LANDING AIRPLANE IN A COW FIELD!!! 1948 V-Tail Bonanza

My brother, Stanley, recently purchased some acreage in southern Missouri, and before the grading work to put in a full size runway begins, we decided to mow the cow pasture and see if we could squeeze the A35 Bonanza into the 1200' between the fence and the really rough upper field. Enjoy the video!

[@davidmangold1838]

Hi Ben, hope all is well with flying and Med school! Bomber jacket Dave👍🏻

[@MathIndy]

Years ago my 1947 Model 35 Bonanza was parked overnight in a cow field. The next morning there was a very large cow next to the airplane's left side. Throughout the night she had been using the plane to scratch her side and put a dent in the airframe. The dent has since been repaired, but, yeah, don't leave your bird overnight in a cow field.😅

[@BenWeeksBonanzaPilot]

I will remember that! Reminds me of the picture of that fabric covered taildragger in Alaska that got torn up by the bear because they left food in the baggage compartment. Apparently large animals and planes don’t mix!

[@chrisc161]

Thank you for sharing

[@BenWeeksBonanzaPilot]

Thanks for watching!

[@johnrltr]

Very nice, guys. We finally get to see Stan in a "co-starring" role. ;- )

[@BenWeeksBonanzaPilot]

I guess this is his first appearance on a video that didn’t involve trailering a bonanza! Hopefully we’ll see more of him in future videos.

[@nicholasbegley645]

Another great video… I have been kicking the tires on a few early bonanzas…. These videos are motivating and help crowd out the peanut gallery telling me I am nuts

[@BenWeeksBonanzaPilot]

If you’re looking for sanity, you’re in the wrong place. 😂 I’ll totally tell you you’re not crazy though, and you should definitely buy all the Bonanzas. Lol Seriously, early Bonanzas are an interesting situation. They fly like I would assume a Mercedes drives (too poor to own one), but working on them is like trying to climb inside a wristwatch to fix the gears. Some parts can be a little bit hard to find, but it has never been a big enough problem that I would discourage someone from buying over parts availability. There’s a lot more parts support than many aircraft that are much younger. The community is small enough, and tight knit enough, that you can get a lot of assistance online at places like Beechtalk.com and Facebook groups. The Bonanzas are priced very cheaply for the capabilities they offer, and I think that is just a testament to the complexity, and a few old wives tales that people just can’t let go of. So what I’m saying is, buy the Bonanza, and then go light your savings on fire. 😂

[@BenWeeksBonanzaPilot]

Stanley wanted me to clarify that his headset was broken so he had to hold the earpiece the whole time. If the intercom audio sounds a little wonky that is why.

[@farmingwithbiology]

This is exactly what I was looking for

[@nicholasseaman4858]

Awesome video! I was glad to see it didn't end with ground beef. (or ground Weeks!)

[@BenWeeksBonanzaPilot]

Thanks, Mr. Seaman! Luckily no beef or Weeks were ground in the making of this video. 😂🤣

[@FlyingNDriving]

Nice job

[@theinspiredjourney]

Great video Ben!! I love to see the Bonanza on short field! And 1,200' that is awesome! Can't wait to do some short field landings/ takeoffs with my 1956 G35 one day! Love it!

[@BenWeeksBonanzaPilot]

Thanks! Yeah only 1200’ but it handled it just fine. We took the D35 in and out as well with no problem. People don’t realize how great the e series bonanzas are at short field.

[@theinspiredjourney]

I know! They are amazing! Do you get any damage from gravel/stones when landing on those soft fields? Would I need any wheel covers or any kind of fairing?

[@BenWeeksBonanzaPilot]

I have put one dent on a flap from taking off on unimproved strips, and I have picked up a rock and knocked the prop pretty good. Other than that you just end up with a lot of mud on the wing and flap behind each main and on the belly behind the nose wheel. A quick power wash to the gear well every couple months (or once a year 😬) usually cleans it right up. For how much flying we do off airport, I’m surprised there haven’t been more damages.

[@theinspiredjourney]

Awesome! Great info Ben! Thank you so much. Let us know if you fly to Wyoming anytime soon :)

[@BenWeeksBonanzaPilot]

@@theinspiredjourney it just so happens that I might be ferrying an A35 out of Wyoming in a month or so, if we can get the ferry permit for it.

[@dsmorgan05]

nicely done

[@BenWeeksBonanzaPilot]

Thanks! I had to make up for the tree trimming I did in the last video! 😂

[@ProPilotPete]

New sub, enjoyed the ride along

[@BenWeeksBonanzaPilot]

Welcome to the channel, Pete!

[@6StringPassion.]

Nice. You were really mooovin on final. You milked that runway for every last foot.

[@BenWeeksBonanzaPilot]

Yeah, stopping downhill takes about all the runway available unless you use max braking which I try not to do. Full brakes puts a lot of weight on the nose gear.

[@erichboese7209]

Looks like the door popped open (top latch) on that first touch and go. Didn’t hear mention of it in the video… focused on flying the airplane like any real pilot should. 👍

[@BenWeeksBonanzaPilot]

The door latch mechanism has been messed up for a while on the plane and we have never gotten around to fixing it. It will pop open if you pull too many positive G’s. Definitely something we are going to be fixing here shortly.

[@chadpalmercrisis1723]

🔥🔥⛽🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 i'm loving the Bonanza

[@BenWeeksBonanzaPilot]

Thanks, Chad! They’re really great airplanes!

[@n3307v]

Great video. No way would I land my V-tail on the strip. Cudos.

[@BenWeeksBonanzaPilot]

Thanks! It was a little rough, but man what a rush! Only broke a shimmy dampener and had the gear down light pop out of its housing. Lol to be fair, the shimmy dampener was probably out of fluid for a while but this was the first time we put enough force on it to make it noticeable.

[@mikewaterfield3599]

It's crazy how light the early Bo's were.

[@BenWeeksBonanzaPilot]

It really is! Stanley’s A35 is about as barebones as they come, and it is so light you about have to slip to get it to come down.

[@erichboese7209]

@@BenWeeksBonanzaPilotthe lighter they are empty the better! A typ. a36 or brand new G36 have UL’s around 1200lbs. An early, lightweight A36 with some GWI mods and UL can be upwards of 1700lbs. (Enough for 80gal/full fuel, four 200lb adults, two 150lb adults, and 120lbs of baggage.) Someone would be hard pressed to find any airplane w/that combo of speed, range, payload and fuel economy. “Superfecta’s” are a rare breed. I’m a vtail pilot myself so just daydreaming!

[@johnmajane3731]

Marginal strip, it can do it but…… also it looks like you took of with flaps 30? Old manual for my F35 says 20 for short field. New manual 0 flaps for short field.

[@BenWeeksBonanzaPilot]

The A35 only has 20 degrees of flaps. I believe the B35 was the first model to introduce 30 degrees. I’ve heard about how they are not recommending flaps for short field takeoff anymore and I really don’t think it’s better than 20, but I want to make a video comparing flaps vs no flaps to see at least anecdotally which method is better.

[@johnmajane3731]

@@BenWeeksBonanzaPilot I forgot the early ones only went to 20. The flaps get you off sooner but I believe the effect the climb.

[@BenWeeksBonanzaPilot]

It may be that flaps or no flaps depends on whether you need to get off the ground faster or clear an obstacle faster. In our case we would rather get off the ground faster to get off the rough ground, and there aren’t really any obstructions other than the fence. On a smoother field with a 50’ tree line, I might do no flaps to capitalize on the faster climb rate. If the flap motor was faster I could just raise flaps immediately after liftoff, but the flap motor on Stanley’s A35 is like molasses.

[@johnmajane3731]

@@BenWeeksBonanzaPilot raising close to tbe ground settle you back down. Probably an either or proposition. I really like what you guys are doing saving and flying the classics.

[@BenWeeksBonanzaPilot]

@@johnmajane3731 yeah I’d say you’re probably right. Will be a fun question to investigate in the future. Appreciate the kind words. We are doing our best to save a few here and there, but it’s folks like you who take them from “saved” to “immaculate” condition. Your Bonanza is a work of art!