Once in a while an assignment comes along that makes you smile at the thought of going to work. Sometimes the smile comes from the job reuniting me with an old friend; sometimes the root is the prospect of returning to a favored locale; other times, it comes from the prospect of experiencing something new.

Pilot Magazine Editor Jeff Berlin’s inquiry into my interest in reviewing Hawker Beechcraft Corp.’s G36 Bonanza hit on all three points.

The assignment offered a chance to reconnect with the newest version of an old friend – the Bonanza itself. My acquaintanceship with the Bonanza family dates back years and includes a particularly memorable 10 hours of solo flying a friend’s 1948 B35 between Wichita and Oshkosh. Other pleasant Bonanza encounters include several trips, short and long, in V35Bs, a number of model 33 versions and both model 36 and A36 Bonanzas.

Excellent. Sign me up on that basis alone.

The work locale at the factory airstrip, Beech Field (BEC), holds so much historical signifi cance that I made it a regular “destination” when working on both my private ticket and my instrument rating.

The “something new” of the equation centers on this particular plane: Hawker Beechcraft’s 60th Anniversary G36 model Bonanza. As you likely knew, the Bonanza’s newest designation accompanied the latest major update to Garmin’s G1000 integrated avionics package.

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Screaming on the down line to finish, the wind noise is crazy. She seems more nose-down than usual and my peripheral vision is confused, as things are passing under me faster than I can process. A glance at the airspeed indicator reveals 226 miles per hour, can that be right? I can’t descend any steeper as VNE isn’t far away and in the five years we have been together, my 36 Bonanza has never seen this kind of speed! Now on the center line, the flagman is looking at me and I find myself leaning forward to gain every ounce of speed possible. The Bonanza passes right over his head at 200 feet, going full out and then straight up like a Reno racer climbing for cooling altitude after passing the checkered tower. Slowly coming back on the power and setting up for landing, I wonder about my time. Did I beat that V-Tail? Did I miss a turning point? … three green, fuel on fullest, mixture still all the way in and prop set. My jaw is tight. Is that from clenching my teeth or smiling for the last 35 minutes straight? Either way, what a rush!

That was my first experience running in the “Sport Air Racing League” out of Taylor, Texas this past November. The quest for more speed has been a topic ever since I started using my 1976 A36 for air to air photography. “How fast will she do with the doors off,” is the common question when we are shooting warbirds and jets for the pages of magazines like this one. With the two cabin doors removed, and power setting at 25 squared, we typically see around 180 to 183 miles per hour at 4,000 feet, pressure altitude. The placard limitation in that configuration is 190 mph indicated, so there is room for improvement, but with the 300 horsepower conversion and a good paint job done already, there didn’t seem to be much more that could be done to speed her up.

Enter Chester Jurskis, Director of Sales for an aircraft charter company in Addison, Texas. We met concerning a photography project, and located right next to desktop photos of the family was a bright red and white model of a V-Tail Bonanza with yellow racing stripes. The model sparked a conversation and it turns out, it’s a replica of his 1965 S model 35, which also has a Continental 550 conversion and runs a Scimitar prop. Comparing notes on performance, he blew me away by saying he was getting around 217 mph when he races it, about 10 to 12 mph faster than the book says it should go. Needing more information about racing and what he is doing to go faster, we scheduled a meeting to see his plane and some of his racing buddies.

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People often ask me to describe my favorite aircraft. My answer is often, “Whatever aircraft I’m flying at the time.” And so it was with my first flight in an Allegro Light Sport Aircraft, at the invitation of BBar-D Aviation (www.b-bar-daviation.com) of Raleigh Exec Airport at Sanford, NC. Doug and Betty Hempstead, the owners, and Ross Kennedy, my instructor, rekindled a spirit of adventure and new definition of fun flying that I had been away from for many years!

Aviation personified is the definition of light sport flying! Remember why you wanted to be a pilot? Remember your first solo flight? Or is that where you are right now?

In 2004, the FAA unveiled the Sport Pilot and Light Sport Aircraft Rule that allows many pilots to fly light sport aircraft with a valid driver’s license in lieu of a medical certificate. It also created a new, less-expensive way to become a pilot. These pilots are restricted to daytime flying, 10,000 feet MSL and below, only one passenger, a visibility of at least 3 statute miles, plus other restrictions requiring an instructor endorsement at airports located in Class B, C, or D airspace.

The Sport Pilot (airplane) certificate requires a minimum of 20 hours of flight training along with the ground training and FAA practical test (check ride).

The Allegro is a beauty! It’s clean, with smooth lines, and a flair for simplicity and ease of operation. I could tell right away that my flights would be pure joy.

The Rotax 912 engine, for starters, is a beauty. It’s a simple engine with lots of performance, efficiency, and low cost. Both the 80 or 100 horsepower versions have great fuel efficiency and are about 50 pounds lighter than the traditional Continental equivalents. I’ve flown behind a lot of engines, and to me, one of the most remarkable features was the near instantaneous start and the lack of mixture control due to the “automation” with the constant velocity carburetor.

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