VH-CHX  Beech S35 Bonanza                  (c/n  D-7946)

                                     

                                          Formerly N9014S, this Bonanza came onto the Australian register in May of 1968.     John
                                          Wheatley's shot above dates from circa 1970.       The Bonanza was withdrawn from use in
                                          February 1987 and languished for approximately three years.     Around 1990 a restoration
                                          was commenced by a new owner, who was a LAME.     On 29 February 1996, while taking
                                          off from Ballarat Airport on a test flight following engine maintenance, the engine backfired and
                                          then failed, whereupon the aircraft spun in from some 300 ft.  Both the owner and an apprentice
                                          aircraft maintenance engineer passenger were killed.