What a shame about the spar issue. The Commander is a really neat airplane other than that. Guess thats why I see so many of them as derilict airframes now.

Admittedly I have a big soft spot for Commanders... not sure why exactly....
But I read all this, and I recognize the issue, but I wonder if a part of the problem is the numbers in the support group.
What I mean by this...
The V-tails had some bad press, and a few issues perhaps, but the support group strongly supports that they are ok.
I read the article posted, and it doesn't paint a rosy picture, but is the problem that the ABS of Commanders didn't step up and help with a solution instead of just prosecution (that rhymed like a Jesse Jackson speech)
And I'm sure the same thought runs through everyone's mind... (as you're falling from 10k through 3 k looking incredulously out at where your wing used to be) Damn! I read that stupid article and bought a Commander anyway... Tom Gresham is gonna say I violated the first rule of flying.... Why didn't I have the "Paul McCracken" of commanders do my pre-buy... If I had used Neal to find this plane he would have protected me… My wife won't get a dime out of Continental because I've been flying this thing LOP.... I should have taken Crandall's advice and "never fly again"… And Those Champion Spark plugs probably didn’t help either, Why didn’t I buy Tempest… I hope the NTSB doesn’t realize I’m using Retreads…. At least Arnie won’t know I was listening to music and reading my ABS magazine… 10,000 feet is a long way to think...
I guess if I buy one I'll only fly at 3000 so I have less time to beat myself up about it as I plummet like a beveled man hole cover


FYI The Spar inspection AD apparently takes about 150 maintenance hours to complete by the Commander specialist up at Wylie Post in OKC... (according to Russell at Valair) and it's based on Calendar not Flight hours... so it may mean if you don't fly a lot... you will have more maintenance hours than flight hours.

Chester,

I liked your thought "I guess if I buy one I'll only fly at 3000 so I have less time to beat myself up about it as I plummet like a beveled man hole cover"

I have a weird side to me. Always wondered if I was in an airliner at 35,000', sitting next to a beautiful woman, and we started to plummet to Mother Earth. The captain comes on and says "Sorry folks, we're going to crash in about four minutes and have no hope of surviving".

Always wondered, what would I do with those four minutes?

Jgreen

[quote="john grady green"]Chester,

I liked your thought "I guess if I buy one I'll only fly at 3000 so I have less time to beat myself up about it as I plummet like a beveled man hole cover"

I have a weird side to me. Always wondered if I was in an airliner at 35,000', sitting next to a beautiful woman, and we started to plummet to Mother Earth. The captain comes on and says "Sorry folks, we're going to crash in about four minutes and have no hope of surviving".

Always wondered, what would I do with those four minutes?

Jgreen[/quote
You'd do exactly what you're thinking..... Four times.

I flew the Shrike, back in 75, and it was and "IS today", one of the most stable and pleasurable airplanes. I have ever flown. It likes gas, and it is not so fast, but it reminds me of another airplane that compares to the pleasure of flying, the Beech 18!
I just learned of the spar problem, but for flying pleasure and utility, it is very COOL!

Glad you liked the beech18. I never flew many other types of planes, but I sure had fun with my 18. Just too thirsty now.

There was/is a huge contingent of aero commanders, flyable and derelict, at lantana florida. They had quite a repair facility to keep those things modified and flying. Some of the old timer types must have thought very highly of those planes!

Commanders are awesome airplanes. Here's the one I am most familiar with:

If it were not for the spar issue, I would be flying one in less than a week. I know where the plane is that I want and know I can buy it for a reasonable price. Not counting the danger of failure, I figure we are one failure away from a devastating AD from the FAA, and not without justification.

Jgreen

+1

Every time I am at the avionics shop there are at least four of them in for maintenance and/or avionics. They are an owner group that seems to love their airplanes as much as Beech owners. They just keep fixing and updating them and will still be flying them in 20+ years!

The Shrike is a glorious airplane to fly......

I have flown this one some. Robert Odegaard and I are doing the Hoover Tribute again at Osh this year.... I am the opposing solo in the lowly Mustang....

The Shrike flies REALLY Nice!

I know we all love Beechcraft here, but I must confess, my favorite airframer is North American.

Thanks to Jessica Ambatts for a Great Photo!

And they're giving away the Commanders too. A mechanic was working on one today in the hangar behind me(out of his truck)to get a guy who just bought one fixed so he could bring it back to where he lives in the San Diego area. It has a leaking fuel tank. Not sure which model as I don't know Commanders but it has the geared 480's. He paid $30K for the plane. Nothing fancy and I noticed it had a Brittain autopilot.

Your Commander Zen for the day...
Added 5.0 hours of PIC in this to my log book today...


ADS-TUL
TUL-PWA
PWA-LCL (in a different airplane... almost identical however)
PWA-3T0 (2 low approaches)- GYI (2 TnGs)- ADS

It was a good day... and I even got some bidness done to boot.