Commander of the Month

"I started Flying in 1989 at the age of 29 at a little grass airfield in Belgium, called Keiheuvel. The first year we rented a club airplane and we made some short trips. (They needed to be short, because the airplane was needed in the club) After a while this seemed to be a little inconvenient and we started searching for a plane to buy… The first plane became a 1980 Cessna 182. We flew the plane all over Europe and had a lot of fun with it. After 6 years we (at that time it was only me, just had to convince my wife) wanted to step up. I had seen a Commander 114 in the FBO where our airplane was maintained, and asked the mechanic what he thought about the airplane."

"If Commander ever needs a sales representative for Europe, they have to contact Luce Michels. The guy started talking about Commanders as if they where the only plane every private pilot should buy. He knows the planes inside out, and I believed him when he said there are no competitors to the Commander.

By the way, the Commander in the FBO at that time was later sold to Luc Dams (OOTST) also a Commander Owners Group member and a good friend. We live only 15 miles apart. Luce told me he would start a search to find me a Commander. After a few days Luce called and told me he had found something for me. It was a 1994 Commander 114B with just 112 hours total time. The plane was based at Bournemouth UK.

When we first saw OOMOM (still N6031Y at that time) we were sold. She was a beauty and almost brand new. The plastic was still around the seats. After test flying the Commander, I knew I had to have this airplane (men always stay children, only the price of the toys change)!

After we reached an agreement about the price, the plane was ours. The CFI who taught me to fly checked me out on our new Commander. Because Antwerp airport was closer to our home and it has full IFR facilities, we changed home base for OOMOM to Antwerp (EBAW). From that time on, my wife and I have enjoyed the plane endlessly. There was a very big difference from the 182 we were used to; less noise, less vibration, more space, more speed, and much better looks. After a while I earned my instrument rating so we could take advantage of our plane a little more.

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