Aero Air Updates Customer Commander
Inside And Out
Aero Air, a Twin Commander Aircraft factory-authorized Service Center located at the Portland-Hillsboro, Oregon, Airport (KHIO), has just completed an extensive upgrade of a Twin Commander 690B by installing dual Garmin G600 electronic flight and multi-function displays, a Twin Commander Digital Fuel Quantity Indicating System, and Twin Commander High-Intensity Discharge (HID) landing and recognition lighting.
The dual G600 installation was part of an extensive panel makeover. Aero Air worked with the owner of the Twin Commander to design the panel, and the results are dramatic. Along with pilot and copilot G600s, each comprised of a primary flight display (PFD) and multi-function display (MFD), the panel upgrade includes dual Garmin GNS 430W flight management systems, dual Garmin GTX 330 Mode S transponders, Garmin GMA 347 audio panel, Garmin GDL 69 remote XM WX Satellite Weather datalink receiver, L-3 Avionics WX-500 Stormscope, TCAS collision avoidance, and a 406 MHz ELT.
The three-month upgrade project was performed in conjunction with overhauls of the Commander’s TPE331-10T turboprop engines as well as other maintenance. When paired with Hartzell wide-chord propellers on a Twin Commander, the Honeywell Dash 10T engines deliver spectacular climb performance and 300-plus knots cruise speeds at comparatively low fuel consumption.
The new Digital Fuel Quantity Indicating System replaces the standard capacitance system, providing extremely accurate fuel quantity and fuel consumption data to the pilot. HID lights are a recent innovation from Twin Commander, replacing standard wing landing lights and nose-mounted recognition lights with new long-lasting nose-mounted recessed lights that perform both functions.
Installation of the HID lights removes an airspeed limitation for extension of the wing-mounted landing lights.
The G600 project was the first dual system installation performed by any Twin Commander-authorized Service Center. “The difference is dramatic,” says Bruce Franklin, Aero Air’s Avionics Manager. “The install completely changed the look of the panel.”
“There was a lot of discussion, and a lot of revisions to the panel,” said Service Representative Ken Molczan. “The customer was able to fully integrate his preferences, and make the panel uniquely his own.”
With the install completed, the customer is not only pleased with the new technology and the ease of use, but also the 100-pound weight savings.
The Garmin G600 system eliminates the need for many electromechanical instruments in the panel. The PFD seamlessly integrates aircraft position, speed, altitude, steering, and flight progress, while the MFD provides highly detailed moving map graphics and landmarks so the pilot has all the information needed at his fingertips.
Aero Air is the first Twin Commander-authorized Service Center to successfully perform single and dual installations of the G600 in Twin Commanders, and the company is now in the beginning stages of its second dual install.
For more information, contact Twin Commander Aircraft President Matt Isley at 360-435-9797; email [email protected]; web site www.twincommander.com, or Aero Air’s Ashley Chuinard at 503-640-3711; email [email protected]; website www.aeroair.com.
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