Twin Commander
General Category => Introduction => Topic started by: schrambow on January 28, 2019, 10:29:29 pm
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Thanks Adam for approving my registration here. I have been trying for over a year, as i understand you get a lot of bots and is hard to get through the actual applications.
Anyways, I have been flying the Commanders since 1989. Our first Commander was a 680FP and we kept that model for many years, until upgrading to a 680FLP Mr. RPM model. We put the Mr. RPM down into a field in 1998 due to wind shear and unfortunately had to scrap the aircraft. We then bought a grand commander 680FLP with the 385HP IGSO engines which we still have and fly today. Back in 2007 be bought a 681 hawk and flew that until we sold that on Oct 1st. 2018. We now upgraded to a 840 a few months ago(this plane was the one Bruce talked about in a different thread here last summer) and it is getting the finishing touches to it (paint, avionics, etc..) and hopefully i will be flying it within the next few days getting checked out in it. The guys at Byerly did a great job on the paint, and are finishing up on the avionics. It looks really sharp!
I liked reading the different topics here and look forward towards reading and sharing with everyone here.
Corey
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Welcome!
I think you will really enjoy the 840, especially with your background in Commanders. One thing Commander did well, whether as part of Rockwell or Gulfstream, was listen to their customers and implement requested improvements.
The Jetprops (840/980/900/1000) really did have a lot of small improvements over the prior airplanes, which add up to a bigger difference than you might think just looking at them on paper.
Please post some pics of your new airplane when you pick it up! What is your typical mission?
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Thanks Adam for approving my registration here. I have been trying for over a year, as i understand you get a lot of bots and is hard to get through the actual applications.
Welcome Corey! Sorry it took so long - I will try to improve. It's very unfortunate this whole member approval thing. Now that Glenn isn't here anymore, it's up to me to man the gates. When you emailed me, I had over 1000 emails to go through. Easily drops in at least 100-150 requests each day. Most of them you can immediately tell they're bots, but sometimes you can't. Then you have to Google each IP adress to see if it turns up on any blacklist etc.
I wish there was a better way. For awhile we tried having them answer three Commander specific questions, but that got breached as well.
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Thanks Adam for approving my registration here. I have been trying for over a year, as i understand you get a lot of bots and is hard to get through the actual applications.
Welcome Corey! Sorry it took so long - I will try to improve. It's very unfortunate this whole member approval thing. Now that Glenn isn't here anymore, it's up to me to man the gates. When you emailed me, I had over 1000 emails to go through. Easily drops in at least 100-150 requests each day. Most of them you can immediately tell they're bots, but sometimes you can't. Then you have to Google each IP adress to see if it turns up on any blacklist etc.
I wish there was a better way. For awhile we tried having them answer three Commander specific questions, but that got breached as well.
I will post some photos when we pick up the plane.
We are based out of KFLD. We visit our customers and visit suppliers in our business(foundry). Our travels takes us out to the eastern US, and throughout the Midwest. An some occasional escape down to Florida during the deep freeze. Really looking forward to getting the bird operational and in use.
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Welcome Corey! Congrats on the 840. As always any time you (or any other member) find yourself at PHL, give me a shout. We are in the hangar at Atlantic Aviation (with our 980 N515AM).
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Some photos of the Bird today. Very nice machine and a nice upgrade for us.
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Looks great! I like the paint scheme-- very similar to the factory 980 scheme. I'm actually thinking of painting my 980 in something similar.
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What are you going to do with the 680FLP?
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What are you going to do with the 680FLP?
We are keeping the 680FLP. My business partner just loves the old grand commanders (i do also) and like to keep this machine as a backup for us. We have pretty fresh engines in the plane (only about 100 hours or so since they were overhauled by central cylinder) and would never get our money out of the machine if we sold it.
There are not many 680FLP's out there anymore that are not converted to the Mr. RPM's, so we kind of got a flying museum piece here as it is in fairly good shape- it could use some avionics updates though- which we are planning on doing this summer.
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Hi Corey,
Welcome. I hope the flying and training is going well!
What a sweetheart N5955K is to fly. Thank you again for the opportunity.
Bruce
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Your Commander looks great. Having gone from a 680FL to a 1000 years ago with the same thought of having the 680FL as a backup only to find that it got fewer and fewer hours as the 1000 was so reliable I got "spoiled" with the turbine. Since there are two of you flying... maybe the 680FLP will still get some good use.
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Is your 840 the one that was on MSP? Just curious, did you decide to keep it on?
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Hello Donv,
Yes, the machine was on the MSP and we are trying to keep it going for awhile. However, there have been a few glitches in doing this as some of the past recording of hours have generated some mathematical errors over the years. We are trying to clean them up and are still awaiting word from Honeywell if they will continue processing the MSP. Hopefully, in the next few weeks it will be cleared up and continuing the program.
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Just for the record, I understand HW was paid for hours that it did not fly. Much better situation than the other way around! :)
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Does this MSP contract have annual minimums? I know that can be a gotcha if you don't know about it up front!
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Yes, it is $227.30 per hour per engine, with a yearly minimum of 75 hours. And I think they have the option to increase this amount each year also.
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75 hours/year isn't so bad. I've seen some that were 150 or even 300 hours per year! On 731s, though.
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I would get off that thing. You're paying $1.1million for a $250K overhaul. Costs more to be on the TPE program than it does a Williams jet. I have no clue why. Although 75hrs minimum is pretty low, so at least that's better than a williams program where it's 150hrs/year.
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WOW!!!
Am I doing this correctly... $227.30 per HOUR per ENGINE.. that is $454.60 per HOUR... if OH is 5000 hours that is $2,273,000...
Those have to be NEW engine numbers forget the overhaul.
I have never used any of the "power by the hour" plans... but that is crazy unless you really did toast an engine and had to have a new one.
Someone help me out here as I cannot be figuring this correctly
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I think you're figuring it right. It's not a great deal, which is why Honeywell is closing out the program. The 331 is simply too reliable of an engine for it to be at all worthwhile.
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Of course all this begs the question.. can you even get a factory new -10 that has never been installed?
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I'm sure you can. They are still making them for the Reaper and Predator drones, and the Dornier 228s, at least. Probably more.
Won't be cheap, though!
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Here are two photos of our old 681 we sold last year. :'( The new owner will be based in Ohio and put new paint, new interior and new avionics. I don't have any photos yet of the interior or avionics yet but will share when I get them. It is suppose to have New Zealand leather also. I might be bias perhaps, but I am guessing it will be the sweetest 681 in the world.
Corey
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Such a sweet ride, Corey! Bob bought your plane, right? I think he's almost done with the retrofit right now.
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Yep, It is Bob's bird. Can't wait to see it all done.