Twin Commander Aircraft, the North Carolina company that provides factory support for the full line of piston and turbine-powered Twin Commander models, is continuing to improve on its reputation supporting owners and operators. With new availability of parts that previously were difficult to source or had become prohibitively expensive, the company has reaffirmed its commitment to the worldwide fleet.

As a result of recently expanding its staff with the appointment of technical service engineering manager Andrew Wilson and librarian Pam Moore, the company has been able to address long-term items of interest to owners. Among the projects currently in the works is a replacement for the cabin pressure indicator. Unavailable from the OEM for many years, the new indicator is manufactured to original specifications, and will install as a minor alteration. Parts that will form a custom kit should be in stock in the next few months.

In addition, owners can soon expect to find the oxygen gauge in stock. Previously unavailable because the supplier no longer supported the system components, Twin Commander Aircraft was able to secure support for the manufacture of new parts at a reasonable cost.

When supporting legacy products, cost is nearly as important as availability, and Twin Commander Aircraft works to mitigate any cost increases being passed on to owners. An unexpected transition in the sourcing of the start switch and environmental cabin cooling switch would have resulted in a large cost increase to owners. But work behind the scenes at Twin Commander has ensured significantly more favourable pricing, and more price stability in the future.

Working on some of these challenging cases has been made possible by the longtime contributions of Pam Brown in purchasing and Alan Wright in engineering, as well as the addition of Wilson and Moore. It has been at the centre of their early efforts with the company. “I love offering value to an owner or a factory authorised service centre with these projects,” Wilson says.

Twin Commander business unit director Brian Harbaugh adds that Twin Commander Aircraft is completely dedicated to supporting the aircraft. “I'm proud of the work we're doing to help owners and operators, and to help our factory authorised service centres better support their customers. We are pushing forward to make sure the legacy fleet of Twin Commanders stays active and brings joy to their owners for many years to come. With the addition of new staff, we will have the resources necessary to work hard on legacy obsolescence far into the future.”