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Author Topic: A guide to spotting Turbo Commanders.  (Read 11743 times)

Adam Frisch

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A guide to spotting Turbo Commanders.
« on: March 20, 2016, 04:34:33 am »
It takes awhile to learn how to spot them reliably, but here's a very quick guide:

Shortwings:

680T and V: no eyebrow windows, nose lights.
680W: no eyebrow windows, no nose lights
680W and 681: Eyebrow windows, no nose light.

The difference between the short wings and the longwings are at first hard to spot, but becomes very easy after awhile. Two dead giveaways are - the longwings have a little portion of the wing that's straight between the fuselage and the outer dihedral wing, inboard of nacelle when viewed from front. Also, the props are bigger and further away from the fuselage.

Longwings:

690: Rounded dorsal fillet similar to shortwing models, but with the big props, big wing.
690A/B: straight dorsal fillet with a little air scoop at front.
840/980: no dorsal fillet
900/1000: dorsal fillet, airline style windows and no picture window.
« Last Edit: March 20, 2016, 04:39:53 am by Adam Frisch »
Slumming it in the turboprop world - so you don't have to.

donv

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Re: A guide to spotting Turbo Commanders.
« Reply #1 on: March 20, 2016, 12:21:03 pm »
840/980 also have integrated nose lights, which is probably the easiest way to tell one from a 690. There are nose light mods for the 690, but none of them (that I've seen) look like the factory lights.

All 840/980s also have taxi lights on the gear, although many 690s do as well.

Adam Frisch

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Re: A guide to spotting Turbo Commanders.
« Reply #2 on: March 20, 2016, 03:57:00 pm »
Funnily enough, so does the 680V: nose lights and landing gear lights. The more the better, in my opinion. I wish the winglets would have downward lights - always found you you need lights that light up below the tip of wing to find your way and avoid edges etc at dark airports at night.
Slumming it in the turboprop world - so you don't have to.

donv

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Re: A guide to spotting Turbo Commanders.
« Reply #3 on: March 20, 2016, 06:23:04 pm »
I run my landing lights (which are the lights in the nose) any time I'm below 18,000 feet. It's on my FL180 checklist.

SKYFLYER

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Re: A guide to spotting Turbo Commanders.
« Reply #4 on: March 20, 2016, 07:14:25 pm »
This is a kit that twin commander offers.. but I am not sure if it adds any lights or not..
CK 151B RECOGNITION LIGHT KIT 28 March 2000
Provides an approved recognition light installation to increase the visibility of the airplane during flight for the
Models 500S, s/n 3076 and later, 680W, s/n 1726 thru 1850, 681, 685, 690, 690A, and 690B, all serial numbers.
Two kits are available--one with a pulsing function and one without.

donv

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Re: A guide to spotting Turbo Commanders.
« Reply #5 on: March 24, 2016, 03:16:07 pm »
There is also CK 182M, which provides HID nose-mounted landing lights.

I replaced mine with LEDs, which are super bright. We also replaced the plexiglas covers, which had become quite cloudy, and the difference is remarkable.

This caused me to look at the list of custom kits available from Twin Commander, and it's great to see them continuing to add upgrades and improvements. There are quite a few over the last couple of years.

donv

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Re: A guide to spotting Turbo Commanders.
« Reply #6 on: April 18, 2016, 02:18:04 pm »
It's funny that you characterize them by short and long wings.

The Jetprops (840/980/900/1000) have longer wings than the 690s, by a fair bit. The additional span is all outboard of the ailerons, so it's not easy to tell.

When the Jetprops were introduced, it was very easy to tell them from the 690s because of the little winglets, but then everyone started to put those on their 690s (to make them look more modern), and that tells you little now.

Adam Frisch

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Re: A guide to spotting Turbo Commanders.
« Reply #7 on: April 19, 2016, 03:56:55 am »
Shortwings, in my definition, are very easy to spot because the wing attaches to the fuselage at slight angle, i.e with some dihedral. All the long wings have a straight part, or wing box, before the anhedral bit. They also have bigger props. But yes, the wingspan does vary quite considerably on the Jetprop models and the other long wings.
Slumming it in the turboprop world - so you don't have to.

Jfelipe.rojasr

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Re: A guide to spotting Turbo Commanders.
« Reply #8 on: October 04, 2018, 01:42:39 pm »
There is also CK 182M, which provides HID nose-mounted landing lights.

I replaced mine with LEDs, which are super bright. We also replaced the plexiglas covers, which had become quite cloudy, and the difference is remarkable.

This caused me to look at the list of custom kits available from Twin Commander, and it's great to see them continuing to add upgrades and improvements. There are quite a few over the last couple of years.

DONV

How much time and money did it take you to install this CK182M, We want to replace the original Landing recognition lights of our 690A that flip below the wings.

Kind Regards


Jfelipe.rojasr

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Re: A guide to spotting Turbo Commanders.
« Reply #9 on: October 04, 2018, 01:45:01 pm »
This is a kit that twin commander offers.. but I am not sure if it adds any lights or not..
CK 151B RECOGNITION LIGHT KIT 28 March 2000
Provides an approved recognition light installation to increase the visibility of the airplane during flight for the
Models 500S, s/n 3076 and later, 680W, s/n 1726 thru 1850, 681, 685, 690, 690A, and 690B, all serial numbers.
Two kits are available--one with a pulsing function and one without.

Hi,

Does anyone know the difference between installing the CK 151B and 182M?

Kind Regards

donv

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Re: A guide to spotting Turbo Commanders.
« Reply #10 on: October 04, 2018, 07:02:12 pm »
I just replaced mine with LED bulbs, which are a direct replacement for the old light part number. I don't recall how much the new plexiglass covers were, but it wasn't too bad and Twin Commander had them in stock.

JMA

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Re: A guide to spotting Turbo Commanders.
« Reply #11 on: October 09, 2018, 02:51:47 pm »
Out of curiousity, I once saw a commander (no clue model) with lights mid wing, was I dreaming?  Or does that actually exist?

Bruce Byerly

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Re: A guide to spotting Turbo Commanders.
« Reply #12 on: October 15, 2018, 11:12:06 pm »
This is a kit that twin commander offers.. but I am not sure if it adds any lights or not..
CK 151B RECOGNITION LIGHT KIT 28 March 2000
Provides an approved recognition light installation to increase the visibility of the airplane during flight for the
Models 500S, s/n 3076 and later, 680W, s/n 1726 thru 1850, 681, 685, 690, 690A, and 690B, all serial numbers.
Two kits are available--one with a pulsing function and one without.

Hi,

Does anyone know the difference between installing the CK 151B and 182M?

Kind Regards

Same basic mount, but you want 182M with the bright HID lights.  We developed the original reco light kit well before any available light for that location was bright enough to land by.

JMA

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Re: A guide to spotting Turbo Commanders.
« Reply #13 on: October 17, 2018, 09:24:24 am »
Ok- sorry if I missed the answer.
This video is a good example of what Im curious about.     Lights mid-wing? 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CaavclyKgFE

Yet in other pics and videos of this N98AJ I don't see the lights (do they retract?)

donv

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Re: A guide to spotting Turbo Commanders.
« Reply #14 on: October 17, 2018, 12:21:15 pm »
Those are the standard 690 retractable landing lights that you're seeing. I believe all 690s have them.

A lot of people don't use them much because they are worried they will go down but not come up. I never used them during the day, but generally did use them at night.

Funny, I know Maria, who has flown N98AJ for at least the last 20+ years... at least, I assume she's still flying it. I haven't seen her in a few years.
« Last Edit: October 17, 2018, 12:25:06 pm by donv »