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Second Super Commander flies downunder

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benelong

benelong

New member
Aircraft Type
112B
G'day All,

Wonderful news, Craig McNabb's Super Commander made it's maiden flight yesterday, and flew a further hour today. Today's flight was at 5000' above S/L, and Craig reported a TAS of 180 KTS.

Congrats to Criag, his engineers at Smart Air and to the saviour of our fleet Jim Richards!

I hope someone finds this post.

Cheers from downunder,
Rob Hendy. 112B.
 
Re: Second Super Commander flies downunder.

Re: Second Super Commander flies downunder.

Hi Rob,

Thanks for the update.

Congratulations to Craig. We had fun working with Pieter and company at ACA / Smart Air and together battling the challenges of Video Skyping around the world! In the end, we got all the computer stuff working and had some really great two-way video conferencing. Their workmanship was top notch.

Wish I could have been there for lift off, but I still can't trust my back again yet for 30 hrs of coach airline.

Jim and Martine
 
Re: Second Super Commander flies downunder.

Re: Second Super Commander flies downunder.

I am still jealous of the down under fleet. One of these days I am going to ferry N115CE to Australia and see if it goes 10 knots faster just by being there! Would be interested to know what kind of climb performance numbers you are seeing, as well as oil, cylinder head, and exhaust gas temps.
 
Re: Second Super Commander flies downunder.

Re: Second Super Commander flies downunder.

Jeff,
They said 180 knots True airspeed. Believe most of your posts have said 165-170 indicated, which is probably about 180 true, although I haven't pulled out my E6B to make the calulation..
 
Re: Second Super Commander flies downunder.

Re: Second Super Commander flies downunder.

That is right guys, 180KTS TAS.
Once Craig settles down I am sure he will come on here and give some numbers.
Jim, have just spoken with Pieter, and I think he will be catching up with you on the phone soon.

Cheers, Rob Hendy. AUS
 
Re: Second Super Commander flies downunder.

Re: Second Super Commander flies downunder.

Nope, I generally max out in cruise at 165-170 TAS, and if I have said KIAS in the past that was not correct. I can maintain those cruise speeds as high as 12000 feet, so the higher I go, the more improvement I have over the pre-conversion plane, where performance used to drop off dramatically above 9000. On one very fine cool day with low fuel in the tanks at 3000 feet I did get 183. Haven't done it again since. I am not unhappy with the 170 TAS, which is 16 or 17 knots faster than before at usual 5000-7000 foot cruise altitudes, just unsure why it is slower than the older 114s after conversion. If I recall correctly Jim had also noticed that the 114s do better than the 114Bs. But obviously I am always scratching my head trying to figure out if there is something I can do differently; maybe I should play around with weight and balance more or something.
 
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Re: Second Super Commander flies downunder.

Re: Second Super Commander flies downunder.

I think the older 114's were lighter than the newer 114B's and that's why the Super Commander performance is better on the older a/c.
 
Re: Second Super Commander flies downunder.

Re: Second Super Commander flies downunder.

Hi Paul,

And the 112's are lighter yet, in some cases by 200+ pounds. We'll be hitching up 580's to a few of those this year... NASA take note!

Jim
 
Re: Second Super Commander flies downunder.

Re: Second Super Commander flies downunder.

Jim:

I think this is the first time I saw 112 and 580 used in the same sentence. Wow! I can't wait to hear more... :)
 
Re: Second Super Commander flies downunder.

Re: Second Super Commander flies downunder.

Jim,
You putting one on a 112TC?
 
Re: Second Super Commander flies downunder.

Re: Second Super Commander flies downunder.

jrichards said:
Hi Paul,

And the 112's are lighter yet, in some cases by 200+ pounds. We'll be hitching up 580's to a few of those this year... NASA take note!

Jim
Click to expand...


Wow! That sounds awesome; can't wait to see it in action.

Mike
 
Re: Second Super Commander flies downunder.

Re: Second Super Commander flies downunder.

Woo Hoo - Can't wait to see this...

Now we just need to find a whole lot of money.
 
Re: Second Super Commander flies downunder.

Re: Second Super Commander flies downunder.

Jim ... I trust the 200+ lbs. lighter in the 112 isn't merely the difference in engine & perhaps engine mount becauses obviously you'd have to use the same for the 580 whether it was a 114 or 112. I have heard this before but am curious ... where is that 200 lbs. difference coming from?
 
Re: Second Super Commander flies downunder.

Re: Second Super Commander flies downunder.

Part of the lower weight is attributable to the basic airframe. Skins are thinner, brakes, window thickness, etc. It all adds up. A completely refurbished 112/A probably won't have that much of a difference, though.
 
Re: Second Super Commander flies downunder.

Re: Second Super Commander flies downunder.

Jim, have you done the maths yet on the airframe weight diff between a 112B and the 114,forgetting about the engines?

Cheers,
Rob Hendy. AUS 112B.
 
Re: Second Super Commander flies downunder.

Re: Second Super Commander flies downunder.

Adding a 540 to my plane would no doubt bring the useful load down to 400 Lbs.
Since my rear seats are out already, I could take the pilot seat, front passenger seat and straddle the console with a cushion and save some weight there.
 
Re: Second Super Commander flies downunder.

Re: Second Super Commander flies downunder.

Hi Rob,

Here are a few empty weights:

N115MK 115 with air and ice = 2427 (the heaviest Super).
N555LP 114 = 2124 (the first Super).
N629CC 112B (proforma) after conversion to 580 = 2038.
N112HS 112TC (proforma) after conversion to 580 = 1951.

Note: neither CC nor HS is yet scheduled for conversion but
both owners have had me run some numbers.

From the above numbers you can see we have a spread of
nearly 500 lbs in empty weights. In airplane performance
terms this is HUGE!

For 112B's and TC's (at least), we will be asking the ACO to
grant us the 114 envelope, 3140 lbs gross, so the converted
airplanes could have usefuls in the 1000 range.

Jim
 
Re: Second Super Commander flies downunder.

Re: Second Super Commander flies downunder.

Jim,

Where does that leave the 112A's for useful load?
 
Re: Second Super Commander flies downunder.

Re: Second Super Commander flies downunder.

I can see advantages for all except the 112A series. The 2650 gross and the wing structure is to light compared to newer AC11's.
Hard to imagine much more than 150 lbs useful load with any trickery.
However maybe the wing life extension kit may be able to add load to it. (??)

But I'm no where the aero designer here.
 
Re: Second Super Commander flies downunder.

Re: Second Super Commander flies downunder.

Sven,

I didn't know the wing was built any differently. I thought the gross weight and winglife were all just factors of testing and what they had applied for when the plane was originally designed.

I know of the differences between the 112A's and the 112B's with the longer wing. But what do the 114's have that is different?
 
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