And Now, Allow Me to Introduce...

lovetwinprops

lovetwinprops

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lovetwinprops
Well, finally, on Thursday 9/3, ~3:40 p.m. Pacific Time, it was done. I took about 4 months, but I'm now officially and legally a Commander owner! (Yes, I have a 50% share, but I've been assured that I'm permitted to refer to it as "my plane."
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Here are a few of the shots I took of it today (Friday):


Gerry
 

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Congrats,get a checkout and go fly.
 
Love these planes! Congratulations.

I looked at 114's and 115's when I was in he process to upgrading from my 172.
These planes just look like a plane "should" look. Love the trailing link landing gear...

I may get beat down for this comment but I think these are amongst the best looking GA SE aircraft ever made.
 
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Yes, they are excellent looking planes, and the roomiest of them all. It's like flying first-class all the way!
 
Kelvin said:
These planes just look like a plane "should" look. Love the trailing link landing gear... I may get beat down for this comment but I think these are amongst the best looking GA SE aircraft ever made.
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Nice looking example! I have long coveted a ride in one. My old C150 partner and I agreed the Commander was our 'if I won the Jackpot' airplane. It reminds me of a Pipcomvikinger. :D
 
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Gorgeous plane.
I think those are the best looking GA planes available.

Congrats.
 
Nice. Never flown an AC but always liked them. Good looking, high stance, trailing link gear, plenty of room.
 
iflyvfr said:
Nice looking example! I have long coveted a ride in one. My old C150 partner and I agreed the Commander was our 'if I won the Jackpot' airplane. It reminds me of a Pipcomvikinger. :D
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Mine too Greg. Some friends came to a fly in in a 112 years ago and I fell in love with the airframe. After a bit of digging - I decided the 114 was my "hit the jackpot" airplane.

Enjoy the new plane Gerry.
 
she's pretty...
 
Congrats, I always thought those were cool looking planes.
 
:happydance::cheers::cheers::happydance:

Congrats... Great looking plane...:yes:

Enjoy it and fly safely...:yes:
 
Like everyone else, I really like the way those look. Nice grab.
 
evapilotaz said:
May I ask what's your partnership arrangement is.
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I'm not sure what your question is, specifically, but here's the story:

Bill and Bob (not their real names) met in 2000 or shortly before because they happened to both be looking for a plane to co-own. They bought this plane in early 2000 and brought it to California. I have purchased Bill's 50% share of the plane from him, and Bob is staying on as co-owner. Bob and Bill used the AOPA sample co-ownership agreement as the basis for theirs, and Bob and I are doing the same.

Bill is also reinvesting $10,000 from what I paid him for his 50% share back into the plane, with the stipulation that the money be used exclusively for the engine overhaul. In exchange for doing that, he has been credited with 80 hours of flying at the dry-lease rate of $125 per hour. He has until 12/31/2020 to use up his 80 hours. (He's flown fewer than 10 hours total over the past two years, so I'm not expecting that he'll use all 80 hours he's paid for. But it's okay if he does, as the plane will be better off being flown more regularly.)

It's not in writing, but as soon as we have had the engine overhauled, probably sometime in the next few months, we will begin looking for a third co-owner to come in. With that person's investment we will upgrade the panel with some new avionics, and perhaps add or upgrade a few other things. What is already a very nice airplane will be superb!

I hope that answered your question; if it didn't, let me know.


Gerry
 
lovetwinprops said:
I'm not sure what your question is, specifically, but here's the story:

Bill and Bob (not their real names) met in 2000 or shortly before because they happened to both be looking for a plane to co-own. They bought this plane in early 2000 and brought it to California. I have purchased Bill's 50% share of the plane from him, and Bob is staying on as co-owner. Bob and Bill used the AOPA sample co-ownership agreement as the basis for theirs, and Bob and I are doing the same.

Bill is also reinvesting $10,000 from what I paid him for his 50% share back into the plane, with the stipulation that the money be used exclusively for the engine overhaul. In exchange for doing that, he has been credited with 80 hours of flying at the dry-lease rate of $125 per hour. He has until 12/31/2020 to use up his 80 hours. (He's flown fewer than 10 hours total over the past two years, so I'm not expecting that he'll use all 80 hours he's paid for. But it's okay if he does, as the plane will be better off being flown more regularly.)

It's not in writing, but as soon as we have had the engine overhauled, probably sometime in the next few months, we will begin looking for a third co-owner to come in. With that person's investment we will upgrade the panel with some new avionics, and perhaps add or upgrade a few other things. What is already a very nice airplane will be superb!

I hope that answered your question; if it didn't, let me know.


Gerry
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Even with this $10k credit, he's paying $125hr dry on a 50/50 coowned single commander?
 
James331 said:
Even with this $10k credit, he's paying $125hr dry on a 50/50 coowned single commander?
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The $10k is pre-paying for 80 hours of flying time at $125 and hour dry, yes. Another option we discussed was his paying $1500 every 6 months and flying it off at $150 per hour dry. It would have been a "use it or lose it" proposition, and we'd have $3k per year from him. But we decided the up-front $10,000 was better for us, as the engine needs overhaul soon.

What are your thoughts about this?


Gerry
 
Very nice! The Commander singles are among the best looking GA planes ever (and the Shrike is awesome for a twin as well).

Hot Shot 112 is on my list.

'Gimp
 
Love those planes. Congrats on the deal. I still remember seeing one for the first time as a teenager working at the airport fueling it up. Instantly fell in love with it.
 
Congratulations!!! Have fun and enjoy your plane!!
 
What kind of cruise/fuel numbers do they put out? Any mx gotchas other than not being particularly common in the market?
 
Nice, one of the best built SEL airplanes out there, and comfortable as well, enjoy and congratulations.
 
Very nice! I've loved flying the Commander (112TC here).
 
Congratulations!

I'm on the hunt for my first plane, and I was hot for a 114, too, until I found out about their zero fuel weight. After running some W&B numbers for my expected loads I realized that, even though it had a useful load high enough to work, I would have exceeded the zero fuel weight. :cryin:
 
hindsight2020 said:
What kind of cruise/fuel numbers do they put out? Any mx gotchas other than not being particularly common in the market?
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What I've read based on the experiences of others is between 11 and 14 gph. The "hot shot" turbo-normalized and factory turbo models use more, I think 15-17? The 320HP Super-Commander (STC'd IO-580) burns 17-19, I believe. I don't have any personal experience in going somewhere yet, so I don't really know. I'm flying it to Santa Barbara on 10/10, so that should give me some idea of how it does in a non-training flight.

Also, this is a high-time engine, so I doubt the fuel system, injectors, etc., are all working at peak efficiency. But we'll see.

As for the "mx gotchas," I don't know what "mx" means"


Gerry
 
bcool said:
Congratulations!

I'm on the hunt for my first plane, and I was hot for a 114, too, until I found out about their zero fuel weight. After running some W&B numbers for my expected loads I realized that, even though it had a useful load high enough to work, I would have exceeded the zero fuel weight. :cryin:
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I'm actually a little concerned about that. Not the weight itself, but the forward CG. When I run the numbers, I'm always under gross by a healthy margin, but forward of the CG envelope for that weight. But everyone flies them safely, and no one I've talked to says they've seen any accident reports attributing the mishap to a forward CG. I've also heard that some 114 owners put 50-100 pounds of water bottles in the baggage compartment as ballast, but until I lose more weight than I've already lost, that's not going to help.

Somehow I can't believe a company like Rockwell International would build an airplane that can't fly with 2 people in the front seats and full fuel.


Gerry
 
I'm sorry for the delayed replies, but I've been busy studying the POH, dry flying, and taking care of other miscellaneous things that fall under the category of "real life."

I now have 2 transition flights in with a CFI, and after a third one tomorrow (Monday), should get signed off. Then I'll take a few flights to various airports here in the L.A. Basin, nailing down procedures and continuing to get comfortable with it. If it's possible to fall in love with an inanimate object, I think it's happening to me!

Thank you all so much for the congratulations and good wishes. I really appreciate all the kind words.


Gerry
 
lovetwinprops said:
The $10k is pre-paying for 80 hours of flying time at $125 and hour dry, yes. Another option we discussed was his paying $1500 every 6 months and flying it off at $150 per hour dry. It would have been a "use it or lose it" proposition, and we'd have $3k per year from him. But we decided the up-front $10,000 was better for us, as the engine needs overhaul soon.

What are your thoughts about this?


Gerry
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So you guys pay $125hr plus 11GPH, say 5.90 gal, so $190hr to operate your own plane? Just seems a little higher than I would expect, unless I'm not getting it, does that also include hangar/insurance/etc?







timwinters said:
I don't know about his thoughts but my thoughts are that he is a troll and, as such, is not worthy of response.

He's one of only two people I have on ignore.
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Sigh, and yet you responded...Tim's scared of folks who don't think 90% of the same way he does, thus he is disturbed to the extent that he can't even stand scrolling past a few sentences on a webpage, thus he puts people on "ignore" to not disturb his mental state.

FWIW I wasn't "trolling" I just thought it seemed like 190hr for a small complex OWNED single is a little high when you can rent a rather decked out complex single /G for the same or less, with no skin in the ownership game.
 
Congrats! While I have no time in this series of AC, I've heard nothing but good things said about them. Isn't it a shame that so many fine aircraft are no longer produced? In another 50 years, all we'll have left are "antiques" and new $2,000,000 composite "wunder-birds."
 
James331 said:
So you guys pay $125hr plus 11GPH, say 5.90 gal, so $190hr to operate your own plane? Just seems a little higher than I would expect, unless I'm not getting it, does that also include hangar/insurance/etc?
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No! The former co-owner, whose 50% share I bought, will pay us $10,000 to be applied to the overhaul. In exchange, he's been credited with 80 hours of flying time to be used by 12/31/2020. That's a rate of $125 an hour dry.

My co-owner and I will continue at the rate they had been prior to my coming into it. We pay $50 per hour for flights 2 hours or less, and $35 per hour for flights longer than 2 hours.



James331 said:
FWIW I wasn't "trolling" I just thought it seemed like 190hr for a small complex OWNED single is a little high when you can rent a rather decked out complex single /G for the same or less, with no skin in the ownership game.
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There are a few 182RGs around Southern California that rent for $160-165 wet. I know of an older Cherokee Six that the FBO will rent at a discount for a group I'm in; that discounted rate is $225/hour wet. I don't know about other complex singles in Southern Calif.

But consider too that this guy co-owned this airplane for 15-1/2 years, took really good care of it, and cares about its future. He's paying for the privilege of flying an airplane he knows and loves. Also, as I mentioned in an earlier reply, HE'S the one who came up with the proposal to either pay us $1500 every six months and fly it off at $150/hr dry, or $10,000 towards the engine to be flown off at $125/hr dry.


Gerry
 
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