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Author Topic: Hello from the UK  (Read 6589 times)

Neil Morgan

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Hello from the UK
« on: December 04, 2018, 04:44:47 pm »
Hi,

I've been lurking for quite some time but finally decided to join up.

I fell in love with the commander series back in the early eighties whilst flight training at FXE, there was a new 1000 that would pull up next to the American Flyers hanger and to a young man just starting out in his career it looked and sounded 'right'. However it was new, shiny, and expensive but on my way to the FBO cafe everyday I'd pass by a 500 that had fallen out of favour with its owner and was just sat there gathering dust. Boy did I want to buy that airplane and return her to her former glory.

Anyway nearly thirty eight years later i'm getting towards the latter stages of my airline career as a 777 Captain and my mind keeps wandering back to the possibility of owning a twin commander. Realistically it would probably be a 500S as owning an aircraft here in the UK is significantly more expensive than in the US, however I don't think I've ever seen one over here?

I get to quite a few US destinations with the day job so if any of you guys ever feels like showing me around their twin commander lunch would be on me.

Thanks for reading,

Neil

Adam Frisch

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Re: Hello from the UK
« Reply #1 on: December 05, 2018, 07:06:50 am »
Welcome Neil!

In the 60's and 70's there were quite a few of them in the UK, but numbers steadily declined. I think the last piston Commander was probably the owner of Elstree's airfield's personal one - G-AWOE. She's still sitting there rotting somewhere, which is sad. But that aircraft had a custom radar approach system installed that was used with permission by the CAA, and probably isn't an easy conversion back to normal mode. Plus, she was very high time and probably been sitting for too long now. I don't think there are any 500B's in the UK. There are quite a few 690A/B's and 1000-models, mainly doing mapping and surveying. I can put you in contact with Mr. Richard Stanway that flies a 1000 model, M-BETS in the UK, if you want.
Slumming it in the turboprop world - so you don't have to.

JMA

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Re: Hello from the UK
« Reply #2 on: December 05, 2018, 08:53:45 am »
Welcome Neil-
Any time you happen to be in Philadelphia, specifically PHL our 980 is in the hangar at Atlantic Aviation.
Just give me a day's notice.

Neil Morgan

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Re: Hello from the UK
« Reply #3 on: December 06, 2018, 12:29:42 pm »
Welcome Neil!

In the 60's and 70's there were quite a few of them in the UK, but numbers steadily declined. I think the last piston Commander was probably the owner of Elstree's airfield's personal one - G-AWOE. She's still sitting there rotting somewhere, which is sad. But that aircraft had a custom radar approach system installed that was used with permission by the CAA, and probably isn't an easy conversion back to normal mode. Plus, she was very high time and probably been sitting for too long now. I don't think there are any 500B's in the UK. There are quite a few 690A/B's and 1000-models, mainly doing mapping and surveying. I can put you in contact with Mr. Richard Stanway that flies a 1000 model, M-BETS in the UK, if you want.

Hi Adam,

Always enjoy your videos, just a hint of an English accent in there?
G-AWOE was a 680 that was deregistered ten years ago according to G-INFO - only 7800 hours at the last though so definitely sad if she's been left to rot.
I would be very interested in meeting Mr. Stanway and taking a closer look at the 1000 commander providing it's not an inconvenience.


Welcome Neil-
Any time you happen to be in Philadelphia, specifically PHL our 980 is in the hangar at Atlantic Aviation.
Just give me a day's notice.

Hi Jason,

Thank you so much for your kind offer, the 777 is not on the PHL route this winter but as soon as it comes back to the fleet I'll get in touch - might hopefully coincide with some better weather.


Neil

Adam Frisch

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Re: Hello from the UK
« Reply #4 on: December 06, 2018, 01:28:07 pm »

Hi Adam,

Always enjoy your videos, just a hint of an English accent in there?
G-AWOE was a 680 that was deregistered ten years ago according to G-INFO - only 7800 hours at the last though so definitely sad if she's been left to rot.
I would be very interested in meeting Mr. Stanway and taking a closer look at the 1000 commander providing it's not an inconvenience.


Certainly! I lived in London for almost 10 years! Flew in the UK quite a bit and still have my UK license. Thanks for kind words about videos.

If you DM me your email, I can introduce you to Richard.
Slumming it in the turboprop world - so you don't have to.

Patrick Kenney

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Re: Hello from the UK
« Reply #5 on: January 16, 2019, 08:54:47 am »
I haven't spoken with Richard recently but from his Linkedin page it looks like he has stepped up to the airlines and is now flying a 737 for Tui and isn't flying M-BETS any more. 
I have a 690A which is currently having some work done on it at Fairoaks, work that is taking much longer than it should... ugh.
I'm mostly living in France but may be moving back to London. I'd be happy to show it to you once it's out of the shop.

Adam Frisch

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Re: Hello from the UK
« Reply #6 on: January 16, 2019, 04:21:05 pm »
Nice to hear from you Patrick - it's been awhile. Panel still not ready?
Slumming it in the turboprop world - so you don't have to.

Patrick Kenney

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Re: Hello from the UK
« Reply #7 on: January 17, 2019, 03:34:04 am »
The panel is now moving forward but there was a long stretch where it wasn’t. It’s close to done but not quite there. Nearly everything is now working. I was busy with some non-aviation things, so didn’t stay as on top of the shop, and the shop had a bunch of staff turnover...

Neil Morgan

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Re: Hello from the UK
« Reply #8 on: January 22, 2019, 05:10:20 am »
Hi Patrick,

Thank you for your kind offer, I'm in Wokingham so only a short drive away - I'll PM you my contact details