Speedbrakes for a Bonanza: Opinions?

markjenn ) wrote:

They're not a bad idea on some aircraft, but Bonanzas, with their 154K gear
speeds, really don't need them.

In his Avweb articles (posted in this thread), John Deakin expressed the
same opinion.

The reason I was considering them had to do with the type of airports in
which I fly. The majority of my flying is for Angel Flight Northeast,
which brings me into Teterboro and Boston Logan frequently. If I could
fly at 160-170 all the way to the outer marker, it would certainly make
fitting in to the traffic flow much easier.

But, cost is certainly an issue and if I am lacking in skills to slow
the aircraft down, then this is something I should explore. I was going
to take a Bonanza Proficiency course last October, but unfortunately a
cylinder cracked and started this extended maintenance period.

I also think that shock-cooling is an overrated thing, but that's
another discussion.

I am certainly too low time to have any experience with this, so I have
to rely on others' experiences.

The only fact that sort of sways me into the shock cooling camp is what
Cape Air does with their Cessna 402s. The head of our local flight
school used to fly with Cape Air and told me about their strict policy
of using all drag-inducing devices to descend long before they reduce
power. As a result of demonstrated engine reliability, Cape Air was
able to receive a TBO extension for their C402 engines.

This policy was discussed in an Aviation Consumer article last year.


--
Peter