Garmin Commander Close to FAA Approval

The project to retrofit Twin Commanders with state-of-the-art Garmin 950 all-electronic instrument panels, instrumentation, and avionics has entered the home stretch, with supplemental type certification (STC) expected within the next couple of months. Eagle Creek Aviation Services, which is developing the Garmin STC, already has three airplanes in its Indianapolis shop undergoing the conversion. Two of three –– a model 1000 and a model 900 –– will be delivered to customers soon after the FAA approves the STC, says Eagle Creek President and CEO Matt Hagans. Eagle Creek has been testing and developing the conversion in a Commander 1000; the STC will apply to all Honeywell-powered Twin Commanders. The conversion includes two 10-inch primary flight displays, a 12-inch multifunction display, pedestal-mounted data-entry keyboard, dual Garmin attitude and heading reference systems, dual Garmin air data computers, dual Garmin WAAS/GPS/navcom units, Garmin’s GTX 33ES Mode S transponder with ADS-B-Out capability, and the Cobham/S-Tec 2100 Digital Flight Control System. The conversion had been called the Garmin 1000, but when Garmin introduced its own flight control system as part of the Garmin 1000 retrofit, the Commander package with the Cobham/S-Tec 2100 took on the 950 designation. New engine and system transducers and digital instrumentation is part of the package, replacing standard analog instruments and old-technology sensors. All in all, the conversion shaves about 300 pounds of weight from the aircraft. The Garmin 950 Twin Commander was the subject of a feature story in the February 2014 AOPA PILOT Turbine Edition (“Twin Commander tune-up” page T-10) written by Editor at Large Tom Horne, who has done several pilot reports on Twin Commanders over the years. For more information about the Garmin 950 Commander contact Twin Commander Aircraft or Eagle Creek Aviation Services.