Pat
Guest
Sturgis, MI
- Aircraft Year
- 1993
- Aircraft Type
- 114B/115
- Reg Number
- N374JW
- Serial Number
- 14595
This information came from Dan Davids and I thought other Commander owners would find it interesting.
"Jack Lord with Commander
This is circa 1979. The airplane is the very first 112B. It was the factory demonstrator for 1977.
Hence the orange paint job. It had a couple hundred hours on it, which they credited me engine time.
We had it on my flight school line as our complex trainer in an FAA Approved School in Honolulu.
We also had a 114 available for rental, which also hauled cargo occasionally at night.
My dealership / FBO did all the fixed wing work for Hawaii 5-O, and Magnum P.I. after that.
At the end of this episode the 112B was being loaded up with drugs and bound for California.
We flew it into a crop duster strip not far from Pearl Harbor. Nevermind that it obviously never could
have made it to the mainland. McGarrett headed it off down the runway with his big Mercury.
The scene cut to what looked like the plane nosed into a ditch with smoke coming out of he cowling.
We had carefully maneuvered it to look like it had crashed into the ditch, covering the nose with sugar cane stalks.
Jack Lord was great. The script called for the pilot to be seen yanking the yoke left and right as McGarrett
chased. We told him that you don' steer an airplane on the ground that way, and he deferred to us.
A whole day spent out in the cane fields just for a couple of minutes for the show.
We didn't get paid much. But it was good for employee morale. Hell, I'd have done it for free.
In the photo I'm the young guy in the brown shirt. The other two fellows were my general manager and chief instructor.
I had 35 employees at this point, 23 airplanes, 5 fuel trucks, and 2 simulators. The good ol' days of general aviation.
Dan Davids"
"Jack Lord with Commander
This is circa 1979. The airplane is the very first 112B. It was the factory demonstrator for 1977.
Hence the orange paint job. It had a couple hundred hours on it, which they credited me engine time.
We had it on my flight school line as our complex trainer in an FAA Approved School in Honolulu.
We also had a 114 available for rental, which also hauled cargo occasionally at night.
My dealership / FBO did all the fixed wing work for Hawaii 5-O, and Magnum P.I. after that.
At the end of this episode the 112B was being loaded up with drugs and bound for California.
We flew it into a crop duster strip not far from Pearl Harbor. Nevermind that it obviously never could
have made it to the mainland. McGarrett headed it off down the runway with his big Mercury.
The scene cut to what looked like the plane nosed into a ditch with smoke coming out of he cowling.
We had carefully maneuvered it to look like it had crashed into the ditch, covering the nose with sugar cane stalks.
Jack Lord was great. The script called for the pilot to be seen yanking the yoke left and right as McGarrett
chased. We told him that you don' steer an airplane on the ground that way, and he deferred to us.
A whole day spent out in the cane fields just for a couple of minutes for the show.
We didn't get paid much. But it was good for employee morale. Hell, I'd have done it for free.
In the photo I'm the young guy in the brown shirt. The other two fellows were my general manager and chief instructor.
I had 35 employees at this point, 23 airplanes, 5 fuel trucks, and 2 simulators. The good ol' days of general aviation.
Dan Davids"
