FROM THE FACTORY Welcome Back

Welcome back.

The past year has been trying for all of us. Like many of you, I was laid up for a brief time with the coronavirus. We were all put in lockdowns, business decisions became extremely challenging because forecasts were unreliable, and there was a general feeling of confusion, even fear for some.

But now as virus numbers drop, we take our shots, and mask mandates and other restrictions lift, there’s a feeling that we’ve turned a corner. We’re back.

Actually, at Twin Commander Aircraft we never left. As I’ve said in previous columns, the factory never stopped. Over time some of us transitioned to working from home, but the service and support our airplanes are known for never wavered. And I know that as hard as we worked at the factory to ensure continuity through this challenging time, the independent shops that make up the Twin Commander Factory Authorized Service Centers worked even harder.

Of course, I know that some of you, whether because of economic concerns or medical or political restrictions, took a hiatus from flying. For those of you coming back to the airport, you’ll be surprised how little has changed. The great support you have relied on for years has continued, and the factory and the service network are effectively unchanged despite the massive challenges to aviation over the past 18 months.

Before you fire up the airplane for the first time you may be wondering if there’s anything special that needs to happen after a long break. I think the answer effectively illustrates just how great this airplane is, and also how much faith the factory has in the great support provided by the factory service center network. The pilot’s operating handbook says that if proper storage procedures were followed, very little preparation is required to return the airplane to service. It suggests installing fully charged batteries and a thorough preflight. That’s it.

So, what are the proper storage procedures? For fewer than 30 days the handbook recommends a bit of cleaning, closing the high-pressure valve on the oxygen cylinder, releasing the oxygen from the high-pressure line, plugging the various inlets and drains, and rolling the tires every week to avoid flat spots. Between 30 and 60 days the batteries should come out and go on a charger, and longer than 60 days the handbook says simply to contact your local Twin Commander Factory Authorized Service Center. I love this advice because it shows that when it was written more than 40 years ago the factory had complete confidence in a hand-picked network of independent facilities to expertly service, maintain, and even store the airplane.

Now, 40, 50, and even 60 years later, we still do. The stories in this issue of Flight Levels illustrate why. The market report describes how aircraft values are strong, in some cases more than late-model turbojets. In the profile of Factory Authorized Service Center Eagle Creek Aviation, we learn how an independently owned shop continues to make investments in the airplane because of their robust confidence in its future. And in this month’s feature on recently retired maintenance technician Mike Merek, we learn that even government agencies count on the service center network to expertly and efficiently care for taxpayer investments.

Whether you are just coming back after a long absence or you’re new to our community, I say welcome. We are here to support you, just as we’ve been doing for many decades through times good and bad, even pandemics.