I had the opportunity to spend almost an entire day with Jim Richards of Aerodyme in Burlington, Vermont, to learn about the 320-hp Super Commander. I may be the first commander group member to visit the shop, so here’s the mother of all posts.

Aerodyme
Jim Richards is an engineer trained at MIT and after a successful career elsewhere, he has embarked on his second career pursuing his Commander flying passion. He really enjoys the Super Commander STC project, and I believe he and his partners will address all the important issues relative to the STC without taking any shortcuts. I liked his quantitative engineering approach and also his willingness to listen and learn from others including Lycoming, Hartzell, and others with commander experience. I liked his down to earth, practical, realistic approach, and lack of marketing hype.

Lycoming 580
My first question was why not using the proven Lycoming 540 with 300 HP. It turns out that Lycoming developed a new and improved big bore six cylinder at the request of Cessna for installation on the Cessna 206. Lycoming got behind schedule, so Cessna stayed with the 540, and now Lycoming has this new improved engine with few applications. I believe it is just a matter of time before this engine finds itself on many aircraft, both in the retrofit market and new production. I’ve got to believe that everything Lycoming learned from millions of flight hours on the 540s has been incorporated into the new engine. It is only 50 pounds heavier and I believe is more fuel efficient relative to the power output than the 540. What really impressed me was the engine air intake is in the front of the plane below the spinner where you would expect it to be, not on the side of the cowling where the air must make a U turn before entering the engine on our current engines. Perhaps there is some ram air manifold pressure advantage to this design. With this engine we will enjoy improved field performance, climb performance and service ceilings, but you can always power back to the speeds and fuel burns of the 114 and 112 if you like that better in cruise. You have alternatives. I would think trip planning could be made at 15 gallons per hour if you choose to use the additional power.

Flying the Super Commander
We flew on a beautiful, cold winter Burlington day, so I got to experience the combined benefits of low density altitude around sea level and 320 HP.

I have recently flown the Columbia 350, Cirrus SR22 and Mooney Ovation and my own standard Commander 114, so I had plenty to compare too.

For the most part, I just saw blue sky during the initial minutes of the flight. Take-off roll was really short and the climb out was initially around 2,000 feet per minutes and then settled in at 1,500 to 7,500 feet. It only takes a few minutes to reach cruising altitude in this plane.

In the practice area we pitched the nose up at full power looking for a stall and finally got a stall of sorts at 24 degrees pitch. That is really steep and I enjoyed a view out the side window that I had never seen before. Low risk of a departure stall in this airplane.

Speeds were at least 20 knots faster than my normally aspirated 114, a little hard for me to judge since I almost never fly below 5,000 feet in my home area. Indicated airspeed was as high as 185 knots at full power. The extra cruise speed puts the Super Commander in the same speed category of the competitors mentioned above.

An interesting comparison will be with the turbocharged commanders. At high altitude, the turbo should run faster, but since the Super Commander climbs so fast to its cruising attitude, the times are probably closer than you would initially expect, with the advantage going to the Super Commander on short stage lengths and to the turbo on long trips. Jim will have to help us figure out the breakeven trip length time between a turbo 114/115 and the super commander. If I understand aerodynamics right, the super commander will be very efficient at high altitude.

Speaking of altitude, Jim shared with me the recent altitude trial run where they reached 22,000 feet density altitude and were still climbing at 400 feet per minute while making circles with an ATC clearance. Since the service ceiling is defined as the altitude where the plane can maintain a 100 foot per minute climb, it looks like the super commander is going to reach 24,000 feet or higher, very amazing for a normally aspirated airplane. Let’s go set some records.

Approach and landing were very normal, just had to pay a little more attention to airspeed and slowing down. . A few less inches of manifold pressure and little more planning is required. Here is the routine:

Manifold pressure to 18 > slow to 148 knots
Flaps to 10 degrees > slow to 130 knots
Gear down > slow to white arc
Flaps as MP adjusted as necessary to complete the landing.

Like all commanders, there is wide range of combinations that work and that will get you down safely. The Super Commander is easier to slow down and get in landing configuration than the Columbia and Mooney I recently flew, where speed breaks were almost a necessity.

Cost
Initially, the upgrade seems expense, but when considering you are starting over with a factory new 0 time engine, the economics start to make sense. Add the cost of an overhaul and the cost of improved performance either obtained through turbo charging, turbo normalizing, or going with a competitor 300 HP aircraft and the cost starts to make sense.

The super commander performance improvements keep exceeding the mathematical predictions for the increase in power. I have three ideas on why this is so:

1) The 580 engine power relative to the 540 engine is actually greater than the stated horsepower’s of 320 and 260 respectively, and Lycoming is quoting a conservative horse power number on their new engine.

2) The more efficient air intake on the 580 results in higher manifold pressure at altitude

3) The Commander engineers designed the plane for a larger engine and this engine is hitting the designed sweet spot for the commander airplane, We should thank Aerodyme for finishing the job that the factory never completed.

I find it interesting to note that Cirrus sells many more SR22s than SR20s after upgrading the engine, Columbia sells more 400s than 350s after turbo charging their plane, and Mooney altogether discontinued all engines but the big bore 540s with 300 or so horsepower. . It seems that the market place has evolved to always choosing and paying for the most powerful engine available on any model. All this points to demand for Aerodyme and the super commander.

A converted Commander would give us similar performance to the Cirrus, Columbia, or Mooney, but for less cost. Field performance and climb would be better than the competition. And best of all we can still keep everything else we like about the Commander, such as great ramp appeal, easy access, spacious interior, great handling, great trailing link landing gear touchdowns, commander friends, etc.

Eric Christensen
N114EC
St George UT
77 Commander 114
Hopefully a super commander 114 soon.