Originally Posted by
gordon field
Adam I am surprised that you have made such a statement, as you reported elsewhere you bought an AC and after throwing mega bucks at it you have still yet to get it serviceable, it leaks and the floorboards are covered in gunk or bathroom sealant. You have reported a never ending series of woe and there are yards of abandoned Turbo Commanders in similar condition with run out engines, old outdated avionics, autopilots and flight directors. I've flown them from the old 520 to the 1000 which I found tended to 'tuck under' when decending at close to VMO. Yes they are nice to fly but they are not best in class as you have found out to your cost.
Mine flies, thank you very much. But, I was talking performance, mainly. We can forget anything PT6, as the Garrets simply are 20% more efficient. That doesn't leave that many left - Conquest II, Merlin, MU-2, maybe the King Air B100 (but it's really slow compared to the others). Conquest II comes close - it has great performance. Merlin certainly can perform in the range department. But overall, as a good allround performer in all disciplines the Commanders are hard to beat.
RANGE:
1. Merlin 2600nm
2. Conquest/Commander 2000nm
3. MU-2 1300nm
USEFUL LOAD:
1. Merlin: 4387 Lbs
1. Commander 1000: 3961 Lbs
2. Conquest II: 3716 Lbs
3. MU-2 Solitaire 3510 Lbs
TAKEOFF DISTANCE:
1. MU-2 1791ft
2. Commander 1800-2000ft
3. Merlin 2700ft
4. Conquest II 2800ft
SPEED:
They all pretty much hit 300-310kts if they have the later -10's.