I was that guy - circled a 112 over the north side of Las Vegas to meet southwest-bound MEAs on a warm spring day in 1995. We were max gross, four people headed to Monterey, and it took a while. Once in cruise it did fine, averaging 135 knots. It was very comfortable and the two adults in the back didn't complain about headroom at all.

Departure out of MRY, same load, was just like any other 200 hp retract, not blazing in the climb but perfectly acceptable.

Love the Commanders. Tried to buy into a partnership in one but it didn't work out. They are just one great looking machine. I have some time in a 112 and they are very comfortable. Like the two doors. Biggest headache if your doing your own mx is removing and installing the front seats, real pain. Like my Comanche also and it is very comfortable with good TAS and excellent load carrying ability.
Now that I've said all that if money were no factor..... I'd buy a Bonanza.

Hmmm. You can buy a pretty nice older Bonanza for a lot less money than a Commander 114. While the "fanaticism" of the owners is similar, the supply of Bonanzas is significantly larger than Commanders.

Assuming a mid-time engine, decent autopilot, and IFR GPS as the "baseline equipment" for all these planes, the typical 114/114A price will be around 90-110K. 114Bs will be a good bit more - some upwards of 200K. Nice 112s are around 60-75K. I've seen a bunch of nice older Bo's on this board for <50K.

If you can live without "current" avionics, nice Bo's can be found for even less. If I could have just gotten over the claustrophobic feeling of having to crawl over a passenger to get to the only door, I would have bought my buddy's older V-tail that he was selling for $38K. But I could never figure out how I would help my 84-year-old mother into the plane, then get in myself... No issue in the Commander. (I know - a "36" would have solved the problem with the double-doors and club seating in back, but then we'd be talking well over 100K - and still no pilot's door.

Hi Jim,
I had almost daily phone calls with Judi Anderson and was intent on a 114. Looked and read about many 114s for sale. What I remember most was the Commanders I was interested in didn't fly much, not much time annually or TT. One actually ran .3 between annuals. Plus they were priced very high for their condition, in my opinion. The useful loads were between 1000 and 1100.
Beautiful design though.

Very stable and easy to fly with excellent control harmony. In my opinion it is one of the best handling singles I have flown. It is not fighter like or anything like that it is just beautifully balanced and stable yet with light control forces. The first time you fly it you will feel like you have a 1000 hrs in it.

Yep - as with any type, there are some "hangar queens" and some that are flown a lot. Judi is the right person to talk to - she's the "Commander Whisperer" and can help you find a good one, and avoid the "bad ones". She's got extensive files on almost every plane that left the factory and stayed in the US or Canada. She also occasionally knows of one that "might" be for sale, but isn't listed anywhere. A good friend just purchased a 114B (loaded, including A/C) through Judi that wasn't officially listed anywhere...

As with other planes, some sellers are still thinking "pre-2008" prices, and if they don't talk to someone like Judi, most "generic" brokers just don't know enough to tell a good one from a bad one... So they wind up priced at the top of the selling range, even though they may be not-so-good. Eventually (sometimes 2 years after they first go up for sale), the prices come down to what they should have been originally - only now the plane has sat for 2 years...

You see the same scenario everywhere... The shared hangar I was in a couple of years ago had six airplanes in it. Mine was the only one that flew for 2+ years. The others just sat there, gathering dust... So sad...

Wing is limited to just under 7000 hours for the straight 112, the 114 is around 20,000. Other letter designations are between these figures.

I co-owned the first IO-580 Super Commander 114 (N555LP) with Jim Richards of Aerodyme. We flew it as a Experimental for a while. Hartzell Scimitar prop and RAM air induction made it a rocket ship with ~165KTAS in cruise. Ridiculous climb performance, but it is aerodynamically cruise-limited due to the wide cabin and a few other minor factory design flaws that Jim has addressed with STC's.
Check it out here:
http://www.aerodyme.com

I have about 15 hours in a 112 and loved the way it flew, other than lack of power. One of the top two or three best flying GA airplanes I've flown. I'd love to fly a 114/115. If Commander could have made any of them a 160-170 knot airplane, they would have given Beech a run for their money.

My first flight was for a friend that bought it. I picked the airplane up in Texas and flew it back to Michigan. Seven hours with one stop. We got out of the airplane and felt like we hadn't been in it. Hands down the most comfortable airplane I've flown.

Watch the AD on the outboard elevator hinge attachments to the spar. We found one cracked and had to do the repair which splices the spar of the elevator. It seems like it was about $1500 for the STC's repair kit (for both sides), and about 10 hours of labor for each side.

Jason

The only interesting thing I remember about Commanders is that when I just started flying in 1987, they were all grounded with some AD. Spar inspection or some such.

Best,
Rich

They were my second choice, behind the Bonanza. I just felt that the extra 20 kts on the same fuel would make the V-Tail so much more economical, but it does have it's own ramp presence . . .

Let's Resurrect an Old Thread:

I recently sold my Piper Comanche and bought a one owner 1996 114TC ( N295TC ) on Jan 15th 2016 (about 5 months ago) with factory air conditioning , on board factory oxygen and has the TIO-540 AG1A 270HP engine. We bought it in Las Vegas and flew it back to Alabama. The sweet spot is between 13,000 FT and 16,000 FT (25,000 FT certified ceiling) however even at lower altitudes we are typically seeing 168-170 KIAS, The book numbers are spot on for the newer 114TC's. Book indicates 180 KIAS in the flight levels and it truly does 180 KIAS above FL180 and below it is truly a 170 KIAS airplane. I agree the older 112's and 114's are a little slower but Commander got it right when they created the 114TC, now I do have to say with these speeds the fuel burn is 18.0-19.0 GPH, They got the speed numbers correct however they missed it on the fuel burn, the book for the new 114TC's indicates 170 KIAS at 16.0 GPH and in order for me to keep my CHT's at a comfortable level (comfortable level for me anyway) I have to burn 18.0 Plus, if I lean it back to 16.0 I have to open the cowl flaps which then I lose about 8-10 knots when the cowl flap opens. As someone above mentioned the Commander Factory would have really got it right had they installed a 320HP TIO-580 on the nose, my 114TC with a 320HP TIO-580 would most definitely have to be close to 200+ knot airplane but once again I'm certain the fuel burn would also probably be 25GPH or more at cruise.

I've often wondered why they just didn't install one of the bigger horsepower TIO-540's, my TIO-540 at 270HP is so de-rated, this same engine block in the piper Navaho Chieftain are 350HP, same exact engine block, I wonder why they would not have at least bumped these to at least 300HP, there wouldn't have been any weight difference to matter. The TIO-540-AE2A is the same block and making 350HP, WOW I need to hang me one of these AE2A 350HP engines on N295TC and I'd most definitely have the Ultimate Single Engine Flying Dream machine.

Anyway, I have always as far back as I can remember admired and Loved everything about the Commanders and knew one day if things worked out I'd own one, well that day came this past January and I haven't looked back, we are flying the wheels off of it (already logged over 100 hours in just the past 5 months) I'd do it all over again and wished I'd done it sooner. Out of my 26 years of flying this airplane is by far the most comfortable plane I've ever flown, we all Love to fly so I guess in the end is speed really what we want to achieve or is staying up in the air longer what we are all really ultimately shooting for, once again since our passion is flying anyway, if flying is our passion then why do we all talk about wanting something faster, what we should do after we get airborne is pull the throttle back so we can stay in the air that much longer and enjoy what we all love to do and that's FLY AIRPLANES.

TODD

That's a great report Todd. I loved mine too. Enjoy it!

Comfort, 2 doors, trailing-link landing gear, and a ramp presence second to none....

Yeah, not the fastest plane in the sky, but many feel the pluses WAY surpass the speed penalty. I owned 2 of the old ones a couple decades ago..

Got some PHOTOS of your plane?

I looked at 115 commander with a IO-580 in it and it is a beast and was nice to fly. There is a STC to put a IO-580 in to a 114 but I think you are about 100k all in.....