A lifetime limit became a requirement of FAR23 certification at some point, not a sign of how sturdy or not the airframe is.

Hi Folks,

Regarding the Rockwell 700 (Fuji Heavy Industries), I flew a couple of them for about sixty hours or so in the late seventies/early eighties out of Van Nuys, California. They were to be sold by The Jet Center (aka Aero Commander), however, I believe they were priced a bit higher than the competition.

Yes, the cabin was a bit larger than a standard Piper Navajo but not as long as the Chieftain series. Essentially, it flew very much like a standard Navajo and did not have any particular problems or abnormal flight characteristics that I recall.

The actual fuel consumption for 200 Kts at typical cruise altitudes and payloads is a bit better than most people seem to quote.

I believe the one that was advertised is Serial Number 29 and, as I can recall, they stopped building them after #32 due to disappointing sales after the second energy "crunch" in the Summer of 1979.

Except for select airframe structural components, most other parts are normally available.

If anyone needs or would like to know more detailed information, I can research my old Business & Commercial Aviation (B/CA) magazines from the seventies.

Regards,

Don Cordier

Found this in Wikipedia....

Said they produced 49 of em.


Design of the Commander 700 started in Japan in 1971 with the designation FA-300, in 1974 Fuji signed a collaboration with Rockwell International to design and develop the aircraft as a joint venture. The aircraft was designated the Commander 700 for the North American market. The Commander 700 is a low-wing cantilever monoplane with a conventional tail unit and a retractable tricycle landing gear. The aircraft was powered by two wing mounted Avco Lycoming turbocharged piston engines. The fuselage was designed to be pressurized with accommodation for two crew and four passengers. The prototype first flew in Japan on 13 November 1975 and the second Rockwell assembled aircraft on 25 February 1976. A parallel development was the Commander 710 with more powerful engines which first flew on 22 December 1976. In 1979 Rockwell International sold its General Aviation Division to Gulfstream American and the agreement with Fuji was terminated. Fuji then acquired the worldwide manufacturing and marketing rights for the aircraft.
[edit] Variants

Commander 700
Powered by two 340hp (254kW) Avco Lycoming TIO-540-R2AD engines.
Commander 710
Powered by two 450hp (335kW) Avco Lycoming TIO-540 engines.

[edit] Specifications (700)

Data from The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft (Part Work 1982-1985), 1985, Orbis Publishing, Page 1920

General characteristics

* Crew: 2
* Capacity: 4 or 5 passengers
* Length: 39 ft 5¾ in (12.03 m)
* Wingspan: 42 ft 5½ in (12.94 m)
* Height: 13 ft 3½ in (4.05 m)
* Wing area: 200.2 ft² (18.60 m²)
* Empty weight: 4704 lb (2134 kg)
* Gross weight: 6947 lb (3151 kg)
* Powerplant: 2 × Avco Lycoming TIO-540-R2AD flat-six piston engine, 340 hp (254 kW) each

Performance

* Maximum speed: 254 mph (409 km/h)
* Range: 1384 miles (2227 km)
* Service ceiling: 27,400 ft (8350 m)

Through the grape vine, I've heard they're heavy, rugged and robust. I don't know how truthful that is.

Air Bravo flies them in Northern Ontario as medevac, along with PC-12's. Therefore they must be tough to survive that kinda stuff.

They sure look good.

Hi Don, welcome to Beechtalk! I took note of your unusual first post: joined in 2009, first post 8 years later. And you already have as many likes as posts! Gotta be a couple of records there.

Eh..from what I can see he posted in 2009 as well, the only one here 8 years later is you, me and Gadd.

You mean 8 years and no pics? That must be a record in itself.

Eh..from what I can see he posted in 2009 as well, the only one here 8 years later is you, me and Gadd.

I'm embarrassed to say I bit on this one too.

Some of us have kids in school that weren't born when this thread was a thing

here is an old pilot report of the Rockwell 700. I wish they had made them with turbine engines- I think they are just too heavy for those Lycoming engines. I had read that they were designed to eventually be a 12,000 MTOW airframe with PT6 engines. If someone wants a pressurized piston twin with Lycoming engines I would think the Mojave would be a better choice. Otherwise the Cessna 414A or 421C is by far the best choice for a pressurized piston twin in my opinion. Cessna knew how to make light airframes and both of those models benefited from years of design refinement.

I guess the attachment was too big, sorry!