News: Added Links For Twin Commander and Facebook Pages

Login  |  Register

Author Topic: First 60 Days - New Ownership of 690B (N690GF)  (Read 3007 times)

aholmes100

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 32
First 60 Days - New Ownership of 690B (N690GF)
« on: August 08, 2021, 10:57:10 pm »
Thought this would be interesting for some folks.
Purchase Date - June 6th. As of Aug 8 I have already put 75 Hrs on the airplane. That 150 hr. is not near enough for my type of use but here are some of the good and bad in terms of ownership. I used to own a Piper Matrix. It was great airplane but had a lot of limits. 690B is a true beast.

The airplane flies as advertised and I had never even flow it when I closed on it. It was all in hands of Bruce Byerly and Scott Welch from Byerly Aviation in Peoria. They said it was a good airplane and I trusted their opinion. Even with his crazy schedule Bruce made the time to fly up to Peoria from Naples for my first flight from Gary to Punta Gorda. For my training I had a hell of a time with my insurance company so Scott Welch ended up flying with me for the first 25 Hours. Even with his schedule I have to thank Scott for fitting me in. I had a very bad experience with a shop in KDPA with my Piper Matrix so I was not sure what to think but I decided to go with Bruce for the Commander purchase because of all the recommendation on this forum. So thank you to Bruce & Scott from Byerly Aviation.

So here is some of the issues I had right after the purchase. AC quit working, Some other squawks showed up and I ended up spending about 20 K. Then I realized that the Oxygen would all leak out. I think we have identified the issue to the Mask on the pilot side at this point. The previous owners had not really flown the airplane much and some things had been kicked down the road hence it took almost 6 months to get the airplane ready but I got an airplane with great engines and great panel as per Bruce.

I go back and forth to Florida a lot and can say I am very happy with the airplane. So of the bugs had to be worked out hopefully now it is dialed in but we will see once it goes through it's first Annual.

The Piper Matrix would do KPWK to KTPA in about 6.5 hours because of a stop some where in ATL. The 690B gets me from KGYY (Gary, IN) to KPGD (Punta Gorda) in 3.5 hrs pretty consistently. With the right temperatures it will fly 300 True. Now I am thinking is there anything out there that has the capability of a 690B that will do the trip in 2.5 Hrs. I don't think unless I move into a CJ 3 or higher I can get that with 5 or 6 people on board from Chicago to Florida.

I had done a couple of other posts so though I would post an update.

Adam Frisch

  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1656
    • Adam Frisch FSF
Re: First 60 Days - New Ownership of 690B (N690GF)
« Reply #1 on: August 09, 2021, 05:32:11 am »
Great to hear it's working out! They're hard to beat when you consider payload/range and even shorter field capacity. Many times I could take the Twin Commander to a field closer to my destination, than I could in Aerostar where you kinda need 4000ft rwy to feel calm.

One TP that would easily get you down to 2.5hrs for your trip is the Piaggio Avanti, of course. A solid plane, but will cost you a bit more to operate as it has a lot of calendar items and a gear that's expensive to overhaul. But the cabin is unbeatable - much bigger than a Citation or just about any jet. Another airplane that might get you there faster is the Piper Cheyenne 400LS. It has the biggest -14 Garrets and is a beast. But once you go to "big block" Garrets, the great savings are aslo gone - this is a 3600hr TBO engine and it will cost you Pratt & Whitney money to overhaul. But the thing moves! It will do about 350kts max speed.
Slumming it in the turboprop world - so you don't have to.

Big Pistons Forever

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 24
Re: First 60 Days - New Ownership of 690B (N690GF)
« Reply #2 on: August 09, 2021, 10:42:01 am »
920nm direct so about a minimum of 950nm all in. To do that in 2.5 hours   means a block average of 375kn. You are totally in jet territory if you want that speed, and good luck getting insurance at any price.
« Last Edit: August 09, 2021, 11:38:31 pm by Big Pistons Forever »

Steve binnette

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 552
Re: First 60 Days - New Ownership of 690B (N690GF)
« Reply #3 on: August 09, 2021, 11:40:00 am »
You were smart for getting it squared away as much as possible in the beginning.  Do you turn off the O2 after shutdown?  That might work for you.  I don’t always do that and my O2 gets low after a few months.

Eliminating a stop like you are doing is a huge advantage.  Not only is it quicker but you avoid the chance of encountering weather at the intermediate stop.  You can fly right by it. 

I need to fly my commander more.  I was doing 100+ hrs a year, now with most of my kids out of college my hours have dropped down.  Another good reason to not have a jet.  Low flying years are easier to swallow in a TP.

Congrats on the new machine.

donv

  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3220
Re: First 60 Days - New Ownership of 690B (N690GF)
« Reply #4 on: August 09, 2021, 04:19:21 pm »
Great to hear it's working out for you. They really are great airplanes. A few days ago, I flew from HIO to a coastal town in Virginia, 7+30 with one stop, which is pretty darn good. And very light tailwinds, so not much help there at all.

aholmes100

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 32
Re: First 60 Days - New Ownership of 690B (N690GF)
« Reply #5 on: August 09, 2021, 07:38:14 pm »
Adam for what this thing can do it is very hard to beat. Ya Piper 400LS would do the trick from what I have heard but there are the support and other issues. Have not done much research. Piaggio was on my list but after talking with Scott Welch maybe I had second thoughts. It is supposed be poor on reliability. Lot of maintenance issues. I can certainly believe that. Just like Italian cars. Beautiful to look at but not be the best on reliability.

Steve not turning off the oxygen after each flight still checking how it holds up.
« Last Edit: August 09, 2021, 11:32:32 pm by aholmes100 »

seanmcgillivray

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Posts: 79
Re: First 60 Days - New Ownership of 690B (N690GF)
« Reply #6 on: August 10, 2021, 02:27:16 pm »
Thank you for posting. I am about to take possession of my first Turbo Commander. I am coming from a Aerostar Superstar conversion. Once I pick up the plane from EAC and get it back to Oregon I will post about resurrecting this 695.

Steve binnette

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 552
Re: First 60 Days - New Ownership of 690B (N690GF)
« Reply #7 on: August 10, 2021, 11:17:41 pm »
Sean, I would love to hear about the resurrection!,

Adam Frisch

  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1656
    • Adam Frisch FSF
Re: First 60 Days - New Ownership of 690B (N690GF)
« Reply #8 on: August 11, 2021, 12:10:42 am »
Congrats Sean!

Tell us all about your bird!
Slumming it in the turboprop world - so you don't have to.

JMA

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 470
Re: First 60 Days - New Ownership of 690B (N690GF)
« Reply #9 on: August 11, 2021, 10:35:39 am »
Good luck Sean!  Oregon, you can stop in and see Don's 980!

Mark S

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 28
Re: First 60 Days - New Ownership of 690B (N690GF)
« Reply #10 on: August 11, 2021, 08:45:06 pm »
Andrew,
Hopefully after a mid-year maintenance check to work out the bugs, and an annual / 150 check, you will be back up and running with fewer issues.

I had a similar story, although not as many issues, but certainly had a few. Less than I expected actually.
Our airplanes are like twin brothers--both were owned at the same time by the same guy--Brian H.
Both our planes sat together in the same shop awaiting some work.
Both planes have G600/GTN's and low time dash tens.
Both planes had sat for a while and needed a some love to bring them back to life.

No Idea why a guy would own 4 airplanes--(2 690B's !!) at the same time and neglect most of them, but who knows.

Interesting story, first day I got home, the FBO comes out and says, "hey did you buy that plane from Brian H, I see the ownership on flightaware" and I said yes, why.  He says,"He bought a Cessna 421 out here not long ago and it was in our shop for several weeks".

That Cessna 421 is now for sale.

So our airplanes are forever linked by the common ownership history.

PS: I Turn off Oxygen on the scott cabin controller every flight. Its part of my flow.
I never touch the tank in the back though.
Yours has/had the EROS masks, and as I understand it, they are temperature sensitive and can tend to leak on the ground. Citation pilots complain about it all the time.  I have an oxygen filler tank kit now, so no longer worried about the levels. The original masks aren't really any better or worse leak-wise, from what I can tell.


donv

  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3220
Re: First 60 Days - New Ownership of 690B (N690GF)
« Reply #11 on: August 11, 2021, 09:16:48 pm »
Sean-- love to hear more! Please do stop in, I'm at HIO.

Thank you for posting. I am about to take possession of my first Turbo Commander. I am coming from a Aerostar Superstar conversion. Once I pick up the plane from EAC and get it back to Oregon I will post about resurrecting this 695.

aholmes100

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 32
Re: First 60 Days - New Ownership of 690B (N690GF)
« Reply #12 on: August 11, 2021, 11:36:01 pm »
Mark S. - Yep from What I understand Brian bought them at a deal not sure if he made out on them or not. I know on mine it was 150K+ in discrepancies that he was on the hook for. I expected a few issues but the problem for me was I was so tied up with stuff I did not get enough time to really test things like AC & Oxygen. It was a look casual look. I was more concerned about the engines and pressurization. Those seemed to be doing well. Everything seemed to work but when I really look it on a 3 hr flight and actually used it I found out some of the issues. At least from what I can tell Byerly Aviation tried to do the best they could. But until you really use the airplane some of the issues don't show up. I suspect both oxygen and A/C coolant were topped off and then as soon I used it the issue came up. Some of it I expect if the airplane has not been flown. Over all I am happy.

Not really sure what type of masks I have. I am looking into getting them rebuilt or I will just buy a new one and not have an headache.