A2A Simulations

Accu-sim Bonanza for FSX and P3D v4

By Thomas Jones - In Partnership with Flightsimglobal.com

i7-7700K @ 4.6ghz | ASUS GTX1080 8gb | 16gb 2400mhz RAM | 500gb dedicated SSD | Windows 7 64bit

Intro

The Beechcraft model 35 Bonanza is a single engine, civilian, piston powered aircraft introduced

to the public in 1947. The design took advantage of many wartime developments in aircraft

design such as a horizontally opposed engine, an all-metal construction, retractable tricycle

landing gear, and a low wing. The model 35 Bonanza’s most distinctive feature is its V-tail design

that was both efficient and stylish and earned the plane the nickname of “Doctor Killer”. This

nickname was earned due to the plane’s light control forces on the roll axis and ease to put into

a spin if the pilot isn’t fully paying attention. In addition, earlier models were prone to structural

failure if flown outside a normal flight envelope. The Bonanza remains in production today and

over 17,000 have been built so far under various model types including the model 33 Debonair

and model 36 Bonanza both of which have conventional tail types. A2A Simulations has chosen

to model the V35B variant of the Bonanza, which happens to be the last V-tail Bonanza

produced. The product is available for $49.99 for the FSX/FSX:SE and P3Dv4 Academic licenses,

$79.99 for P3Dv4 Professional, $69.99 for the FSX and P3Dv4 Academic bundle, and $99.99 for

the FSX and P3Dv4 Professional bundle.

Exterior Model

The exterior of A2A’s V35 is wonderfully done as is usually the case with them. I used some

photos I’ve taken at various fly-ins over the years as comparisons and all of the important

details are accounted for. The fuselage and wings have blemishes where appropriate and the

various antenna, tie-down hooks, and other features are present and in the correct locations. By

using the included pre-flight walk around panel, you get up close and personal with many parts

of the plane. The plane also looks stunning at night both inside and out thanks to P3Dv4’s

upgraded lighting.

Interior Model

The interior of the Bonanza is just as well done as the outside. I would even argue to say the

way the gauges are recreated looks better than previous releases. An interesting item of note

for the V35 is that when in flight, if you open up a window the curtains will actually flutter in the

breeze.

Modeling and texturing of the entire cabin is very nicely done in addition to the main panel.

Wear and tear appears in appropriate places and the plane feels very “lived in” and used. Of

course, thanks to A2A’s community, other interior and exterior textures are available for

different panel looks and liveries.

A new feature added to the V35 (and shortly after added to the rest of A2A’s GA fleet and some

warbirds) is dynamic rain effects on the windows. A lot of hype has been generated over this

feature thanks to all of the different developers working on different versions and A2A’s is one

of the more authentic looking in my opinion. Given that A2A primarily does smaller aircraft

types, it is arguably more noticeable to see changes in the way the rain sweeps across the

windows as compared to an airliner that takes more time to change attitude and speed. The

rain starts responding with the slightest amount of wind and looks like… well, rain. The propeller

will push it across the windscreen and adding yaw will slightly change its direction with a

different wind stream. Though not included, I personally would have liked to have seen some

sort of snow/ice effects built into this as well but I suppose one could make the argument that

you shouldn’t fly in bad icing conditions. Either way, rain is a step in the right direction and I

hope to see more development on weather effects in the future, especially since they released

the rain effects for other developers to use for free.

Night lighting is very atmospheric and in the P3Dv4 version, you can even change the direction

the different floodlights point.

Systems and Flight Modeling

A2A has continued their trend of developing “study level” products with the V35. The aircraft

performs similar to real world numbers and will either under or over-perform based on loading

and current weather conditions. Since I have no experience flying a real Bonanza, I relied on real

world V35B owners’ descriptions of the handling qualities of the plane and they appeared to

match up to how A2A’s model handled. If hand flying isn’t your thing, the aircraft comes with a

2-axis autopilot system that works very well, perfect for longer cruise segments or if you need to

step away from the PC. I did notice that the aircraft is fairly responsive to turbulence and can

maneuver very quickly if the need arises. A great deal of pages full of performance data and

checklists can be found in the V35’s manual (available for free on the product page!).

If it can fail in the real thing, it can fail in the simulator. For testing, I made sure to abuse the

plane more than any sane Bonanza owner should in the real world just to trigger some failures

and it ended up being an interesting flight each time.

If you are familiar with A2A’s previous products, you will be familiar with their maintenance

hangar popup panel. This panel is also present in the V35 and allows the user to select a variety

of options for their own Bonanza. Some options include: tire types, wingtip fuel tanks, engine

option, sparkplug type, oil type, interior curtains, and battery type.

The maintenance hangar also includes a comprehensive maintenance component (obviously) to

see if anything is broken or beginning to fail in the engine or on the rest of the plane. What’s

nice about the V35 is that this is A2A’s first plane where not only can the systems fail, but the

gauges themselves can fail or give inaccurate readings. This new feature quickly reared its ugly

head on one of my first flights with the Bonanza where my airspeed indicator wouldn’t display

more than 40 knots. The new gauge failure simulation allows the user to “tap” on each gauge to

check if they’re stuck and if that doesn’t help it’s off to the maintenance hangar you go! The

gauges are also designed to fail over the course of their lifetime so it is possible to slip into

blindly trusting a slowly failing gauge. I’m sure there is something one could say about the irony

of A2A creating a product “designed to fail” when that only is a good thing in this context.

Sounds

A repeated theme in this review: A2A has improved from their previous releases. Sounds are

once again top notch in the V35 from the slight hum of the avionics to the way the engine is

performing. When I first started powering up the Bonanza and hit the beacon switch, I was

greeted with the sound of the beacon light motor. I have never heard a sound come from a

beacon switch (other than the switch itself) in all my years of flight simming so right away I

knew this was going to be a good release.

Conclusion

A2A Simulations continue to improve and innovate with each release and their V35B is no

exception. With the fluttering curtains, gauge failure simulation, and rain effects alone the

product already introduced more new technologies than many other products available while

keeping the price at the same $49.99 for the most basic license requirements. While some

additional weather effects would be nice to see on the smaller sized planes they produce, the

ones they have done are arguably the best of our current options. If you’re looking for a unique

looking single engine, piston plane with ample speed and advanced failures simulation than

look no further than A2A’s Accu-sim V35B Bonanza.