With the pilot population continuing to shrink, Commander Aircraft Company has been aggressively courting new markets. The company is offering its Commander 114B four-place single-engine airplane to small and medium-sized companies in towns with limited or no airline service. Commander Chairman Wirt D. Walker III believes those businesses are a prime market for the 114B.
One company based in Peoria, Illinois, for example, holds meetings in Decatur and Chicago. The round-trip flying time, via St. Louis, is 2.5 hours in the Commander 114B as opposed to 4.8 hours via commercial airlines. The cost analysis is fairly compelling: the cheapest coach fare last November was $888, while the operating costs of the 114B are roughly $170 whether one or four employees fly. Airline costs for four travelers would leap to $3,552.
While initial acquisition and finance charges are not part of Commander’s operating costs, the company nonetheless makes a good case for ownership. A cash flow analysis of a $335,000 airplane fully depreciated over seven years and resold at 60 percent of its purchase price reveals an overall outlay of around $132,000, or about $20,000 a year. That makes the 114B a fairly reasonable choice for a great many businesses.
The Commander 114B is not only affordable but sleek in structure and style. The three-blade McCauley propeller, tightly cowled engine, and sloped windshield all make the 114B look ready for business. Though its design echoes a little of earlier brothers from the 1970s, it still provides some modern touches, like a more shapely and tightly cowled nose section.
Commander Aircraft Company of Bethany, Oklahoma has built 92 airplanes since gaining the type certificate for the 114B in 1992. Sales have been modest, but Walker remains dedicated to the cause of putting small to medium-sized business people in airplanes. The “Aircraft Ownership Program” the company offers is a turnkey operation that will take care of everything from cost/benefit assessments through financing and insurance, right down to supplying a professional pilot if the buyer is not a pilot.
Owners seem to like the 114B. William H. Flores of Sugar Land, Texas, thinks the airplane is as comfortable and reliable as a Mercedes. Daniel and Bonnie Williams of Tallahassee, Florida, use their 114B for long cross-country flights and consider the performance and cabin roominess outstanding.
The wide cabin of the 114B and its plush leather seats provide an extremely comfortable flying environment, although rear-seat legroom is cramped. The aircraft’s handling makes it a very good trainer for pilots transitioning to turbine airplanes. One factor contributing to such smoothness is the cruciform tail and trailing link main landing gear.
While the 114B can’t hold a candle to the cruise speeds of some of its brethren, Commander is working on certifying a turbocharged version, the 114TC, which will improve performance. An optional, specially designed air conditioning system capable of maintaining extreme temperatures makes it suitable for anything from deserts to equatorial jungles.
Due to its comfort, performance, and reasonable price, the Commander 114B has now started to attract attention both in traditional and non-traditional markets. This offers an unparalleled business aviation asset for companies that strategically use air travel.