Steve Binnette remembers his days in the 1980s as a young, recently minted commercial pilot flying Commander 680FL and 500-series piston twins on freight runs out of Denver, Colorado. The exterior paint on the airplanes had long since faded, the interiors featured plywood floors and fiberglass-panel walls, and the geared, IGSO-540 engines on the FLs were, well, geared engines. That utilitarian, 24/7, all-weather duty gave him an appreciation for the Commander’s stout construction and solid, safe flight characteristics—traits that would figure prominently years later when he went searching for a business and personal airplane to succeed his Cessna 421. Binnette had owned, flown, and enjoyed the 421 for five years, but with children enrolled in out-of-state colleges and business to…