Rather than wade through the thousands of posts regarding Twin Commanders, figured I'd start a new one I can find quickly.

Once upon a time, I worked as a fuel jockey at Wiley Post Airport in OKC(Bethany), OK. At the time, brand new Commander singles were still being produced, and they were, in my opinion, quite beautiful. While I put gas in a fair few, I never got to fly one. So, BT gurus. what say you on the Commander singles? 112/114/115.........they always seemed to be very robustly built, to my young(at the time) eye........????

Todd,
I owned 2 Commander 114s and flew them for several years.

The good:

-THE best, most stately appearing plane sitting on a ramp.
-you’re correct, a very stout build.
-big spacious cabin, great traveling machine.
-trailing link landing gear makes every landing great.
-they have the Lycoming IO540, an engine I’ve always felt was better than the Continentals…
-doors on BOTH sides, like all piston singles should have.

The not-as-good:

-not real fast, like 145 TAS.
-it takes time and talent to source some parts and pieces (my IA custom-built a couple door parts for me).

Overall, I loved those planes..

The Commander 200 is the way to go.

I had an instrument student with a 112. It was pretty underpowered in the TX heat. About like a 180hp Arrow. It was very roomy and comfortable, great visiblity.

That’s just a Meyers/Navion derivative, no?

Bob Approved
[youtube]https://youtu.be/WNu_MOhmddc[/youtube]

A Bonanza is a better 4 seat fast plane @ 170 kts. A Lance or Saratoga is a better big-cabin plane at 145 kts and it shares the Lycoming engine. Both the Bonanza and PA32’s were made in large numbers with good parts availability and easy to buy/sell. So that leaves the Commander without a compelling advantage, for most people.

I’ve forgotten most of what I learned about them when searching, but if you insist on the make, you need to restrict your search to the final few years of the (IIRC) 115 models, which made up for many of the shortcomings of previous models, might even be some popular STC’s that were needed as well. But prices are high last I looked, and now you own a rare plane. Not good for the budget. Good advice above, pick your poison. Popular is better on the budget, and generally there’s a reason a model is popular.

A friend of mine bought a 112 many years ago and I picked it up and flew it to Michigan from Texas. It has a good range with the fuel on board. It was really, really comfortable. As Don mentioned, once it was heavy, hot or high, it turned into a dog. I would have loved to fly a 114 or 115. That comfort also comes at a price, and that's speed. It was somewhat slow.

The only thing I remember from the limited work I did on it was there is an AD on the horizontal tail spar and we found one cracked. There is an STC'd repair for it that involved a little bit of labor.

Not a lot of difference's between the 114 and 115 for most people. 20 more gallons of fuel and TKS were the big differences standard but the 114TC had those too.

The Commanders owners forum is a good source of info http://www.commander.org and I was on it for a couple years contemplating one. The seem to be pretty well supported with no real shortages of parts that I can see.

Av Consumer has an excellent article on them.

https://www.aviationconsumer.com/uncate ... 112-114-2/

I flew a 112 a bit out of Vegas and taught an owner instruments out of Minneapolis in his 114.

The 112 had anemic climb at max gross with any heat in the atmosphere - but it was Vegas, with high DAs. 130 knot cruise on the one long trip we took in it to Monterey.

The 114 takes some runway but once cleaned up it performs well. 150 knot cruise was consistent.

Common to both: An incredibly comfortable cockpit. It's wide enough for two "normal" sized guys to never bump shoulders - wish the Baron was that wide. The back seats are good for two adults.

Like the OP I saw them at PWA a lot when visiting my sister near the airport and always liked their looks.

I bought a 1976 114 as my first plane. At the time it was quite a bit less expensive that a decent Bo.

I flew that thing all over the country for a couple of years and it never let me down. I loved the look of it and, silly me, at the time that was as important to me as speed.

I still long to own a nicer newer one.

I owned a 114-B for years and loved the plane. It is well supported with an outstanding Owner’s group.

Parts are easy to source or someone in the owner’s group will have a solution. The factory is open for parts in Norman, OK.

The later models 114-B and 115 are generally the same planes as the 115 change was mostly a marketing change.

If you are looking for a plane, the best source is Judi Anderson of Suncoast Aviation. Judi knows the fleet and can provide the resources to find the right plane.

Jim

That’s just a Meyers/Navion derivative, no?

That was the great thing about the 70's. There was a chicken for every kind of pot.

Best,
Rich