Recently I attended a talk given by Daryl Bussert titled “Lessons from the Commander.” Daryl is the safety officer for JAARS, Inc. (originally Jungle Aviation and Radio Service), which is the technical support organization that serves Wycliff Bible Translators. I thought that the “commander” in his title might refer to someone in authority, but it turns out he was talking about the Aero Commander.
I have only had an opportunity to fly in an Aero Commander once many years ago, but I later earned my type rating in the Westwind jet and served as a Westwind simulator instructor for SimuFlite. I have always admired the way the Aero Commander looks and the way it is built like a tank. Daryl pointed out in his talk that it does have a few idiosyncrasies. For example, there is no connection between the rudder pedals and the nosewheel. Instead there is a valve on each brake pedal that directs boosted hydraulic pressure to the corresponding brake and nosewheel steering. When there is more brake pressure on one side than on the other side, the nosewheel also turns in that direction. If equal pressure is applied to both brake pedals, the nosewheel stays centered.
