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Tony Varga, C-FFOM
Probably since I could look up I knew I loved airplanes and wanted to
fly them some day. Back when
I was young I used to write letters to the big airlines like Pan
American, Canadian Airlines and American Airlines among others asking
what I needed to do to become a pilot and was always amazed at the
‘swag’ and personalized responses, pins and posters that I would get
back in response.
As I grew older my father pushed me to higher education and said I could
‘be a pilot later’ and that later did not materialize until I was 37 years
old when I ended up at the local flying field one day and took an intro
flight. I was hooked an knew
it had to be so I swapped what I thought was an expensive hobby
(building/flying RC helicopters) by selling everything and learned to fly.
About a month after getting my RPP or Recreational Pilot Permit I
accepted a job transfer to Beijing, China and aside from a couple of
flights here and there with an instructor when I visited Canada or my
pilot buddy in New Zealand, flying was shelved yet again for four long
years.
When we moved back in 2003 I recommitted and dusted everything off and
flew for my Private Pilots Licence and for ten years after that was a
renter flying a 172RG and a DA40 but always longing to own an aircraft.
One day I showed up at our field and looked out the window and saw the
most magnificent GA airplane I had ever seen sitting on the ramp.
It looked like it was doing 1000 miles an hour sitting still and I
found the owner and discovered the Rockwell Commander.
WOW I needed one of those!
Since that day it was going to be Commander or bust.
I spent a number of years trolling the classifieds and figuring out
the costs associated with ownership but could never get my head around the
costs associated with single ownership ( I am a cheap Engineer ) and knew
I could never get my better half on board either so I got half hearted
agreement that if a partnership ever became available……at our local
airport……in a Commander……. that it was a done deal and in October 2012
that is exactly what happened!
Enter Charlie Fox Fox Oscar Mike.
Oscar Mike is a 1972 Commander 112 serial number 27 with 855 TTAF
that sat forgotten in a hangar in rural Ontario for ten years after the
prior owner passed away. Our
founding partner Jim who is an airbus skipper for Air Canada bought FFOM
in 2010 with a zero time engine and three blade propeller and a fairly
original stained wood accented panel from the widow and flew it almost
immediately to Penn Avionics to have the panel completely replaced and
updated.
Thus became the journey of bring FFOM out of the dust to being back on
top!
After the panel upgrade and many hours in the hangar and working with a
local mechanic, FFOM was brought up to spec but had a few hidden squawks
that would prove to be a real hazing into the world of ownership for me.
Due to work and life commitments, Jim was only able to put about 20
hours on FFOM between purchase and the time I came into the picture so the
airplane had never really been shaken out since coming out of a ten year
hibernation.
I jumped in feet first learning about aircraft ownership and
partnership and was introduced to the COG by Jim and joined immediately
wanting to learn as much as possible about everything to do with
Commanders. I was assisted by
some great individuals in the group on partnership arrangements and
agreements and was successful in setting up the partnership as The
Commander Group Ltd including all cost arrangements, agreements and
operating rules and away we went.
Now I needed to learn to fly the Commander and was very fortunate that my
long time CFII and friend was an experienced Commander driver and had even
ferried one from Canada to the Azores so no problems getting the COT
needed for insurance and safe operations.
By the time the weather got decent again and all was said and done,
it was May when I finally started to get some yoke time on ‘Oscar’ and
enjoy the pleasures of ownership.
I enjoyed great relaxing hours in the hangar in the spring working with
our mechanic to install Rosen visors, an iPad mount, new master relay
after some sketchy findings back there, new cabin overhead lights, a CO
detector and a few other improvements as well as my ‘tug from a
wheelchair’ project that was one of the most enjoyable of all.
This is where the learning REALLY began.
Prior to now (remember, only flew 20 hours in two years) Jim would
leave the tanks as-is after flying and now we filled after every flight.
Each time I would fly FFOM I could not understand why I smelled
fuel and after my third flight decided I was going to start to get
intimate with this airplane and figure out what was going on.
Back to the COG group for insight and feedback and out came the rear seat
and divan cover where I discovered a persistent dripping fuel leak from
the TOP of the spar under the seat.
By my calculations, it was dripping a gallon per
week into the divan area and
again back to the group to learn as much as I could about how the fuel
tanks worked, were constructed, were sealed etc to try and figure out HOW
fuel could be running down the top of the spar into the fuselage!
Fast forward a couple of months, bruises, sore back and hours upon
hours of scraping in the hangar, I stripped the starboard tanks to bare
aluminum, resealed and (hopefully) forever gone was a nasty fuel leak that
had been there I am sure for a decade or longer considering how much fuel
dye and staining existed in the area around the leak.
This escapade took Oscar Mike off the line until July due to
extensive work/travel commitments and by then it was time for the annual
at the end of July.
By now we brought Rob on as a third partner who is a Commercial Pilot and
had a pretty good operation going.
I took three days off work and spent them with our mechanic at his
shop being tutored on the finer aspects of engines, pumps and airframes
and proceeded to move up the food chain on my knowledge of our great
airplane. We discovered a
very nasty problem with the electrical post being broken on the alternator
and the heavy gauge wire from the alternator to the bus was almost
completely burned off. This
was missed in two prior annuals, as was the fuel leak (why we have a new
mechanic) and came to light during the last couple of flights before the
annual where the alternator and voltmeter were wagging back and forth
randomly. Back to the great
support of the COG and members here where I was educated on voltage
regulators to use etc and after a fairly inexpensive alternator repair and
a new Zeftronics regulator, the electrical system in FFOM was tip top
again.
Then the issue arose around the elevator AD and how to properly do the
inspection and again to the COG where I learned about the AMOC.
This then turned into a discussion with our mechanic who insisted
that Transport Canada needed to specifically approve the AMOC for it to be
used in Canada. Some amazing
support from colleagues on this board helped me navigate very quickly
through the government maze using supporting documentation that equipped
me to challenge an initial assessment by TC that approval was needed and
win a ruling that the reciprocity agreement with the FAA was indeed
acceptable. I could have
never done this without the support of COG members who reached out and
helped me.
Fast forward to now….. C-FFOM flew more hours in the month of August since
annual than in the prior 30 months and now sees that sky at least once or
more a week. I am starting to
stretch my legs further and further with the aircraft as I become more
comfortable with a bucket list destination of KLNS where my in-laws live
which is currently an 8-10 hour car ride but 2.5 by air and start flying
far more in the US.
I continue to learn about this fantastic airplane on a continual basis as
we have not fully shaken out all of the age related bugs and most recently
I had an electrical failure with the flaps, which I quickly diagnosed with
drawings and had limit switches on order the next day.
We are now upgrading the 121 MHz lead brick in the tail with a 406
w/integrated GPS and installing a panel mounted switch.
We love our Commander and ‘Oscar’ has been a tremendous pleasure to fly.
I dreamed about owning a Commander for at least ten years and get
huge satisfaction on almost every ramp that he sits on when someone walks
over with purpose commenting on what a beautiful aircraft it is and wants
to sit inside. I felt the
same way and know how they feel.
I am just thankful that I had the opportunity to fulfill such a
lofty dream of ownership in the only aircraft I was interested in owning.
My humble thanks to the many people in the COG group that without fail,
open their arms to new arrivals on an almost regular basis and provide us
with the years of knowledge, experience and documentation that makes
owning a Commander such a pleasure.
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