The Commander is indeed an interesting airframe. However, I believe it needs a few more ponies than the current SMA engine could deliver. Would I ever buy a new aircraft, it would have to have something that is a major innovation and only available new and that would at least have to be a diesel engine. Airplane makers need to come up something that makes a new airplane so much better than a 35 years old one that people who can afford new, actually buy new.
No worries! I wish the Commander had the performance and fuel consumption of a Mooney, would be unbeatable! Well, in my view anyway…
@Krister…
Sorry my bad, it sometimes helps if you read properly.. I referred to the cabin comfort .. definitely not the fuel consumption..
Allthough .. I truly hope that Ms Mao who has bought the Commander factory will start producing a Commander 115 Jet A based on the SMA engine. It should do really well and probably will come close to the 7 Gph jet when cruising 130-140kts.
Peter,
we have quite a few Thielert driven airplanes in Switzerland and some of them right at my homebase. I recently talked to one of their responsable people about the engine in another context and he told me the only time they had AOG’s was immediately after the Thielert bancruptcy before the administrator took over and started up parts distribution again. That was in 2008. Afterwards, their major concern was that parts became very expensive (especcially the gearboxes which needed regular replacement). After this, they had no problems with parts and operation.
The times they had AOG’s were connected to scheduled gearbox replacements in 2008, not due to engine defects.
They belong to the first customers of the Thielert driven DA40 and also maintain several DA42’s and one Cessna 172 with the Thielert mod. The statement I got from them was that after the very first year when several AD’s had to be implemented at short notice, reliability has been outstanding. According to them, they had so far no major issues on any of those engines since they started using and maintaining them in 2004 and no significant technical breakdowns including in flight shut downs. And no, i do not think they were telling me wrong things, I know these people pretty well and we enjoy a climate of mutual trust.
I have no source for the actual IFSD rates of the Thielert or Austroengine types, while I am aware that they initially had some rather stupid accidents (when the engines shut down due to electrical problems), I have heard very few complaints since. I also regularly talk to a pilot from austria who flies a DA42 there and sais while it is not is preferred airplane for various reasons and is highly critical of it, the engines are not an issue at all and never have been to him.
Come on, the 114B I used to fly and 112TC that I’ve flown a few times was nowhere near 15-20lph at 100kts. I do like the cabin though, and it is my reference for width and height, as well as accessibility. Great cabin and a very sturdy airframe. Some friends of mine decided they should see what happens if you crash into a rock face. They survived thanks to the tank-like structure. Had it been any other spam can most likely they would be 6 feet under, according to the professionals in accident investigation.
@Krister L
In response to
With modern aerodynamics and construction techniques it should be relatively easy to build a very roomy and comfortable trainer that cruises 100kts on 20-25 lph, or if you throw in a diesel, perhaps 15-20 lph. Where are they?.
They are called a Commander114
This is a link to the documentary referred below but it is in German
[youtube link fixed]
That’s the way it should be, and, btw, how you buy a house/flat off plan – new build. Done that a couple of times, no big deal, it’s called ‘snagging’ in the UK. Do you have a link to the docu?
Yes, I saw that documentary too, very interesting, I bet Lufthansa is one tough customer ;-)
Funnily enough I recall speaking to an airline pilot whose company bought a new 737 and spent a few weeks, post delivery, fixing obvious faults on it, like switches not working because they weren’t connected up… maybe we expect too much in GA.
I saw a documentary on how Lufthansa takes delivery of their new aircraft from Boeing and Airbus: They send engineers and pilots to Seattle and Toulouse several weeks before the delivery date. They start testing every system on the aircraft (from INS to passenger reading lights) while the aircraft is still in the last phase of completion. Then they do test flights until they are satisfied with everything – very minor faults will be fixed by manufacturer technicians during the ferry flight home. Money is transferred the moment they release the brakes on the flight home.
