Why I Choose to Fly a Twin Commander
Kent Titcomb recently upgraded from a Cessna 414A to a Twin Commander 840. A few months into ownership of the Commander, we asked him how it’s going. He answered with the following. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Robert Persig’s iconic 1974 book, was a philosophical examination of the marriage of the technical and the emotional. The Commander is a beautiful example of that Zen. A blend of exceptional speed, exceptional fuel burn, reasonable purchase price, reasonable maintenance costs, cabin size, and payload/range flexibility. What machine can do more for less? Did I mention excellent short-field performance? Did I mention how good the aircraft flies? Ramp presence? Another aspect that attracted me to the Commander was Twin Commander Aircraft LLC. They want to see Commanders…
Finding the Cure for an Airplane Fever
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…
COMMANDER OWNER ‘LIVING THE DREAM’
IN THE USA
Jean-Luc Pous has an interesting, and impressive, résumé, beginning at the beginning: Born in French-occupied Algeria just before the start of an eight-year war, he fled the country at age 10 while under fire. He later earned a mechanical engineering degree in France, but wanted to become a military pilot—a childhood visit to a military base with his father had ignited a passion to fly. However, lacking the required eyesight, he used the expertise he had gained as a parachute instructor and competitor in college to join the French military as a paratrooper and platoon commander. “It was the proper thing to do to repay them—the French paratroopers—for their support in the war,” Pous says. “They were the only ones…
From the Flightline
SERVICE CENTER PROFILE: Byerly Aviation on the Rise
One of the foundational Twin Commander sales and service centers is on the ascendency after suffering a decline a decade ago. Byerly Aviation has new leadership and new energy, and is rebuilding its Twin Commander customer base. Just under a…
GARMIN TIPS & TRICKS ADS-B: Two Years and Counting
The ADS-B mandate is only two years away, a relatively short time given the task ahead. Figures from AOPA show that there are roughly 225,000 General Aviation aircraft, and the FAA expects between 100,000 and 160,000 of these will need…
ADVENTURE TRAVEL: A Volcano on the Route
Mid-August 2017 I launched on the first journey around the world westbound with a circumnavigation around Australia. I was leading a group of six airplanes to enjoy this unique adventure. When we organize this type of program, safety and enjoyment…
LOOKING BACK: The Gulfstream Aerospace Model 1200
On September 8, 1982, the engineering department at Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation’s Commander Division was released to modify Model 695A serial number 96062 for use as the Model 1200 prototype. This modification was similar to that performed on the Australian Department…
ADVENTURE TRAVEL: Australia and Beyond
Dear fellow Twin Commander owners and pilots: The travel destination for this article is slightly different from what you’ve read in previous issues. I write this as I escort our first Journey to Australia and Beyond, which is an around-the-world…
GARMIN TIPS & TRICKS: Navigation Gone Digital
A number of new digital autopilots (see examples in Figure 1) are now coming into the market, including those by Garmin and Genesys (formerly S-Tec). TruTrak and Trio autopilots, originally legal only for experimental planes, are now receiving approval to…
ADVENTURE TRAVEL: FLYING TO CUBA
While flying a private plane to almost any destination in the world is somewhat routine, a U.S. pilot flying to Cuba must follow a certain set of more-restrictive rules because of the past relationship between the two countries. In this…
TRANSITIONING TO A TURBINE TWIN COMMANDER
After administering about a dozen Twin Commander transition courses and twice as many currency courses in the last two years, I have concluded that the three most important things to consider when moving up from a piston aircraft to a…