Flight Levels Online - The Online Magazine for Twin Commander Owners and Operators

The Faulkner family (left to right): Samantha, Kathy, Shelby, Greg, Brooke, and Gregory.

WHAT WE FLY: The Faulkners, In a Hurry

Twin Commanders are rightfully known as pilots’ airplanes. They check all the boxes that are important to pilots—outstanding performance, fun-to-fly handling, country strip to Chicago O’Hare flexibility, and a commanding presence on the ramp. But how about Commander owners who are not pilots? What do they see in their airplane compared with any number of other turboprops or jets they may have considered?

Service CeNTER PROFILE

Aerocentros de Servicios C.A.

If you operate a Twin Commander in South America, and in particular Venezuela, you know Aerocentro de Servicios C.A. Aerocentro has been an authorized Twin Commander service center since the Caracas-based company was founded in 1980.

FROM THE FLIGHTLINE

SimCom Acquires FSI’s Twin Commander
Training Program

Less than a year after getting into the business of training Twin Commander pilots using a non-motion flight training device (FTD), SimCom Training Centers has acquired FlightSafety International’s Twin Commander training program, including two Level A motion simulators.

Airborne WX Radar: “Stretching” and
“Smearing” the Truth

In the last issue of Flight Levels update (Summer 2011, www.flightlevelsonline.com), I left off with a question about a “thin radial line” that a pilot had observed on his radar display. I said it was actually a “great capability” of the radar. The same question has come up several times since from other pilots who also thought their radar was malfunctioning.

Adventure Travel: Quebec City, Quebec, Canada

While we are based in Florida and often fly south to the warm places in the northern hemisphere, from time to time we fly to Quebec City, which is a launching point for our Transatlantic Journey.

Garmin tips & Tricks: GPS Fundamentals:
Choose Your Approach

Choosing an approach transition requires a little thought and an examination of the options for your direction of approach. In general, you’d like to eliminate course reversals in a hold or procedure turn.

STAFF PROFILE: When It Comes to
Twin’s Answer-Man, Experience Counts

If there is such a thing as a brain trust in the Twin Commander community, then Geoffrey Pence must be one of the temporal lobes, a repository of knowledge and insight gained over years of focused experience. How much experience?

Executive Aircraft Maintenance Wins
Garmin Accolade

A few short years ago Executive Aircraft maintenance, an authorized Twin Commander service center based in Scottsdale, Arizona, opened an in-house avionics sales and service division. It has turned out to be a good decision.

market report: 2011 Trends
Toward More Stability

The finish line for 2011 is in sight. Activity levels have proven steady this year, with a significant uptick in August sales data. Moving forward, we will learn whether or not the latest increase in sales activity foreshadows a real upward trend.

EAGLE CREEK DELIVERS FIRST OF TWO
COLOMBIAN GRAND RENAISSANCES

The first of two Grand Renaissance Twin Commanders has been delivered to the Colombian Army by Eagle Creek Aviation Services, which performed the Grand Renaissance refurbishment on the Colombian-owned airplane.

U.K.’s Mann Aviation Becomes Gama
Engineering Ltd.

Mann Aviation Group Engineering Ltd, an authorized Twin Commander service center based at Fairoaks Airport near London Heathrow, has been acquired by Gama Group and combined with Gama Group subsidiary Lees Avionics Ltd. to form Gama Engineering Ltd.