Beechcraft Bonanza 36 / A36 / G36

This page's specifications describe one airplane: the 300 hp Continental IO-550-B A36, serials E-1946, E-2104 and E-2111 through E-3635 — 1,526 of 3,450 A36 serials, built from 1984 to 2005. It is the largest single block on the certificate, and the only one with both a freely available handbook and a manufacturer's specification sheet. The 285 hp IO-520 airplanes that came before it are in the variants table with their own figures, and everything on this page that differs between them says so.

The whole line is Section XIII of FAA TCDS 3A15 Revision 100, which covers the Model 36 and the A36 together: serials E-1 through E-184 and E-185 through E-3635 respectively, 3,634 eligible airframes in all. The turbocharged versions are separate pages — Beechcraft Bonanza A36TC and Beechcraft Bonanza B36TC — as is the G36 that replaced the A36 in 2006, Beechcraft Bonanza G36.

The 36 exists because Beech had no answer to the Cessna 206 and 210. Its program manager, Larry Ball, is quoted by Aviation Consumer: "This was my airplane. I fought for it for four years. Cessna was killing us with the Cessna 206." The solution was a Bonanza 33 stretched ten inches — with the cabin moved forward relative to the wing, which is the detail that matters, because it bought the airplane a 6.7-inch centre-of-gravity envelope where the V-tail has 2.3. Add the double aft doors and club seating and the result is the airplane most people mean when they say Bonanza.

TCDS 3A15 Section XIII qualifies almost every value by serial. Counting eligible serials:

*except E-1946 and E-2104, which are early IO-550-B airplanes out of sequence; E-3630 is excluded throughout and is a G36.

Other serial breaks that change the airplane:

• E-1371 — the fifth and sixth seats move aft from +148 to +152, and a 15-degree approach flap detent appears.
• E-1594 — the 74-gallon fuel system becomes standard.
• E-1609 — Part 36 noise certification.
• E-2111 (and E-1946, E-2104) — the IO-550-B, 3,650 lb, a new instrument panel, conventional dual yokes in place of the throw-over, and a 12-degree approach flap detent in place of 15.

Why this is one page and not two. docs/CATALOG-SPLITTING-RULE.md Step 1 fires on none of it — same engine count, same engine class, same seat range, same retractable gear, same certificate — and Step 2 fires on none either: gross weight moves 1.4%, power 5.3%, overhaul price 4%, and cruise about 7%. The splitting rule keeps them together, so the house rule for a shared page applies instead: the frontmatter describes exactly one variant and the page says which.

The reference cruise is 174 KTAS at 8,000 ft on 15.7 gph, at 25 in. Hg (full throttle at that altitude) and 2500 rpm, 20 deg C rich of peak EGT, standard day. The speed comes from two documents that agree: POH sheet 5-26 and Raytheon's "High Speed Cruise" block. The range of 714 nm is Raytheon's printed figure for the same setting at the same altitude, and the POH's own Range Profile reads about 706 nm there — a 1.1% agreement between a 2002 handbook and a 2005 sales sheet, arrived at independently.

In fact all nine of Raytheon's cruise speeds — three power settings at three altitudes — are cell-for-cell the Standard Day KTAS entries of the matching POH tables. That is the strongest confirmation on this page that both were read correctly.

There is no economy row on this page, and the reason is a property of the document. Beech's A36 handbook labels its cruise pages by manifold pressure and rpm and states a percentage of brake horsepower nowhere; its Manifold Pressure vs RPM chart shows only the leaning envelope. The catalogue's economy row is defined as the published row nearest 65% power, and no row here carries a power percentage. Writing 75% because it is probably 75% is the exact failure this catalogue is being re-sourced to fix, so both fields are blank. The V35B and F33A handbooks do label their tables by percent, which is why those pages have an economy row and this one does not.

What the handbook does give, and what the grid file carries, is the full four settings across nine altitudes:

The A36's peak true airspeed is 176 KTAS at 6,000 ft, which is where the old page's cruise figure came from and which is correct — it was the range beside it that was wrong. Raytheon's own range at 21 in. Hg and 2100 rpm is 919-924 nm, so the airplane really will fly that far; it will do it at 144-153 knots, which is a different trip.

All cruise figures are computed at 3,400 lb, 250 lb below the maximum.

Which years these figures describe. Both primary sources — POH 36-590002-37 and Raytheon's specification sheet — cover the 1984-2005 IO-550-B airplane only, which is 1,526 of the 3,450 A36 serials and every performance, weight and V-speed number in this page's frontmatter. For the 1968-1983 airplanes, use the variants table: 285 hp instead of 300, 3,600 lb instead of 3,650, one to two knots different on each airspeed limit, and 44 usable gallons as standard below E-1594. Aviation Consumer's 2001 review, which covers 1968 through 2001, describes those earlier airplanes when it gives "normal cruise ... about 165 knots, with a 1,000 FPM-plus initial climb rate" — that is the 285 hp airplane, not this one, and it is not used for any stored figure.

Raytheon publishes three different "empty" weights for this airplane and they are 150 lb apart, so read the label before quoting one:

So the airplane a buyer actually finds is about 2,550 lb empty and carries 1,113 lb against the 3,663 lb ramp weight — Raytheon's own "Useful Load (without pilot)". The frontmatter's 1,170 lb is the standard airplane against the 3,650 lb take-off weight; both reconcile exactly, and the difference between them is the air conditioning.

With 74 usable gallons at 6.0 lb/gal:

Six seats is a seat count, not a payload, and this is the airplane the rule was written about. Raytheon's own "Maximum Range Performance" block says the same thing from the other side: with one pilot and four passengers the airplane goes 463 nm at an average 140 knots, against 922 nm solo.

Where the 36 genuinely beats every other Bonanza is the loading envelope. TCDS 3A15 gives it 74.0 in aft of datum at 3,100 lb rising to 81.0 in at 3,650 lb, with the aft limit at 87.7 in at all weights — 6.7 inches at gross, against 4.6 for the F33A and 2.3 for the V35B. Aviation Consumer quotes all three figures and every one reconciles with the certificate to the tenth of an inch. The practical consequence is that a 36 can be filled in almost any order that fits the weight, where a V-tail has to be loaded forward and watched as the fuel burns.

The real limit on six-up flying is space rather than arithmetic: "there is some room in the form of a shelf aft of the third row of seats (watch that CG envelope!), but the only real place to stow suitcases is between the front seats and the rear-facing center row."

• Flight Training (2): Too much airplane and too much insurance. Legitimate for a complex and high-performance endorsement, nothing before that.
• Backcountry (2): Low-wing retractable, 68 KIAS clean stall, and a propeller close to the ground. The double doors do not change that.
• Business Travel (9): The definitive owner-flown business single. 174 KTAS, 714 nm, six seats, club seating, a proper IFR platform, and — the part people underrate — a 6.7-inch CG envelope that means you can actually fill the seats in an order that works.
• Aerobatics (1): Utility category, intentional spins prohibited. Approved manoeuvres are chandelles, steep turns and lazy eights at 134 KIAS entry.
• Cross-Country (9): 714 nm at 174 knots, or 924 nm at 149 if you have the patience, with reserve and climb already deducted by the manufacturer.
• Cargo Hauling (7): The double aft doors are the real differentiator, and 400 lb of structural baggage capacity aft of the rear spar with 70 lb more in the extended compartment. Aviation Consumer is honest about the limit: "there's simply not enough room to fit six people and six bags on board in any sort of reasonable fashion." It is a volume constraint as much as a weight one.
• Local Fun Flying (7): Heavier and more deliberate than a V-tail — "a bit more ponderous", says Aviation Consumer — and the same review points out that the extra length also removes the V-tail's Dutch-roll waggle.
• Surveying (4): Low wing, fast, high wing loading.

• Early A36 (1970s-80s): frequently still round gauges plus whatever WAAS navigator was added for ADS-B. A full modernisation is $60,000-$120,000.
• Late A36 (1990s-2005): usually a GPS and a modern autopilot already, often a GNS or GTN stack. From E-2111 the panel is the redesigned one with conventional dual yokes, which makes a centre-stack retrofit much easier than on a throw-over-yoke airplane.
• From E-2180 an optional standby instrument air pressure system is approved (TCDS 3A15 Item 621), and from E-1241 a 28-volt standby generator (Item 620). Both matter for hard-IFR use.
• The G36 that replaced this airplane came with G1000 as standard, which is a large part of why late A36 prices and G36 prices do not overlap much.

• IO-550 conversion for IO-520 airplanes. Aviation Consumer notes why it is popular beyond the power: "The IO-520 has been notorious for case and head cracking, a shortcoming that has not plagued the IO-550 to the same extent."
• Tornado Alley turbonormalizing, which Controller listings show as a distinct market segment — "A36 TURBO NORMALIZED" is its own model facet.
• Tip tanks, which also raise gross weight.
• Three-blade propellers; TCDS 3A15 Items 11, 14, 16 and 17 approve several on the 36.
• Speed modifications and vortex generators from the usual Bonanza suppliers.
• Air conditioning (TCDS 3A15 Item 619, 70 lb) — Raytheon's own "typically equipped" airplane includes it, and it costs 65 lb of payload.

• Annual inspection: $3,000-$6,000 before squawks; the larger airframe and the extra systems add a little over an F33A.
• Parts: the best of any Bonanza. The 36 airframe stayed in production as the G36 until 2024, so Textron support and the aftermarket are both strong. Expensive, as always: "there doesn't seem to be any problem getting parts, as long as you brace yourself."
• American Bonanza Society (bonanza.org).
• Mechanic familiarity: common.
• Expensive items: engine overhaul ($50,000 per reference/engine-overhaul-pricing.md), propeller overhaul, fuel cells, landing gear overhaul, spar repair if a crack is found.

All three price fields are ASKING prices, observed on 7 September 2026 and recorded in raw/market/usedvalues-bonanza-2026-09-07.md. Vref and the Aircraft Bluebook were tried first per runbook rule 27; both sell their values by subscription and neither would return a figure. Trade-A-Plane returned HTTP 403. Asking is not selling — $699,900 is the top of the market, not a normal price.

The band spans two different engines and thirty-seven model years, and it would be dishonest to hide that inside a single typical price. Splitting the observed Controller asking prices at the 1984 IO-550-B change:

That is a 1.5x spread, well inside the splitting rule's 2.5x threshold, and much of it is the calendar rather than the variant — which is why one page carries both. Hangar67's twelve-month average across thirty-four listings is $383,629 with an average of 3,783 airframe hours and 867 hours on the engine; the mean sits well above the median because two listings over $600,000 pull it up.

What moves the price:

• IO-550 versus IO-520. The single biggest step in the line, and it is worth a large premium both for the 15 extra horsepower and for the crankcase history.
• Engine time. A $50,000 event at 1,700 hours per reference/engine-overhaul-pricing.md.
• Spar carry-through inspection history under AD 95-04-03.
• Panel. A late A36 with a GTN stack and a modern autopilot against an early one with round gauges is a $60,000-plus difference on its own.
• Turbonormalizing. Controller treats "A36 TURBO NORMALIZED" as its own model, which is a fair indication of how the market values it.
• Air conditioning, which is close to expected on a six-seat airplane and costs 65 lb of payload.

See Aircraft Valuation Methodology.

Numbers are the FAA's own, from the Dynamic Regulatory System's AD Final Rules index and recorded in raw/tcds/faa-ad-bonanza-33-35-36-2026-09-07.md. Aviation Consumer's 2001 article writes them in a shortened form the FAA does not use.

• AD 95-04-03 (current) — "Beech Aircraft Corporation 33, 35, and 36 Series Airplanes". Wing front spar carry-through frame: inspect, reinspect at intervals not to exceed 500 hours, repair or reinforce any crack, and inspect for fuselage skin cracking around the lower forward carry-through opening. The 36 and the Baron are the models most often found needing this work.
• AD 93-24-03 (current) — rudder forward spar assembly and rudder centre hinge, 500-hour repetitive. Applicability includes "36 and A36 E-1 through E-2518".
• AD 2019-23-10 (current; supersedes 2019-21-08) — right aileron flight control cable end fittings, applying to A36 S/Ns E-185 through E-925.
• AD 97-14-15, AD 91-20-08, AD 88-20-01, AD 88-21-02, AD 93-03-02, AD 2008-13-17 and AD 2009-25-01 all name the A36 on specific serial ranges.
• AD 77-13-22 applies to certain IO-520-equipped airplanes with the light crankcase, calling for 100-hour inspections. Aviation Consumer notes the heavy cases from 1976 on are not subject to it "But they crack, too."
• AD 2001-08-08 — turbocharger V-band exhaust clamp, applying only to airplanes with an aftermarket Continental turbocharger installation.

No V-tail AD applies here. AD 94-20-04 R2, the ruddervator inspection and modification that dominates V35B ownership, names only 35-series models. That is the largest single ownership difference between this airplane and a V-tail.

Common problems:

• Wing spar carry-through cracks, per AD 95-04-03. This is the pre-buy item.
• IO-520 crankcase and cylinder cracking on pre-1984 airplanes; the IO-550-B is markedly better.
• Fuel cells. Bladder deterioration, and the 36 has more of them to look after.
• Landing gear. Aviation Consumer is complimentary — "the same landing gear used for the Baron", electro-mechanical rather than hydraulic, "somewhat more reliable" — but the emergency hand crank is easy to stop turning too early, and an improperly installed spar cover has been found blocking it.
• Aft door seals on the double cargo doors.
• Nose-heaviness solo. "At extreme forward CG loadings (common when flying solo), pilots report that carrying some power into the flare helps to make smooth landings considerably easier."

Per GA Insurance Underwriting and reference/insurance-costs.md.

• Hull: roughly $2,500-$5,000 a year at $200,000-$500,000 of hull value, and proportionally more at late-model prices.
• Liability: $1,000,000 smooth typically $500-$900.
• Pilot minimums: instrument rating, several hundred total hours, retractable time, dual in type.
• No V-tail surcharge, and the 36 has none of the structural history that drives it.
• Six seats is an exposure question. Some underwriters price seat count because carrying five passengers is a different liability profile from carrying three, and it shows up on quotes for this airplane where it does not on a four-seat Bonanza.
• Bonanza Pilot Proficiency Program completion is commonly required or discounted for.