Hello group! - new member :)

[boardin]

Hello all!

In contract for a Commander 114 and couldn't be more excited. I learned about Commanders only a few years ago and have been following them ever since.. Looking forward to joining this community and learning about these birds

 

[gmores]

Welcome Ed!

 

[gmascelli]

Ed,

Welcome to the group! When the deal is done we all love pictures.....

 

[sr30sb]

Welcome to the group!

 

[mrcshbs]

Welcome to the group Ed. Your 114 will be the best single engine airplane you ever owned. Guarantee it!!!

 

[boardin]

Thanks all! To be honest I'm waffling between cold-feet and ridiculous excitement.

I've talked to some local pilots and each one warned me that the commander is going to be a PITA... so then I get all freaked out, go home and get on this forum and read all the maintenance threads where everything seems ok (at least with ppl on here) and I'm excited again. I'm doing a prebuy + annual next week so fingers crossed everything goes well!

 

[wiguy]

Seems just about any plane one buys continues to need TLC & upkeep, even the ‘pristine’ ones.

 

[carllee]

Thanks all! To be honest I'm waffling between cold-feet and ridiculous excitement.

I've talked to some local pilots and each one warned me that the commander is going to be a PITA.

I've found this to mostly be Bonanza pilots. Pretty much anything that isn't a Bonanza is classified as a PITA to them

What's a PITA?

1 cabin door
Paying Raytheon part prices
Anything powered by a Continental engine

 

[boardin]

LOL this is true... for one of them, we were even standing next to his F33A.

 

[carllee]

LOL this is true... for one of them, we were even standing next to his F33A.

Yep. Everytime. Dont get me wrong - I have a lot of friends that are Bonanza drivers - good guys I think they're secretly jealous of us Commander guys

 

[Blackdog12]

PITA; Pain In The A.....

 

[plight]

Ed .. there's a lot of uninformed people, including mechanics, who don't know the details. Welcome aboard and keep up your boyish excitement. There's a HUGE amount of experience in the Commander Owner's Group. Don't hesitate to ask questions and don't forget to search the forums. A lot of questions have been asked and answered.

 

[sshore]

The Commander is not a difficult airplane to maintain. Find a good A&P/IA and buy him a COG membership so that he can access the club website. Mechanics like working on them because they are simple and big - especially the engine area.

 

[atjudge]

Take a look at all the Bonanza's for sale, then compare that to Commanders for sale. Bonanzas are a dime a dozen, but Commanders don't come on the Market all that much because it's the last single the owners will every want to own....No one one this Website has ever been grounded because they cant find the parts... My AP is putting new fuselage skins on a Commander, available from the Factory.

 

[seanlong]

Hope you get the Commander. These planes are definitely NOT a PITA to work on. I never owned or worked on a plane prior to my 2017 acquisition of mine, but after my first A&P bill for maintenance, I learned how to do most of the maintenance myself. The worst part of working on the plane is removing the seats or cowling to perform most of your work. I get on the forum and they break it down to an elementary level on most issues and now I do the work under the supervision of an IA. Good luck and hope to see you at the annual commander fly in.

 

[sshore]

OK....the seats ARE a hell to get out.. that is a negative. For whatever reason Commander decided to put in a LaZBoy for a seat. Comfortable...but compared to other airplanes I have owned a little more complicated and alot more heavy to get out.

For the 114B's, the cowling is the easiest cowling of any airplane I have owned to get off. There is nothing attached to the lower or upper cowl in regard to air intake tubing or anything else. I don't think that is the case with the Rockwell versions.

 

[boardin]

Yep I hope I get it too! The more I read this forum the more I realize it's all just uninformed fearmongering...

On the plane side, everything is looking good so far but who knows (don't want to jinx it)... and I'm already lining up a set of those sweet control knobs & scheming how to persuade carllee to make one more of his 114 hot shot kits...

 

[mrcshbs]

I've owned mine for a few years now and never had any issues finding parts. Sometimes you have to search more extensively. Example: I recently needed a spinner, so I had to shop around for a good one at descent price... it's not like Piper where you can find parts at any Walmart, but this group along with some salvage yards you will find the parts you need.

Regular wearable parts like seals, o-rings, filters, etc are readily available. If you bend metal, it will be pricey... but that's on all airplanes.

I was hesitant about buying my commander at first and a lot of people I talked to discouraged me because they said I couldn't find people or parts for it. That's not the case at all. Find yourself a good mechanic on your field that knows the commander and you will be all set.

 

[boardin]

After a 4 month pre-buy / annual... it's finally official!! Thanks a ton to Glen, Judi, Dan, Andy, and everyone else who helped get it over the line.

The unfortunate news — still haven't flown it... the replacement MP gauge broke on the 10 minute ferry flight back to home base so it's down again to sort that out. Going to ask for advice but will post that over in the maintenance forum.

Finally to keep tradition here are too many pics...

 

[ksandrew]

Lots of TLC needed. I have never seen a 35 amp gear breaker that far to the right before, is this usual?, it is a pullable breaker.