover.
Simulator documentation
Released product and variantsBonanza aircraft and Reality Expansion Packs · SimCoders · X-Plane 11 · X-Plane 12
PAE’s A36 and G36 products are complete X-Plane 12 aircraft with REP included. The F33A and V35B packs are separate enhancements requiring the corresponding Carenado aircraft; they are not PAE airframes.
Official developer / designated-store reference · checked 2026-09-14
SimCoders · Read the source ↗The original MSFS 2020 releaseBonanza V35 · Microsoft Flight Simulator · MSFS 2020
Famous Flyer III introduced the V-tail Bonanza V35 in August 2022 with ten liveries.
2022-08-18 · release and package scope
Microsoft Flight Simulator Team · Read the source ↗Pilot account
A first aircraft becomes a travelling companionAOPA Pilot, September 1998. Owner account of an F33A with Osborne tip tanks, balanced fuel injectors and updated avionics.
Ovad bought his F33A as a relatively new private pilot looking for an aircraft that could take him places. He started instrument training before collecting it, then spent the following years using it for both work and exploration. Interviewed after more than 600 hours of ownership, he valued the comfortable cabin and the flexibility of its additional tip-tank fuel. He sometimes flew long days and preferred economical reduced-power cruising to extracting the last few knots.
David Ovad, interviewed by AOPA Pilot
AOPA Pilot · Read the source ↗Across the Pacific in a specially prepared A36TCPlane + Pilot, 26 May 2009. Retrospective A36TC ferry flight with additional tanks; deliberately overloaded ferry configuration described by the author.
Cox ferried Barry Andrews' A36TC from California to Singapore after its owner accepted an overseas posting. Fuel shortages at intended Pacific stops forced a longer route through island destinations and northern Australia. The aircraft had additional ferry tanks, substantially more fuel than a standard Bonanza and a recently overhauled engine. Cox remembers the long ocean legs as hours of repetitive flying punctuated by the relief of seeing the next island.
Bill Cox
Plane + Pilot · Read the source ↗Developer documentation
F33A — product listingF33A · MSFS 2020 · MSFS 2024
Product listing captured 2026-09-23; edition scope from the reviewed catalogue
www.carenado.com · Read the source ↗F33A — product listingF33A · MSFS 2020 · MSFS 2024
Product listing captured 2026-09-23; edition scope from the reviewed catalogue
www.carenado.com · Read the source ↗Read the original documentation from the people who created it. Manuals open on their publisher’s website.
Manual
Microsoft Flight Simulator aircraft manualsMicrosoft / aircraft developersAircraft background
Beechcraft BonanzaWikipedia contributors · Research background · Wikipedia revision 1372209707 · retrieved 2026-09-12Resource
MSFS 2024 FAQ and edition aircraft inventoryMicrosoft MSFS 2020 FAQ and edition aircraft inventoryMicrosoftProduct
Bonanza ProfessionalBlack Square · Official developer / designated store catalogue · checked 2026-09-12 Steam Gauge Overhaul - Analog BonanzaBlack Square · Official developer / designated store catalogue · checked 2026-09-12 Thranda V35B Bonanza DGS+ SeriesThranda · Official developer / designated store catalogue · checked 2026-09-12 F33A Bonanza DGS+ SeriesThranda · Official developer / designated store catalogue · checked 2026-09-12 Reality Expansion Pack · PAE A36 BonanzaSimCoders · Official developer / designated store catalogue · checked 2026-09-12 Reality Expansion Pack · PAE G36 BonanzaSimCoders · Official developer / designated store catalogue · checked 2026-09-12 Reality Expansion Pack · Beech Bonanza F33ASimCoders · Official developer / designated store catalogue · checked 2026-09-12 Reality Expansion Pack · Beech Bonanza V35BSimCoders · Official developer / designated store catalogue · checked 2026-09-12 F33A MSFS2020 – Carenadowww.carenado.com · Product listing captured 2026-09-23; edition scope from the reviewed catalogue F33A MSFS2024 – Carenadowww.carenado.com · Product listing captured 2026-09-23; edition scope from the reviewed catalogueDeveloper documentation
Famous Flyer III: Beechcraft Bonanza V35Microsoft Flight Simulator Team · 2022-08-18 · release and package scope PAE Beechcraft Bonanza A36 -- Powered by the Reality ExpansiSimCoders · Official developer / designated-store reference · checked 2026-09-14 PAE Beechcraft Bonanza G36 -- Powered by the Reality ExpansiSimCoders · Official developer / designated-store reference · checked 2026-09-14Type designator
ICAO Doc 8643 — aircraft type designatorsInternational Civil Aviation Organization · Public search data retrieved 2026-09-14; authority update 2026-09-03Built-in force-feedback profiles
Read the documentary basis, editable starting settings and remaining questions for the aircraft you fly. Each explanation refers to the exact profile revision shown.
Catalogue programme-20261022-v1 · 20 profile choices
Black Square Analog Bonanza A36
Black Square · Free and Pro · Revision 1 · Inherited starting point
MSFS 2020
Black Square Analog Bonanza A36: The selected reversible-control response accompanies the named Bonanza; engine conversion and panel options do not establish a new force law by themselves.
Black Square Analog Bonanza A36TC
Black Square · Free and Pro · Revision 1 · Inherited starting point
MSFS 2020
Black Square Analog Bonanza A36TC: The selected reversible-control response accompanies the named Bonanza; engine conversion and panel options do not establish a new force law by themselves.
Black Square Bonanza A36
Black Square · Free and Pro · Revision 6 · Inherited starting point
MSFS 2020 · MSFS 2024
Black Square Bonanza A36: The selected reversible-control response accompanies the named Bonanza; engine conversion and panel options do not establish a new force law by themselves.
Black Square Bonanza A36TC
Black Square · Free and Pro · Revision 5 · Inherited starting point
MSFS 2020 · MSFS 2024
Black Square Bonanza A36TC: The selected reversible-control response accompanies the named Bonanza; engine conversion and panel options do not establish a new force law by themselves.
Black Square Bonanza B36TP
Black Square · Free and Pro · Revision 5 · Inherited starting point
MSFS 2020 · MSFS 2024
Black Square Bonanza B36TP: The selected reversible-control response accompanies the named Bonanza; engine conversion and panel options do not establish a new force law by themselves.
Carenado F33A Bonanza (MSFS)
Carenado · Free and Pro · Revision 3 · Inherited starting point
MSFS 2020 · MSFS 2024
Carenado F33A Bonanza (MSFS): The selected reversible-control response accompanies the named Bonanza; engine conversion and panel options do not establish a new force law by themselves.
Carenado F33A Bonanza (X-Plane)
Carenado · Free and Pro · Revision 1 · Partial review
X-Plane 11
Carenado F33A Bonanza (X-Plane): The selected reversible-control response accompanies the named Bonanza; engine conversion and panel options do not establish a new force law by themselves.
PAE / SimCoders Bonanza A36
PAE Addons · Free and Pro · Revision 1 · Inherited starting point
X-Plane 12
PAE / SimCoders Bonanza A36: The selected reversible-control response accompanies the named Bonanza; engine conversion and panel options do not establish a new force law by themselves.
PAE / SimCoders Bonanza G36
PAE Addons · Free and Pro · Revision 1 · Inherited starting point
X-Plane 12
PAE / SimCoders Bonanza G36: The selected reversible-control response accompanies the named Bonanza; engine conversion and panel options do not establish a new force law by themselves.
SimCoders REP / Carenado Bonanza F33A (XP12)
SimCoders · Free and Pro · Revision 1 · Inherited starting point
X-Plane 12
SimCoders REP / Carenado Bonanza F33A (XP12): The selected reversible-control response accompanies the named Bonanza; engine conversion and panel options do not establish a new force law by themselves.
Thranda V35B Bonanza
Thranda · Free and Pro · Revision 3 · Inherited starting point
X-Plane 12
Thranda V35B Bonanza: The selected reversible-control response accompanies the named Bonanza; engine conversion and panel options do not establish a new force law by themselves.
Thranda F33A Bonanza DGS+ (XP12)
Thranda · Free and Pro · Revision 1 · Inherited starting point
X-Plane 12
Thranda F33A Bonanza DGS+ (XP12): The selected reversible-control response accompanies the named Bonanza; engine conversion and panel options do not establish a new force law by themselves.
Beechcraft Bonanza G36
Free and Pro · Revision 3 · Inherited starting point
MSFS 2020 · MSFS 2024 · X-Plane 11 · X-Plane 12
Beechcraft Bonanza G36: The selected reversible-control response accompanies the named Bonanza; engine conversion and panel options do not establish a new force law by themselves.
Beechcraft Bonanza A36
Free and Pro · Revision 1 · Partial review
MSFS 2020 · MSFS 2024 · X-Plane 11 · X-Plane 12
Beechcraft Bonanza A36: The selected reversible-control response accompanies the named Bonanza; engine conversion and panel options do not establish a new force law by themselves.
Beechcraft Bonanza A36TC
Free and Pro · Revision 1 · Partial review
MSFS 2020 · MSFS 2024 · X-Plane 11 · X-Plane 12
Beechcraft Bonanza A36TC: The selected reversible-control response accompanies the named Bonanza; engine conversion and panel options do not establish a new force law by themselves.
Beechcraft Bonanza B36TP
Free and Pro · Revision 1 · Inherited starting point
MSFS 2020 · MSFS 2024 · X-Plane 11 · X-Plane 12
Beechcraft Bonanza B36TP: The selected reversible-control response accompanies the named Bonanza; engine conversion and panel options do not establish a new force law by themselves.
Beechcraft Bonanza F33A
Free and Pro · Revision 1 · Inherited starting point
MSFS 2020 · MSFS 2024 · X-Plane 11 · X-Plane 12
Beechcraft Bonanza F33A: The selected reversible-control response accompanies the named Bonanza; engine conversion and panel options do not establish a new force law by themselves.
Beechcraft Bonanza V35B
Free and Pro · Revision 1 · Inherited starting point
MSFS 2020 · MSFS 2024 · X-Plane 11 · X-Plane 12
Beechcraft Bonanza V35B: The selected reversible-control response accompanies the named Bonanza; engine conversion and panel options do not establish a new force law by themselves.
BRsim Designs Beechcraft Bonanza H35 V-tail
BRsim Designs · Free and Pro · Revision 1 · Partial review
MSFS 2020
A long-running touring single, familiar in both V-tail and conventional-tail forms.
Beechcraft Bonanza H35 V-Tail
Free and Pro · Revision 1 · Partial review
MSFS 2020 · MSFS 2024 · X-Plane 12
A long-running touring single, familiar in both V-tail and conventional-tail forms.
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