Jump to content
Sign in to follow this  
HawkDsl

I'm in love with this plane... Time to Soup It Up!

Recommended Posts

Hi everyone.

 

 

I come from a flying family.. been in lots of planes, did allot of flying. My oldest brother is perhaps one of the best pilots in the world.. and of course that is biased.. but the dude was born to fly. Sadly, time has caught up with us, and our flying years have been over for a few years now... well allot of years. We had talked seriously about buying a plane, but as things went on.. ya know... dad wanted slow, bro wanted fast, kids wanted cool, etc... it fell through. I bring this up because the plane we were looking for was right in front of us the entire time... The Commander 114. Before Carenado sold this plane, I had no idea the thing even existed! How crazy is that?? We were flying every weekend during the time this craft was new and in production... how we missed it is unreal (We had Cessna and Grumman fever back then).

 

It fits the bill... why this craft never became a major seller is a complete "#####?" for me.  It's fast (for the time), it had the biggest cabin, it was easy, easy, easy to fly. It had a simple panel.. Man what a sleeper! (to use a hot rod term).  I think it's one of the best looking planes out there... even by today's standards!  AND... it's not plastic! (Just a little rub for the glue and fiberglass junkies out there).

 

The good news is... they are slated to go back into production... Commander 115's will be rolling out again... but those prices will be well out of my reach these days.

 

Ok, Ok... stop rambiling!

 

I have just completed, and tested, the 114TC mod (TURBO CHARGED!), and this "big block chevy" monster will make you giggle with it's real world performance.

 

30 inch - 2200 RPM - 15.5 GPH Fuel Flow. 11,000 ft ISA no winds will yield about 170 Knts average. WTFO is allot faster! (But you'll burn up the heads). 1,500 fpm climb rates for as long as you practically want.

90 gallons of marvelously over priced AV Gas to take you about 1000 NM's.

 

It may be the perfect "everyman" VOR platform out there... well next to the Legacy... but there is only room for two and a backpack in that rocket... and it's "Experiential"... Plastic... with no Turbo.

 

----

 

Bottom line; Ok... not going to kill myself like I did for the Baron TC. This is going to be simple. No repaints, and thankfully, no gauge changes (They just stuck a TIO-540-AG1A in the 114, the VNE stayed the same, and the engine specs on MAP and RPM stayed the same... just more power and altitude... 25,000 ft). I'll supply the AIR, and CFG files, and you will supply the plane. Copy paste, and you'll have a fleet of 114TC's separate from your regular 114's.

 

I have to secure the OK from Stolle and Carenado, and it'll be another Avsim exclusive.

 

Stay Tuned.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Soon.. Ill shoot for this weekend (12-6-14)

 

Got the OK from everyone, so it's a go.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Does Carenado usually have a xmas sale?

                                              Rick


I5 9600k@ 4.8ghz    rx580 limping-along   2x  23" 1080P Monitors

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Does Carenado usually have a xmas sale?

                                              Rick

Yes, I expect a nice selection from both Alabeo and Carenado model lines at deep discounts later this month. I would guess the Rockwell Commander 114 will be in the near half off group.

 

Regards,

Ray


When Pigs Fly . Ray Marshall .

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

OK, it's uploaded to the lib... give it a day or two to show up. search lib with the author "Henry"

 

Enjoy.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

OK, it's uploaded to the lib... give it a day or two to show up. search lib with the author "Henry"

 

Enjoy.

I sure can't find this is the Avsim Library. Is it in another library? Maybe a link would work.

 

Regards,

Ray


When Pigs Fly . Ray Marshall .

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

It can take a day or two for items to appear in the AVSIM Library as they have to be manually checked and approved by Dave Opper and Team.....  I'm sure it'll appear soon.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

 

I have just completed, and tested, the 114TC mod (TURBO CHARGED!), and this "big block chevy" monster will make you giggle with it's real world performance.

 

30 inch - 2200 RPM - 15.5 GPH Fuel Flow. 11,000 ft ISA no winds will yield about 170 Knts average. WTFO is allot faster! (But you'll burn up the heads). 1,500 fpm climb rates for as long as you practically want.

90 gallons of marvelously over priced AV Gas to take you about 1000 NM's.

 

It may be the perfect "everyman" VOR platform out there... well next to the Legacy... but there is only room for two and a backpack in that rocket... and it's "Experiential"... Plastic... with no Turbo.

 

----

 

Bottom line; Ok... not going to kill myself like I did for the Baron TC. This is going to be simple. No repaints, and thankfully, no gauge changes (They just stuck a TIO-540-AG1A in the 114, the VNE stayed the same, and the engine specs on MAP and RPM stayed the same... just more power and altitude... 25,000 ft). I'll supply the AIR, and CFG files, and you will supply the plane. Copy paste, and you'll have a fleet of 114TC's separate from your regular 114's.

 

I have to secure the OK from Stolle and Carenado, and it'll be another Avsim exclusive.

 

Stay Tuned.

Why not go ahead and really bring it up to date with the IO-580 and have a 115TC. The lack of a little higher cruise speed was all that the 114 owners complained about.

 

Evidently the 580 fits quite nicely in the 114 body.

 

Regards,

Ray


When Pigs Fly . Ray Marshall .

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

OK, it's uploaded to the lib... give it a day or two to show up. search lib with the author "Henry"

 

Enjoy.

Thanks so much for this - looking forward to flying this mod!


 

Tom McDonald

 

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Why not go ahead and really bring it up to date with the IO-580 and have a 115TC. The lack of a little higher cruise speed was all that the 114 owners complained about.

 

Evidently the 580 fits quite nicely in the 114 body.

 

Regards,

Ray

 

I thought about it, but the 115TC is after Rockwell, and has modern avionics.. I wanted to stay true to the 70's version that Carenado made.

 

A few notes (as of right now, the upload is still in processing, so be patient.. I post a direct link when it goes live) .

 

1.) Install the "AC11 Commander 114 FSX - Optional Patch" from Carenado. It's not a must, but if you decide to ditch the mod, the back up files included are set up with that patch in mind.

 

2.) Buy and install the AreZone 114 sound set. It's absolutely one of their best, and must have been recorded from the real thing... as every video I've seen sounds just like it.

 

I was going to do something a little more radical... in that I was also planning on a damage mod to make you pay for flying too hot... The TC will heat up those heads pretty fast, so keep that cowling open during climb... but I got lazy, and other AC came out, and yada, yada, yada.. LOL.  So I didn't do that. I was also going to do a mod to start up like I did for the Baron, but I got so many e-mails on the Baron that I decided not to do it for this plane. The actual TC mod is really only two files, aircraft.cfg, and the .air file. The others are just livery changes for the 90 gallon tanks, and a "TC" added to the thumbnails.

 

Enjoy... it's about as slow as I can stand for my personal taste... 180 kts.. But this is a great plane to fly... certainly one of the very best hand flyers for FSX, hands down (no pun intended). I enjoy flying "Old School" VOR to VOR with this one, and ignore the GPS.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Flying the TC:

 

Start her up, and run it at about 1600 to warm it up. Do all your checks, and get your flight plan worked out, setting up your radios, etc.

 

Take off:

 

1. One notch of flaps.

2. Trim set to top of "take off" marks (on the floor, and between the seats.) Top of box is closest to panel, or the front of the plane.

3. Advance throttle to full open/forward. Props full forward, Mixture Full Forward.

4. 75 kts, rotate.  Positive climb, tap brakes to stop wheels, gear up

5. 500 feet AGL, reduce prop rpm to 2500.  100 kts, flaps up.

6. 1,500 fpm is a good climb rate at first.. Aggressive trim down over 120 kts to maintain. Climb rate will fade over time.. reduce climb rate to maintain 120 knots.

 

Cruse.

 

At final Alt, reduce MP to 29-30, and reduce prop RPM to 2200.

 

Descending.

 

Reduce MP to 20, descend at 1,000 fpm.

 

Landing.

 

12-15 MP, extend 1st flaps at 150 kts, 2nd at 120 kts, 3rd/full at 109 kts.  I prefer to drop gear after fist flaps.

 

"Over the fence" at 90 kts, touch down at 80.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
Sign in to follow this  

  • Tom Allensworth,
    Founder of AVSIM Online


  • Flight Simulation's Premier Resource!

    AVSIM is a free service to the flight simulation community. AVSIM is staffed completely by volunteers and all funds donated to AVSIM go directly back to supporting the community. Your donation here helps to pay our bandwidth costs, emergency funding, and other general costs that crop up from time to time. Thank you for your support!

    Click here for more information and to see all donations year to date.
×
×
  • Create New...