My Wife was quite comfortable. She felt very reassured by the fact that our pilot delayed our departure b/c of the cloud cover. She'd do it again.

You had to wait till the clouds to clear? He wasn't instrument rated? If he was not intrument rated, he showed good judjement by waiting for the clouds to clear and that is what makes a good pilot.

Cheers, Elliot

He is instrument rated, but did not want to chance it flying with others. IFR was a conversation we had on the way home as we corkscrewed through a clearing in the clouds.

He sounds like a safe pilot.
Elliot

Been there and done that bro. If thw weather is bad, its not a good idea to fly small planes. They fly by blips and don't need much visiuals anymore and can get the runway in the fog. If it happens to go down, hey, falling Xthousand feet to your death isen't a bad way to go. LOL

You and your wife should take seperate flights for the kids if ya got some.LOL

The bonanza is a great airplane. They have been building them since 1947. I used to fly charters in one a looong time ago.
Elliot

They call the Beach Bonanza the "Doctor killer"...not because it was unsafe...but because rich doctors with no common sense, little skill & experience would take this high performance plane and get in over their inflated heads.

My dad was a pilot, when we were kids he'd take us up for rides in little cesna's, much to my mothers dismay. So it wasn't that often. I've recently been up for some joy rides with a friend who is a pilot. Once in a Grumman Tiger, lot's of fun, loud though, had to wear the headphones. Did some 0g push overs, 90 degree turns. Scared the wife, but it was fun.
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Then he brought me along on a "test drive" where the company he worked for had a Piagio turbo prop pusher for a week. Lap of luxury, it's a limo with wings, and FAST, barely need half the runway at Burbank.

Call me silly but I grew up with family and extended family that were Navy fighter pilots and have a great respect for seasoned carrier qualified pilots as opposed to purely private pilots with no prior military training. I always ask how many hours of flying and how many in the specific plane they are flying before I get into a small plane. I have been a passenger in old biplanes, P-51 Mustangs, a variety of small Cessna's, a bunch of small turbo props even jumped out of a small plane at 10,000 feet with a parachute and I'm still here 44 years later!

I agree its less about the plane and more about the pilot as mentioned above. The pilots familiarity with area that you are flying is important as well. I had a hair raising flight in a Cessna 208 Turbo Prop with a couple of Mexican national pilots in Southern Mexico. The plane was quite capable, but they made some bad choices with weather to the point where I was uncomfortable with margin of safety flying through a mountain pass. We made it down safely, but I'll never forget that flight.