In the world of piston twins, the head-turning Piper Aerostar has an earned reputation for impressive speed, decent endurance and timeless good looks. It also comes with an interesting history dating back to the late 1960s.
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. These days, the Aerostar gets high marks from owners for the same reasons pilots liked them early on. Better yet, field support is good thanks to the Aerostar Corp. and also the Aerostar Owners Association. Still, this is not a twin for skimping on training or maintenance. But when it all comes together, it’s an impressively capable go-places machine with a flying experience more like a small jet than a light piston twin.
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Speed From the Beginning
In 1963, Smith formed his own company to build a family of fast fliers, all built around the same fuselage, wings and tail. Five years later, the Model 600 emerged in 1968, with normally aspirated Lycoming IO-540 engines and a takeoff weight of 5,500 pounds. A year later, the 601 appeared, with a pair of Rajay turbochargers and manually controlled, electrically actuated wastegates on each engine. With turbos, the engines could maintain 290 hp from sea level to 16,000 feet.
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Smith actually sold out, first to American Cement and later to Butler Aviation, which acquired both Aerostar and Mooney and moved them to Kerrville, Texas. A squabble over corrosion idled the line for two years, but Ted Smith organized a group of investors and bought the company back, setting it up in Santa Maria, California. The new company began building the 600A and 601A in 1973. The A models had Lycomings with heavier crankcases and crankshafts and engine TBO was boosted from 1400 hours to 2000 for the 600A and 1,800 hours for the 601A.
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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 10th 601P emerged with a longer wing (stretched from 34.2 to 36.7 feet) and higher max takeoff weight, 6,000 pounds. These changes were incorporated in the unpressurized turbo model in 1977. The engines on the new B-model 601 were fitted with an automatic wastegate control, dumping the electric version.
But when Smith died in 1970, so did the plans for a turbine-powered Aerostar that could carry more people, and later that year, the company was acquired by Piper Aircraft, which moved it from Santa Maria, California, to Vero Beach, Florida. Piper worked it over, slowly, improving the wastegate system in the 601B and 601P, increasing critical altitude from 16,000 to 21,500 feet. A known-icing package—boots—was also added. In 1981, the 602P was introduced, with engines and turbos certified and installed as a package by Lycoming. (Previously, turbos and wastegates were tacked on at the Ted Smith and Piper shops.) The last model, the 700P, was introduced by Piper in 1984 and had intercooled, 350 hp engines, cowl flaps and outward-rotating props. With only 25 built that year, the 700P is the rarest model. The most prolific was the 601P, with 454 built by both Smith and Piper.
To help navigate the market, here are some numbers from Piper. It shows 59 600s, 68 601s, 48 601As, 41 601Bs and 110 602Ps built before the line closed for good. Although Piper exited the cabin twin market by the late 1980s, the Aerostar line endured—a good thing.
A Complex Airframe
In May 1991, Piper sold the type certificates and STCs to Aerostar Aircraft Corp., headed by Stephen Speer and James Christy, both of whom had been involved in the Smith days. The new owners pledged to keep Aerostar parts and support flowing and we applaud them for they’ve done just that.
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One upgrade they offered is called the Super 700 Aerostar, which takes 601P and 602P Aerostars and fits them with 350-HP Lycoming TIO-540-U2A engines mated with three-blade Hartzell props.
The airplane gets a gross weight boost to 6,356 pounds ramp weight. Claimed 75 percent cruise is a blistering 261 knots, and initial climb rate is 1875 fpm. At economy cruise (55 percent), the fuel burn is 32 gph and claimed speed is 225 knots. Owners report that the mod is worthwhile and the speed claims realistic.
Eyeball the wings and you’ll see why the airplane does what it does. The Aerostar’s wings are mounted midway along the oval fuselage and are the same NACA-64 series used on the Learjet. External skins are butt-joined and flush-riveted. Primary flight controls are via push-pull tubes, torque tubes and bell cranks.
Like larger aircraft, the landing gear, main gear doors, flaps and the nosewheel steering system are electrohydraulic. The nosewheel has its own steering control and isn’t connected to the rudders. Fuel-selector valves and elevator and rudder trim systems are also electric.
The engines are supposed to draw fuel from the two 62-gallon wing tanks and from the 41.5-gallon fuselage tank at the same time and at a rate that leaves 12 gallons in the fuselage tank when the wings have been emptied. But this only works in straight-and-level flight. The thin wing tanks easily become unbalanced—there are only 2 degrees of wing dihedral—and cross-feed must be used to bring them back in sync.
This shortcut led to trouble if the single fuel pick-ups in the wings became unported and electrical power was lost, leaving no way to reposition the valves. AD 79-1-5 sought to solve the problem by placarding cross-feed procedures and installing a low-fuel warning light and individual tank quantity indicators.
The 601 models have relatively high-compression turbonormalized engines, producing 290 hp. The 601P is especially prone to detonation if leaned to peak EGT at altitude. The 602P’s engines have a lower compression ratio, alleviating the detonation problem, and are ground-boosted to maintain 290 hp at 37 inches MP. Alternators on most Aerostars are rated at 70 amps but can actually put out only about 55 amps due to heat. Potential buyers should be wary of any airplane with an electric air-conditioning system. It’s heavy, has four motors that draw a lot of juice and cannot be used at night or in IMC. A better bet is an engine-driven-compressor system.
… And Lots of Speed
The normally aspirated 600s will easily steam along at 210 knots on 34 gph at 70 percent power. The 601 model can turn in an amazing 233 knots on 36 gph at 70 percent power at 20,000 feet. The higher-powered 700P trues at a whopping 260 knots on an equally impressive 51 gph at 81 percent power and 25,000 feet; throttled back to 65 percent power, a 700P can do 230 knots on 36 gph.
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Want more? Machen conversions make them even faster. At 75 percent power and 25,000 feet, a Machen Superstar 650 cruises at 240 knots on 42 gph; a Superstar 680—intercooled—does 250 knots on 40 gph. Machen conversions also improve single-engine performance. Maximum published single-engine rates of climb are 360 fpm for the 600, 240 fpm for the 601s and 602P and 320 fpm for the 700P. Accelerate/stop distances—with 20 degrees of flaps for takeoff—are about 3,100 feet for the 600 and unpressurized 601s, 3,400 feet for the 601P and 602P and 4,000 feet for the 700P.
Since it was intended to become a jet one day, Aerostar handling can be said to be jet-like. That means high flap speeds—174 knots indicated for most models—and fairly high gear speeds of 156 knots.
Cabin, Loading, MX
The cabin is more than 3 inches wider than a 55-series Beech Baron’s, but 3 inches narrower than a Cessna 310’s and has 2 inches less headroom.
Climb inside via the only door on the airplane—a clamshell directly to the left of the pilot’s seat. Bring good headsets because stock Aerostars are noisy, although interior mods with more soundproofing tame it somewhat.
Real-world useful loads vary from a meager 1600 pounds for a lavishly equipped Aerostar to a marginal 1800 pounds with average equipment. Also, the airplane has a relatively narrow CG range and it’s easy to bust the limits. Weight-and-balance calculations are a good idea for takeoff and landing profiles, because the CG moves forward as fuel is burned. And in a twin, CG is always a worry for engine-out operations.
On the shop floor, the airplane isn’t exactly a mechanic’s dream. We’ve worked on enough Aerostars to know that the systems are packed in—tightly. For support, we’re told Aerostar Aircraft Corp. gets it done, picking up on the task of issuing service bulletins. Some 18 have been published since the company bought the TC. All are conveniently listed on the Aerostar website. A critical one—SB600-136—describes visual inspection of the wing attach fittings. Contact the factory at 800-442-4242 or www.aerostaraircraft.com.
Owners also rave about The Aerostar Forum at www.aerostar-forum.com and guru Ken Bacon. The forum—which was created and is sustained by Aerostar owners—is not related and is an alternative to the Aerostar Owners Association. The forum is free, its quality of information high and there is an extremely resourceful reference library. The Aerostar Forum also has an active Facebook presence.
Door Openings
Inadvertent cabin door openings have also been the focus of special attention on the Aerostars. Since the split clamshell door is right next to the pilot on the left side of the fuselage, with the spinning prop in close proximity, an opening can be critical. In a highly publicized accident, champion race car driver Al Holbert was killed in his Aerostar 601P in September 1988 when it crashed shortly after takeoff. Investigators determined that the top half of the cabin door was open on impact.
An Airworthiness Directive (AD) issued by the FAA in 1988 required inspection of doors for proper rigging, installation of warning placards, and a cabin entry door ajar warning system complying with Piper service bulletin No. 980, issued in February 1985. Earlier, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), calling for an AD, noted that since 1980 four accidents and eight incidents had occurred in Aerostars in which the main cabin door opened, and in some cases actually separated in flight.
In February 1991 the FAA’s New York Aircraft Certification Office issued a special engineering alert on Flight Shop Inc.’s pneumatic cabin door struts installed on pressurized Aerostars. The alert noted that installation of the strut may have involved cutting away part of the upper door gusset. That mod could result in failure of the door structure and rapid decompression of the aircraft, the FAA said, noting that the faulty installation could have been made on about 150 pressurized Aerostars. Corrective action included replacing the door gusset and relocating the upper bracket, and also replacing the striker plate bolt.
Market, Owner Comments
Shop the Aerostar market and prices are all over the board. In early fall of 2024, we found a handful of airplanes with various levels of modification and prices ranging from around $150,000 to over $450,000. Whatever you do, don’t skimp on the prepurchase evaluation and team up with someone who knows a lot about Aerostars. Again, start with the good resources mentioned above.
And of course talk to your insurance broker before making a deal on any Aerostar, and have a solid plan for high-quality transition and recurrent training. No, this isn’t a hop in and fly it on your own machine.
“After 25 years and some 2000 hours in the Aerostar, I always learn something new during each training session with Lester Kyle in Vero Beach, Florida,” said Howard McComass, who flies a 600A and moved up the ranks from single-engine Piper models.
“Anyone who thinks they can transition to an Aerostar without expert instruction is asking for a slot in the NTSB reports,” another owner told us.
We concur.
Last, this isn’t an airplane for tight budgets. Plus, you’ll pay a premium for the best Aerostars.
“Aerostar owners/pilots are a cult just like Harley-Davidson motorcycle owners,” Bacon said. “We like the handling, the power, and the ramp appeal. Many of us have owned or flown turboprop and jet aircraft, which we enjoyed as well, but when we get to the end of our flying, the Aerostar is still in our hangar and the others have been sold. That might explain why many of the nicest Aerostars are not for sale.”
This column first appeared in the April Issue 957 of the FLYING print edition.
