Bona
Malibu. The age of white plastic airplanes Cirrus and Columbia ended that, leaving Beech owners in their propwash with 180-knot cruise speeds. It was inevitable that someone would respond by hotrodding the Beech 33 and 35 series with Continentals we’ll regarded IO-550.
Atlantic Aero has been doing just that for about three years and has achieved good market acceptance of its 550 conversions for Bonanzas and Cessna 210s.
With six engineers and about 180 employees, Atlantic Aero is a large operation as STC houses go, and it delivers conversions for pistons, jets and turboprops, covering some 20 STCs. John Ackerman, Atlantic Aeros VP of sales and technical services, told us that the IO-550 conversion came from the same place most conversions do: from airplane enthusiasts who want something better and see a way to make money providing it. In the 1980s, company president Don Godwin