From Pro Basketball Player to Twin Commander Pilot

John Hummer says he’s on his third life. The first was as a professional basketball player, then as a pioneering venture capitalist, and now as a retiree who gets to fly around in his cherry 1985 Model 1000 Twin Commander. Given the airplane and how he uses it, it seems like Hummer is having as much success in his third life as he did the first two.

Hummer is perhaps best known for his first life, that of professional basketball player. He grew up in Arlington, Virginia, and excelled as a high school athlete. That success took him to Princeton, where he is still regarded as one of the best players in the school’s illustrious basketball tradition. He was the fifteenth overall pick in the 1970 NBA draft, and the first in franchise history for the Buffalo Braves, the team that would become the LA Clippers. After a stint in Chicago, Hummer finished his career in Seattle, the city where he still has his primary home.

Knowing he needed a career after basketball, Hummer set off for an MBA at Stanford. Given his home in Seattle and experience in Silicon Valley, it’s no wonder he chose to focus on software companies when he and Ann Winblad started Hummer Winblad Venture Partners in 1989. The company claims to be the first dedicated solely to funding software companies. Some of its previous investments are file-sharing site Napster and ecommerce success Pets.com.

Now retired, Hummer spends most of his time traveling and enjoying his Twin Commander.

Hummer said he was finally able to find the time about 11 years ago. He started with a Cessna 206 piston single, traveling between the Bay Area and a vacation home in Idaho. Although he said the 206 is a great airplane, he believed he needed something a bit larger and a bit faster. That led to a Quest Kodiak, a highly capable single-engine turbine that could do the backcountry strips he wanted to try in Idaho, and it provided more power and capability for the commuting mission.

His discovery of the Twin Commander turned out to be an encounter with Eagle Creek Aviation Service’s Matt Hagans a few years ago. “I met the guys at Eagle Creek who were just terrific,” he said. Hummer worked with Eagle Creek for about a year before finally settling on a Twin Commander that was just about to undergo a Grand Renaissance conversion. It didn’t hurt that Hummer said he had read Bob Hoover’s books, where he writes about his admiration for the Shrike. “It’s really a cult airplane, and I say that in a positive sense.”

Given his adeptness at basketball in the era of the Big Man, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Hummer stands 6 feet 9 inches tall. That works great for the basketball court, but most airplanes are built for pilots about a foot shorter. So physically being able to fit in the airplane is check number one before deciding whether to move forward. Hummer said the Twin Commander fit well, but Eagle Creek helped to provide even more comfort by slightly moving back the seat rails and canting the panel a bit. Hummer said he even tried the Pilatus PC-12, but that the Twin Commander cockpit is more comfortable. “The PC-12 cockpit isn’t as roomy,” he said. “My Commander flies a little higher and a little faster. Oh, and by the way, it’s half the price.”

The relationship with Eagle Creek has proved not only critical to Hummer’s physical comfort in the airplane, but his comfort level owning and flying it as well. “The plane they found for me was a good one,” he said. The 1985 model was one of the last built. It features an upgraded interior, Renaissance conversion with Dash 10 engines, a Garmin G950 integrated glass panel, and even a “bathroom.” Hummer purchased the airplane after Eagle Creek had sourced the airframe and before it underwent the Renaissance conversion. He saw the opportunity to watch it go through the conversion a plus. He has since added the MT five-blade propellers, which he says are rock solid, smooth, and give better climb performance.

With other newer-production choices on the market like the Pilatus and various Beechcraft King Air models, purchasing a legacy airframe was a factor Hummer considered before going forward. But he said getting to know the staff at Eagle Creek put his mind at ease. “The guys have always stood behind me,” he said. “They have always helped with any sort of issues. That took all those concerns away.”

Being retired, Hummer also had the time to fully dive into learning the new aircraft. Through his relationship with Eagle Creek he was able to delve more deeply into operating techniques, systems, and more. He attended the company’s Twin Commander maintenance training, a factory-approved course designed for professional Twin Commander technicians. The experience allowed him to become intimately familiar with the Honeywell engines, which were completely new to him. “It’s just a fabulous engine and it’s completely different from a PT-6,” he said.

Hummer also did some initial pilot training at Eagle Creek. He continued his training with supervised experience after taking delivery of the airplane, flying about 100 hours with Seattle-based Maria Plunket.

In many ways Hummer’s mission for the airplane will sound familiar—he uses it to travel between homes in Seattle and Idaho. But where he’s able to operate with the Twin Commander sets it apart. He flies to Sun Valley and to Cavanaugh Bay Airport in Priest Lake, a 3,000-foot bumpy grass strip carved out of the pine forest. “The guys at Eagle Creek assured me it could do a 3,000-foot grass strip. They didn’t lead me astray. It’s a very powerful plane. I’ve landed there 20 times,” he said.

Hummer had taken some training from mountain flying expert Lori MacNichol prior to buying the Twin Commander and had explored many Idaho backcountry strips in his Kodiak, but he thinks the Twin Commander does a pretty good job in the unforgiving environment. “I think the Commander is best of both worlds. I can go cross-country and I can do some of the backcountry strips.” Because of the airplane he’s been able to take what had been an 11-hour drive between Sun Valley and Priest Lake and cut it down to 70 minutes in the air. “I got those two Dash 10s on it and it makes it a very powerful plane, but it’s really docile at the same time.”

With a good tailwind, Hummer also said he can make it nonstop to New York City, a frequent destination for him. But his favorite part about being retired is that he doesn’t have to do it all in one leg. “You don’t have to fly in bad weather. You can wait until it passes. I can fly it at 30,000 feet so I can get over a lot of weather.” It’s that sort of strategic thinking that helped Hummer excel at basketball, in business, and in his third act as a Twin Commander owner.