• PiperForum.com is a vibrant community of Piper owners and pilots. Our over 1,500+ active members use Piper Forum to swap technical knowledge, plan meetups and sell planes/parts. We host technical knowledge of general aviation topics and specific topics on J3-Cubs, Cherokees, Comanches, Pacers and more. In addition to an instant community of pilots for you, PiperForum.com is a library of technical topics, airplane builds, images, technical manuals, technical documents and more.

    Access to PiperForum.com is subscription based. Subscriptions are only $49.99/year or $6.99/month to gain access to this great community and unmatched library of Piper knowledge.

    Click Here to Become a Subscribing Member and Access PiperForum.com in Full!

Selling my 1995 Commander 114TC

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Joined
Jan 25, 2013
Messages
1,502
Reaction score
255
Pics here

In keeping with my personal rule about "if something goes unused for six months, I should be rid of it" I made the decision to let this airplane go. It's only flown to my MX guy and back for those last six months and I only put up 50 hours last year, which just isn't enough to justify owning it anymore.

History:

This was the factory's demo model from 1995 forward. They put the first couple hundred or so hours on it, after which the second owner bought it and just didn't fly it much. But on the upside he lived in Mojave, CA so it lived all those years in a desert hangar. I am the second owner from the factory as far as chain of title goes.

I bought it in 2014 as a basis for my 'perfect' airplane. Completely rewired during the panel overhaul along with new static/pitot plumbing in 2014. In 2015 I got together with Gary Gadberry (Commander broker in TN) and we got the first certification done on single engine Commanders for his aftermarket electric A/C system on this airplane (he also has them for 182+ Cessnas, Bonanzas, and various light twins). It was installed in early 2016. For those unfamiliar it's an electric motor-driven system mounted in the tail where avionics shelves used to go. In addition to cool air it solves W&B issues with airplanes that get newer avionics and have their CG shift forward, of which this airplane was definitely one, due to the presence of the turbo/manifold plus avionics that used to be in the tail winding up in the panel. In addition to the 337 approval I have all of the engineering data/drawings to send along with the buyer for the A/C system, including schematics.

In short, I have about 70,000 dollars in the A/C and avionics, give or take, beyond the base value of the aircraft. My original quotes from the avionics shop and Gary on the A/C are in the dropbox link. Panel was done by Select Avionics at KTKI. MX done most recently by Anthony Arispe at T31.

Damage History:

None.

Summary of panel:

  • New custom fabricated aluminum panel with silkscreened placards
  • JPI 930 primary engine monitor/gauges
  • Aspen 2500 + obstacles + synthetic vision
  • Garmin ADS-B unlock on the MFD
  • Garmin GTX345 transponder
  • Garmin GNS480 GPS
  • Garmin SL30 secondary comm
  • PS Engineering 8000B audio panel
  • STEC55X autopilot factory overhauled in 2017 (with yaw, trim, preselect on Aspen) (1)
  • WX900 stormscope retained (backlight INOP, otherwise functional)
  • original king AI, mechanical airspeed, and STEC turn coordinator retained (2)
  • powered Bose plugs in the panel for front two seats
  • two Bose A20 headsets will come with the airplane
  • powered USB ports in the panel
  • PA32 glovebox on the right side

Summary of Engine/Prop:

  • McCauley 3 blade, original, ~815 hours total time
  • Lycoming TIO-540, ~815 hours total time
  • Cylinders #2 and #6 were overhauled by previous owner @ 600 hrs (3)
  • Crankshaft AD complied by Lycoming replacement @ 587 hrs
  • All compressions as of annual this month +70, but for #6 at 68
  • Gami injectors installed @ 587 hrs

Weight/Balance/Performance:
  • Useful load 1035 pounds (4)
  • Max fuel 90 gallons
  • Tab fuel 62 gallons
  • Full fuel endurance 4.75 hours with VFR reserve
  • Tab fuel endurance 3 hours with VFR reserve
  • 75% KTAS between 11k/13k, 160-165 knots

Summary of additional things I've done in the past three years:
  • both wings re-sealed
  • new battery and cables
  • two new vacuum pumps (has mechanical standby on redundant pumps)
  • both brake cylinders overhauled
  • new mechanical fuel pump
  • new bolts/bushings re-rig of nose gear
  • new stainless/aluminum fuel cap assemblies (no more rusty springs)
  • custom cushion for the rear so that it can optionally be a bench (5)
  • new voltage regulator during A/C install
  • new 100 amp alternator during A/C install
  • all new Whelen LED exterior lighting during A/C install
  • machined aluminum door pulls to replace the always-broken plastic ones
  • wing walk paint repainted with Aircraftdoorseals paint last year
  • all new light lenses from Great Lakes during A/C install

Further info on A/C system at http://www.aircenterinc.com

Location/Contact:

The airplane is hangared at KTKI (North Dallas). I would be happy to fly it to any pre-buy shop of the buyer's choosing within an hour's distance or so, and/or give a demo flight of the avionics to anyone who wants to come see it in person, starting in July. This is the first place that the airplane is being listed, you guys are getting a sneak-peek. I won't have the logbook sticker for this year's annual and an updated W&B until later this week, it has just been completed. My email is robertnclayton-at-gmail, and email me for my phone number if you prefer to talk on the phone.

Price:

Based on what else I see out there, this airplane should move quickly at $179k OBO. If I don't have to pay a broker that works for me, and that's about 10k less than comparable models out there with factory A/C but less in the panel than I have. This airplane is priced to be gone now, not next year. Don't be shy, make offers ;).

Price lowered to $165k OBO



Notes from above:

(1) APS4A system for preselect, uses the Aspen altitude bug (no baro programming). Very simple system that is far more user-friendly than most preselect setups, if you search the forums for the model number you'll turn up discussion of it. The 55X head unit replaced the original model 55 head unit as part of STEC's 55X upgrade program. The original STEC55 head unit and annunciator will come with the airplane, they were working when removed so could be installed and used in a pinch, but the backlights are failed and STEC no longer services original 55 head units due to lack of parts. The 55X annunciator was a used-for-used swap.

(2) my installer put a mounting cage on the back of the Aspen PFD that accommodates blind-mounting of the STEC turn coordinator, so the panel has another full size instrument hole that can be filled or not depending on preference in the future.

(3) according to the previous owner's mechanic they had to sit him down and explain 'heat in the climb'. No sooner than he had the Gami injectors installed, he started running too lean climbing to 14,000 to get out of the basin north of Los Angeles. I had the maximum mixture adjusted richer to solve heat problems in the climb and I have engine data since the 930 was installed. It has never seen a red line, and only briefly a yellow, during my ownership.

(4) useful load should go up a bit due to the GTX345/480/SL30 being lighter than the avionics they replaced, when I have this year's annual paperwork in hand. I estimate about 5 pounds added to the useful load above. The GTX345 was purchased new, the 480/SL30 were a used-for-used swap on a GNS430/KX165.

(5) the W&B includes a 10-15 pound o2 bottle and rear seat center console that houses it. It is tool-less, and can be removed if desired and replaced with a cushion that effectively makes the rear-seat a bench. The cushion is velcro attached/removable. See pics.

JPI data samples, dropbox link.

Logbook PDFs, dropbox link

As mentioned above the logbooks do not reflect this year's annual until later in the week (it had no major items, just a couple of busted switches that have been replaced), and the current JPI data hasn't been pulled, I will have those in those links in the next few days.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top