Aircraft model
AERO COMMANDER 100A
Everything here is true of every aircraft of the type, not of any one aircraft.
The Darter Commander is a four-seat high-wing fixed-gear aeroplane that Aero Commander acquired from Volaire and sold briefly in the mid-1960s. It has a strut-braced wing, a slab-sided fuselage and 150 hp, and it was aimed at the Cessna 172 market.
It did not succeed. Fewer than three hundred were built before Aero Commander dropped it, and the fleet today is correspondingly tiny — which is the dominant ownership consideration, because parts specific to the Darter are genuinely hard to find and there is no manufacturer to ask. Performance is unremarkable at 110 knots. The Lycoming O-320 is cheap and universally supported, so the engine is not the problem; the airframe is. Buy only with a clear picture of parts availability.
Compare with…
Put AERO COMMANDER 100A side by side with up to two other models.
- AERO COMMANDER 100A
What it is
| Seats | 4 |
|---|---|
| Landing gear | tricycle |
| Engines | 1 |
| Engine | Lycoming O-320-A2B |
| Horsepower | 150 hp |
| Fuel | 100LL |
| Certification basis | CAR3 |
| Production start | 1965 |
| Production end | 1967 |
| Endorsements required | — |
Performance
| Cruise speed | 110 KTAS |
|---|---|
| Range | 500 nm |
| Service ceiling | 13,000 ft |
| Climb rate | 700 ft/min |
| Stall speed (Vso) | 48 KCAS |
| Takeoff over 50 ft | 1,600 ft |
| Landing over 50 ft | 1,300 ft |
Load and fuel
| Seats | 4 |
|---|---|
| Useful load | 900 lb |
| Full-fuel payload | 720 lb |
| Max takeoff weight | 2,250 lb |
| Empty weight | 1,350 lb |
| Usable fuel | 30 gal |
| Fuel burn at cruise | 8.4 gal/h |
Cost of ownership
| Price, low | $25,000 |
|---|---|
| Price, high | $60,000 |
| Prices as of | 2026 |
| Engine TBO | 2,000 h |
| Overhaul cost, low | $28,000 |
| Overhaul cost, high | $40,000 |
The fleet and its record
| Registered, all time | 1 |
|---|---|
| Active fleet | 0 |
| Median year built | — |
| NTSB events, last 10 years | 0 |
| Fatal events, last 10 years | 0 |
| Events per 1,000 active, last 10 years | — |
| Personal-flying events per 1,000 active | — |
| Ownership transfers, last 24 months | 0 |
| Transfers per 100 active | — |
| Airworthiness directives | 0 |
| Directives, last 5 years | 0 |
| Rate confidence | none |
Peer scores6
| Peer class | Fixed wing single-engine, piston, 1 engine, 3-4 seats |
|---|---|
| Accident record | —1 |
| Severity | —2 |
| Access | —3 |
| Support | 0.4 of 104 |
| Liquidity | —5 |
These record scores treat AERO COMMANDER 100A as one design with the same aircraft registered under other names: it includes 1 aircraft registered under BOEING. Prices are not combined.
- Accident record: class median 32.28 · 202 models in class.
- Severity: class median 12.5.
- Access: class median 775.
- Support: class median 147.5.
- Liquidity: class median 19.9.
- Each of the five categories places the model within its peer class, from 0 (the worst of the class) to 10 (the best): a position among comparable models, not a grade. The overall score is the sum of the categories shown that are scored, out of 10 for each (50 when all five are); it is given only when at least 4 of the five are scored, and it can be set against another model's only when both are in the same peer class and scored on the same categories.