Turbo Commander Operators, Please Step Inside

[brokeflyer]

keep your money and invest in gold

 

[400A]

I could not advise more strongly to not buy a Merlin. Worst flying POS I have ever been in. I have flown both -3 and -10 powered. -3 is scary under powered and -10 is still marginal. It will do 300 knots, but hates to climb. In one of these I also had the center windshield decide it no longer wanted to stay present for duty.

Big fan of King Air's. If you just have to have garrets, look at a B-100. F-90 is a hoot to fly. Other SN B-38 King Air 100, I have never had a King Air I did not enjoy.

 

[G100driver]

keep your money and invest in gold

Yes .. you will lose your money less quickly than in purchasing an aircraft!

 

[AC560]

Piston Commanders For Life!

 

[jergar999]

I did contract work in a Commander 690B with -5 engines for several years. They are a wonderful airplane, and we had 100% dispatch reliability with this particular airframe. The wing and tail ADs were completed before I started flying it.

Maintenance wasn't cheap, and the 150 hour inspection interval instead of an annual can be a little funny depending on how often the aircraft is flown.

 

[acpilot]

The 690 is a fantastic airplane. It's simple, it's easy to fly, it's got decent engines, it's efficient, it's fast, and it's a rock-solid IFR plane. I know of a few 135 outfits that use them for USFS fire fighting contracts. A lot of the work is down low over the mountains (turbulent) from high DA fields. If I could add one thing to the plane, it would be a larger door to allow loading of cargo.

Breakups will happen if you try to punch through turbulence at too high an airspeed in any plane. There is an AD out to beef up the tail and a placarded speed of 180 through rough air.

http://www.aviationweek.com/articles/BC4055.pdf

Good luck!