AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2017 - 56

the shop since then. Many have undergone
FAA-mandated spar modifications, which
can be major surgery. Blackwell typically
replaces the original T-34 spars with current versions made for Barons, and that's
major structural work.
Blackwell grew up in nearby Pittsburgh,
attended Pennsylvania State University, and
learned to fly in his teens. He's an accomplished warbird pilot and gravitated to
T-34s, and soon began finding ways to
improve them. He's written scores of technical articles about the two-seat military
trainers and served for years as president of
the T-34 Association.
Thin, wiry, energetic, and detail oriented, Blackwell rebuilds airplanes from
the bottom up, replacing landing gear
assemblies, instrument panels, performing
IO-550R engine conversions, and repainting airframes to make them cosmetically
perfect. He and four employees leave nothing untouched.
"It typically takes us about one year
to completely gut and overhaul a T-34,"
he said. "There's a tremendous amount
of common parts and similar systems in
Beech products, so much of what we've
learned over the years can be transferred
to the A36 Bonanza."
Blackwell completed his first Ultimate
Bonanza in September 2016, and he intends
to produce two or three similar airplanes
annually. Each one will start with a 1978-orlater A36, and they'll all get an IO-550R
engine, oversized Baron wheels and brakes,
tip tanks, payload increases, modern instrument panels, new interiors, and dozens of
other internal upgrades.
There are also some things they won't
get. Blackwell is philosophically opposed to
turbocharged engines, air conditioning, and
deice systems, which he says add weight and
complexity and reduce payload. "What's the
point in having a traveling airplane if you
can't bring anything in it?" he asks.
His opposition to deicing systems
seems odd given his company's Western
Pennsylvania location, an area notorious
for ice-filled clouds. But Blackwell argues
deice systems create more trouble than
they're worth by making pilots overly confident that their single-engine airplanes can
overcome adverse conditions.
Blackwell's first Ultimate Bonanza is
a 1982 model that had about 3,000 flight
hours on the airframe when he bought
56 | AOPA PILOT August 2017

SPEC SHEET
Beechcraft A36 Ultimate Bonanza
PRICE AS TESTED: $490,000
SPECIFICATIONS

Powerplant | Continental IO-550R, 310 hp
Recommended TBO | 2,200 hrs
Propeller | Hartzell 3-blade, Super Scimitar
Length | 27 ft 10 in
Height | 8 ft 7 in
Wingspan | 34 ft 2 in

Cruise speed
@ 75% power, best economy | 182 kt
7,000 ft
@ 65% power, best economy | 172 kt
10,000 ft
@ 55% power, best economy | 167 kt
10,000 ft

Wing area | 181 sq ft

Max range | 1,600 nm

Wing loading | 21.3 lb/sq ft

Service ceiling | 19,500 ft

Power loading | 12 lb/hp

Landing distance over 50-ft obstacle | 1,450 ft

Seats | Up to 6

Landing distance, ground roll | 710 ft

Cabin length | 152 in
Cabin width | 42 in

LIMITING AND RECOMMENDED AIRSPEEDS

Cabin height | 50 in

VX (best angle of climb) | 80 KIAS

Empty weight | 2,500 lb

VY (best rate of climb) | 95 KIAS

Max ramp weight | 3,862 lb

VA (design maneuvering) | 140 KIAS

Max gross weight | 3,850 lb

VLE (max gear extended) | 154 KIAS

Optional | 4,050 lb

VFE (max flap extended) | 123 KIAS

Useful load | 1,350 lb

VNO (max structural cruising) | 166 KIAS

Payload w/full fuel | 666 lb

VNE (never exceed) | 205 KIAS

Fuel capacity, std | 120 gal (114 gal usable),

VS1 (stall, clean) | 59 KIAS

720 lb (684 lb usable)

VSO (stall, in landing configuration) | 57 KIAS

Oil capacity | 12 qt
Baggage capacity | 400 lb

FOR MORE INFORMATION
Contact Blackwell Aviation, 724-379-8628,

PERFORMANCE

Takeoff distance, ground roll | 850 ft
Takeoff distance over 50-ft obstacle |
1,930 ft
Rate of climb, sea level | 1,575 fpm
Max level speed, sea level | 188 kt

http://blackav.com.
EXTRA

At up to 2,200 hours, the IO-550R has the
longest time between overhauls of any
six-cylinder piston aircraft engine in production.
http://www.blackav.com
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2017
