5/8/2023 0 Comments Aerostar 601p x plane crackPlans for nine-seat Aerostars with 450-HP piston engines and turbines died with him, unfortunately. Ted Smith died in 1978 at 70 years of age, after open-heart surgery. The engines on the new B-model 601 were fitted with an automatic wastegate control, dumping the electric version. These changes were incorporated in the unpressurized turbo model in 1977. The tenth 601P emerged with a longer wing (stretched from 34.2 to 36.7 feet) and higher max takeoff weight, 6000 pounds. The first pressurized Aerostar, the 601P, appeared in 1974, with a max differential pressure of 4.25 PSI, good for an 11,000-foot cabin all the way to 25,000 feet. The A models had Lycomings with heavier crankcases and crankshafts and engine TBO was boosted from 1400 hours to 2000 for the 600A and 1800 hours for the 601A. The new company began building the 600A and 601A in 1973. Unwilling to let his idea wither, Ted Smith organized a group of investors and bought the company back, setting it up in Santa Maria, California. A squabble between the new owner and the old over corrosion idled the line for two years. With turbos, the engines could maintain 290 HP from sea level to 16,000 feet.īy this point, Smith had sold out, first to American Cement and later to Butler Aviation, which acquired both Aerostar and Mooney and moved them to Kerrville, Texas. A year later, the 601 appeared, with a pair of Rajay turbochargers and manually controlled, electrically actuated wastegates on each engine. Five years later, the Model 600 emerged in 1968, with normally aspirated Lycoming IO-540 engines and a takeoff weight of 5500 pounds. In 1963, Smith formed his own company to build a family of fast fliers, all built around the same fuselage, wings and tail. The Aerostar is the product of famed aircraft designer Ted Smith, whose name is attached to such classics as the A-20 twin-engine bomber and the Twin and Jet Commander lines. But for owners who can afford it, the model is hard to beat for getting from A to B faster than anything that doesn’t burn Jet A. The airplane’s Lycomings are somewhat thirsty and although it’s hardly a maintenance hog, the Aerostar fleet is aging and getting expensive to maintain. And unlike most piston twins, it has enough power to actually climb on a single engine.īut bring a Visa with high limits. T he Aerostar-with plenty of ramp appeal and utility-has a deserved rep for being blazingly fast with good range.
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