Neil my Super Cub is still on the original French Army compass, what other panel can boast a haute couture Paris instrument?
@Peter You’re assuming he already had the plane. 
It has been said here many times and I agree. It’s the same with options when buying new (and it’s the same for cars). Question is how long you plan on keeping it. Because depreciation typically isn’t linear with time. And you’ll be enjoying it longer, which should increase the perceived value.
@JasonC, what’s the discontinuity at FL370 in your diagram?
(And Peter should install TKS for much less than 50k€.
Which all in all seems to me an excellent compromise.)
@AdamFrisch
Would you update us with your project progression ?
Talking of turboprop-powered Commanders, this 
beauty recently turned up at my homefield. I wondered to see such a fast and heavy bird at our 600m grass runway, and was much impressed when she took off and rotated barely halfway. Rate of climb after rotation was less than impressive though, but that may have been due to the pilot (presumed new owner) taking things on the safe side.
With a bit of conjecture, and with great respect for peoples’ privacy, I think it is not impossible for this bird to become available for sale in a year or two.
Jan, hadn’t seen that registration before in Europe, good to know. Looks like a 690A. I’ll add it to the list we have running at the Commander forum. It’s clear it has some sort of camera hole in the belly, as you can see the structure poke out under there. They seem to predominantly be used for this in Europe, rather than personal airplanes.
And otherwise you’re right. If you want a pressurized TP that you can still use on grass, the list narrows down considerably. Either a 40 year old design like this or the MU-2, or a PC12. That’s kind of it.
As for values, I’ve come to the conclusion after owning two planes now, that the worst expenditure is engines. You’d think that that would increase the value by the same you put into it, but it doesn’t. For many reasons. One is that any engine overhaul will cost twice as much as you think when all is said and done. R&R, new hoses, new plugs, new harnesses, overhaul turbos, overhaul waste gates, oil, accessories, manifold, NDT of engine mounts etc. They’re not part of the quote. Only the engines and the attached accessories are. My Aerostar engine overhaul were quoted at $23,665/each. With all attached accessories. Not too bad, right? It ended up costing $120K+ to do them all because you don’t think of the: $7K aside for new hoses, or the $2K for harness, or the $1K for magneto overhaul, or the $1K for plugs etc, etc. Because you’re just not going to put your old ignition harnesses back on, are you? Or your old cracked hoses, right? No, you’ll get new ones. That’s how our brains work. BTW, this is for a bog standard IO-540, the most common engine there is. If you have something exotic, like a GTSIO engine, add even more money.
People buy with eyes, just like they do cars and houses. So spend money on interior, avionics and paint if you have a choice. You’ll get more of that back. Engines or mechanical stuff, nobody is willing to pay for. Especially true on pistons. On turbines, it’s a little different as there the values are tied closer to the values of engines.
From a bit of Internet sleuthing, it appears this 690B was until recently located in Dubai and doing aerial survey work in the Middle East. It’s a nice looking plane.
I’m about 50 hours into flying my 690A and loving it. Still polishing my landings and have had a bit of downtime dealing with one of the engines, mostly FCU related. Just had my Bendix FCU overhauled and reinstalled. The performance out of these planes is amazing, even on my -5 engines.
AdamFrisch wrote:
Jan, hadn’t seen that registration before in Europe, good to know. Looks like a 690A
Because he is based in Dubai (or Abu Dhabi). That Commander (A90) took off today from EBZW to EDNY. Ik think for his ferry back to the Middle East.
It is always funny to see the pilot/owner, just in casual outfit with a little attache case climb into his plane and just leave.
Impressive performance indeed. Rotation was after about 400m (almost no wind today) – and also impressive to see beta range at work instead of pushing the plane after fuelling.
What else would you expect? Wearing a tuxedo and a snorkel, and carry the documents in a bucket? Or perform some ritual dances around the plane before take-off? At least at EBZH casual wear is quite common… and indeed all of us just climb into the plane and just leave.
BTW I feel sure he diverted to EBZW only because of the hard runway. Homefield was quite water-soaked.
@Vieke: sorry, I didn’t want to make a fool of you. But you’ll admit it looks a bit funny, the way you stated it.
