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Scott Schellhase, N527GT

February 9, 1979, I soloed in a Cessna 152 from Ridpath Aviation at the Lubbock
International Airport. I was a sophomore at Texas Tech University, studying Architecture.
I had always wanted to learn how to fly, and with my father, Walt Schellhase, who was
already flying at this time, I begged my way into taking lessons while in Lubbock (my
parents were living in New Orleans at the time). I passed my written exam and flight
exam in June 1979, and my father began his pursuit of trying to find, at the time, an Aero
Commander 112A, which he did just a few weeks after receiving my license. He found
the plane, N1040J, in Houston, Texas.

1040J 

I fell in love at first sight, the plane looked like a race horse in full stride race mode
(my description as a 20 year old novice flyer), but, still to this day, the best looking single
engine aircraft ever made. Something I find funny today, from my instructor in New
Orleans, while getting my high performance rating and checked out in the 112A, he told
me, you will NEVER experience a bad landing in this plane, and then I got the education
of my life on landing gear design. What’s funny, that analogy and reason for never having
a bad landing has not changed in over 35 years, which says something about the beautiful
and graceful design of Ted Smith and the Aero Commander.

I grew up doing a lot of flying during my college breaks, and during the summer of
1980 I had the opportunity to fly 1040J all over the southern and southeastern seaboard
area in search of a Beechcraft Baron, or my dad thought that’s what he wanted.
Eventually, he found an A60 Duke, N7620D, which was an amazing ‘beast’ of an airplane
to fly when you needed to carry passengers or cargo, but, was never as much fun to as
the Commander.

I can still remember to this day, the dates Lendon and I had flying this airplane out
of the Slidell, Louisiana airport, flying over Lake Ponchatrain, going to Destin, Florida and
other destinations around the southern coast. I can also remember my first landing gear
experience flying into Pensacola with the Commander, but, with one push of the
emergency gear drop, they came right down and locked. Subsequently found out that
the hydraulic oil level was low.

We have included some photos of N1040J with my father at the controls, leaving
Lubbock shortly after the birth of our daughter, Devan, in April 1990 (time flies, literally
there). It was also my reality check on the affordability of my flying hobby and raising a
family. Soon after I hung up my charts and went into father/husband mode, until the
summer of 2013. Our son, Kiefer, has always been fascinated about flying, and he
decided what he would like to do for his senior project at school was to get his pilot’s
license. I was thrilled, Lendon a bit apprehensive, but the memories and feelings of 20
years ago rushed through my mind.
 

So, that June of 2013 Kiefer signed up for flying lessons and ground school at HUB
City Aviation at the Lubbock International Airport, there location is about 200’ away from
where I took my lessons back in 1978/1979 at Ridpath Aviation. Can I say that bug slowly
took over my whole body is an understatement, it took about 4 months for Kiefer to
convince me that I could get back into it. I went the process of turning in my paper license
for the new plastic one, getting my flight physical, and on November 19, 2013 I took back
to the skies with an instructor to begin the process of gaining those skills once again.
After about 5 hours of flight time and a couple hours of ground school I was cleared once
again to fly. The thrill was absolutely incredible. I worked on my time in a high
performance aircraft and the first time I pulled the gear up, all I could remember was
1040J and the fever I felt continued to burn for months. I so wanted that Commander
back.

 Thanks to Judi Anderson and Suncoast Aviation, she worked diligently for 6 or 7
months to educate me, teach me and school me on Commander 114 ownership. She
has provided (and I know will continue to provide) valuable information, leads and true
friendship throughout our process of purchasing a Commander. We found 527GT in
Mesa, Arizona, at Falcon Field. On September 5, 2014, we flew her for the first time, I
can say I was tearing up when we saw the plane and when she left the runway. I know
the differences between the 112 and the 114, but I can say it felt the same, handled the
same, with the rush of memories flooding my mind, how much I missed this plane. Of
course, the landings were incredible, still to this day, with as windy as it can get in
Lubbock, Texas (20-25 MPH is a normal day) I haven’t experienced a bad landing yet,
she is a very forgiving aircraft, and when Ted Smith designed the Commander, he did it
the best he knew how with the best and beefiest materials around.

Our family is proud to be blessed with this opportunity to share in the life history of
527GT, to again go on dates with my co-pilot Lendon, to fly with my son Kiefer, to
transport our daughter Devan and to be a part of the Commander community once again.

 

Walt and Devan N1040J edited
1040J001
1040J002


1040J003
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2014-11-07 09.47.25
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2014-11-09 16.42.15
2014-11-30 18.30.30
IMG_5346_edited-1 A
N527GT new owner Scott Schellhase
N527GT panelb
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