How I Came to Love Commanders
(and other High Wing
Propjets)
My first exposure to general aviation aircraft was in 1972, when my high-school friendÕs stepfather bought this 1962 Aero Commander 560F. That gentleman later became a close friend, mentor and father-figure to me.
The airplane was formerly owned
and operated by the Magnavox Corporation in Ft. Wayne, Indiana. The Magnavox tail number was N580M,
which was kept throughout my friendÕs ownership. When he moved up in Commanderdom, he kept that tail number
for his next Commander, a 680T/V.
When he was able to upgrade to a 690A, he did not keep the 580M
marks. His 690A was N57294.
In flight on the way from Sioux City to get some beer.
In flight over the great plains of North America.
My friend and mentor, Frank Wood and the 560F. This picture was taken at the Richmond, Indiana airport.
Before Coors was distributed in the east, we made beer runs to Kansas.
This is on the ramp at Executive Beechcraft in Kansas City. (MKC)
The 560F on the ramp at Lunken Airport, Cincinnati, Ohio.
This picture was taken the day that my friend brought home his first turbine airplane, a 680T-converted-to-680V. It was powered by the TPE-331-43BL engines.
We took the 680V to Minneapolis with Judge and Mrs Rupert Doan to meet Bob McGrath (Sesame Street) and see the show he performed with the Minnesota Orchestra. At the time, Mr. Wood and Judge Doan were on the board of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, who later booked Mr. McGrathÕs show.
Mr. Wood bought a new 1976 Piper Super Cub which he gave me to operate. We ran a banner-towing service with the airplane, which was IFR equipped. The directional gyro was a WWII era-like instrument with a horizontal display rather than round dial display like most planes built in the late sixties and 1970s.
The Super Cub came out of the factory as N9723P, but we changed the tail number to N580LM, and after that it was referred to as ÒLittle MikeÓ in deference to the Commander, which was N580M (Big Mike).
In 1983 I joined Central Air Charter as Director of Operations. Central Air had a customer who required Learjet service. John Towner brought me in to get Central Air Charter certified to operate Lears and get a few Learjets on their certificate.
Central Air, when I was finished with the jet program, operated over thirty aircraft; three Learjets, three Turbo Commanders (two 690As and a 680W), and something like twenty-seven or so 500B piston engine Aero Commanders.
Pictured above is N83MC, (#11124) was my favorite
690A at Central Airlines.
Unfortunately, one of my brave pilots ran it out of fuel and it crashed
in January of 1984. Fortunately,
no one was hurt. Here
is the NTSB
preliminary report on the demise of N83MC
In the late 1980Õs, I was commissioned to start up a corporate flight department. Of course I chose a Commander for the job, Serial # 11298; was N80LP now N690HF. I kept the plane at Blue Ash Airport in Cincinnati, Ohio (ISZ) which is where the above picture was taken.
N888CA, 500B #1318-127 built in 1963 and still flying every night in 2005! This aircraft was used in the TKS Known-Icing Certification. I wonder how many thousands of hours are on this airframe? These are truly, TOUGH BIRDS!
I even rented a Rockwell Commander 112 single engine Commander for a few trips as a private pilot. We flew up to visit my instrument instructor. We landed on this grass strip on the side of a mountain in Kingwood, West Virginia.
In my last flying job before I had a stroke, I spent over a year flying the MU-2 four nights a week. This is a great airplane that has had a bad rap. This is really an easy plane to fly, especially if youÕve had a few hundred hours in a Model 23 Learjet first!
In 1987 I moved to Sarasota, Florida as Chief Pilot for Nomad Distributors. These people had decided to distribute the Nomad N24A and N22B aircraft in North America. They bought all the Nomads that Howard Hughes had stashed in Las Vegas. The airplanes had been leased to commuter operators in the 1970s and had been in storage at LAS for quite a while. We set up a maintenance crew in the hangar where the planes were stored. As the mechanics made the planes ferryable, were flown to Sarasota. These planes were pretty slow, so it was a loooong trip with several fuel stops.
Once, I had to ferry one from Honolulu to Sarasota. That was a VERY long trip. Honolulu to Camarillo, CA was itself over 18 hours!
The aircraft pictured above was the new factory demonstrator airplane, shown flying over the beaches of Sarasota County. Nomads are now supported by Boeing Australia Ltd, and this same plane is pictured on the Boeing Australia Ltd website.
Here are some links to my other flying adventures:
Can you really get a Kawasaki 1100 motorcycle in a short body Learjet?
Comments?