Aero Commander 500 family

what is it?

The Aero Commander 500 family (also known as the Twin Commander) is a series of light twin piston-engined and turboprop aircraft designed and originally produced by the Aero Design and Engineering Company in the late 1940s, renamed the Aero Commander company in 1950, and later a division of Rockwell International in 1965. Final production occurred in 1986 under the Gulfstream Aerospace name. The initial production version, which was first delivered in 1951, was the 200 mph (320 km/h; 170 kn), seven-seat Aero Commander 520.

🔎How to recognise it: 2 piston engines with propellers · 15 m wingspan

base stats

• speed 346 km/htop speed
• range 1,735 kmwithout refuelling
• size 3,062 kgmax take-off weight
• built 2,902made in total

Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).

fun facts

• 🎂First flew 78 years ago, in 1948.
• 🏎️Top speed is 2.7× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
• 🚗Wingspan of 15 m: about 3 cars parked nose to tail.
• 🌍Range of 1,735 km: 10× Amsterdam to Brussels.

piston: A car-like piston engine turning a propeller: simple and cheap, the classic small plane.

spec sheet

first flight

1948-04-23

introduced

1952

status

still flying

number built

2,902

role

utility and business aircraft

origin

🇺🇸 United States

makers

Aero Commander, Rockwell International

engines

2× Lycoming IO-540-E1B5

length

11.2 m

wingspan

15 m

height

4.4 m

max take-off weight

3,062 kg

top speed

346 km/h

cruise speed

326 km/h

range

1,735 km

ceiling

5,913 m

wings

monoplane

Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.

family