Bonanza seems to have a very low empty weight giving it a much higher useful load than it should.
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Hello! Wonderful aircraft with great modeling, lots of fun to fly. I have noticed one thing that bugs me however. The aircraft has an empty weight of 2150 pounds. I have never seen a late model A36 (which a late model appears to be modeled given the cockpit layout) with anything close to that, they tend more towards 2600 and the CG tends to be further aft as well. 2600 is much heavier than 2150. This also makes sense because the useful load of a Bonanza is not anywhere close to the 1500 shown in the tablet unless you have all the gross weight increase STCs (and given the lack of tip tanks, it clearly does not have them).
Is there any chance this could be fixed in an update?
Thanks!
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This typically happens because many sources incorrectly cite the basic empty weight, rather than an empty weight with typical equipment installed. From what I've found, it seems that listed useful loads typically fall between 1,350 and 1,400 lbs. I'm not seeing any 1985 models as high as 2,600 lbs gross, however. I'm not really sure where 450 lbs would go, between the basic empty and 2,600 lbs, to be honest. How about I add 120 lbs to account for the installed equipment, resulting in an empty weight of 2,265 lbs, and a useful load of 1,385 lbs?
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1986 the empty jumps up to 2520 for the empty. Its crazy how it can jump up from 2247 on the low end for 1985 then to 2520 in 1986. I suppose more equipment would change that number quite a bit.
@Kestrel21 My understanding is that it was the slow march of Baron components into the Bonanza that you can see with the landing gear, for instance. Today, their undercarriages are almost identical, but if you look at a 70's A36, the differences are noticeable.
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That would make sense since the later A36's and Barons gear are pretty much interchangeable. Also, the electrical components for the gear pretty much come from The B58 line so that absolutely aligns with what you're saying. I honestly think the Black Square community is the best sim community in our little flight sim world.
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This typically happens because many sources incorrectly cite the basic empty weight, rather than an empty weight with typical equipment installed. From what I've found, it seems that listed useful loads typically fall between 1,350 and 1,400 lbs. I'm not seeing any 1985 models as high as 2,600 lbs gross, however. I'm not really sure where 450 lbs would go, between the basic empty and 2,600 lbs, to be honest. How about I add 120 lbs to account for the installed equipment, resulting in an empty weight of 2,265 lbs, and a useful load of 1,385 lbs?
@Black-Square Hello! Thank you for taking the time to respond and consider my thoughts. I got the 2600 number from an example of a A36 for sale on trade-a-plane. I can link a few examples of 90s era Bonanzas.
Here is an early 80s model (still with the 520 engine which I believe is lighter): N614MM It has a useful load of 1179 and weighs 2420 empty.
Here is a 1999 model with only 1040 useful load (I suppose you can figure out the empty weight by subtracting that from the max gross but there are so many max gross weight increase STCs it is hard to tell what max gross is for a specific aircraft): N316P
Here is another 1990s model with around 1050 useful load. They get crazy heavy towards the end. N6255J
I know that there are a ton of STCs that boost the useful load. Some of them don’t even involve changing anything on the airplane. The biggest one is the tip tanks. Adding the tip tanks, depending on the type used, can make your useful load go up to like 1400. The company D'Shannon sells a bunch of gross weight increase kits on their website: here
Maybe the numbers you saw where aircraft that had those STCs?
I am really enjoying your wonderful products, your Bonanza is my favorite so far. Just putting it out there, I love Cessna P210s. Pressurization, turbocharging, deice boots, and weather radar! All from a single piston engine! Now that sounds like fun! It is a plane with really unique challenges as it has detonation and engine temperature problems in the climb and at high altitudes. You can read Richard Collin's article on his ownership of one to get a taste for how fun this would be in a flight sim: here I am sure you would get a kick out of it even if you don’t like the idea of a P210.
