Gorgeous, Eric! That is a stellar panel.

But your mags are hot. Tisk tisk.

Geo

Me too Glenn,
I think I am over that phase now

Eric left Avionics on to take pic, along with battery.

He also flies a Lear Jet. No, he is not above human but me bets all were off just after picture.

Don't worry guys. I'm the worst offender. But I was always surprised how many Aerostar Log pictures immortalized the embarrassment.

The one you have to be absolutely positively sure about is your hydraulic shut-off switch. Too often shops that don't know Aerostar just habitually flip "all switches - off." As a reminder not to do something bone-headed like walk away from the airplane with the master on, I always leave my rotating beacon switch on. If you're outside the airplane and the beacon is going... Needless to say, every time I'm in maintenance or avionics you can count on them turning the beacon switch off for me. Every now and then they also turn the hydraulic shut-off to "closed." Even shops I frequent - you never know when they'll have a new mechanic on staff.

That's one you want to make sure is on your pre-start checklist.

I had a shop re-install the hydraulic shut-off switch upside down, that led to a bit of head scratching for a few minutes...

I too have left the mags on more time than I care to remember. Fortunately with the SOS mags leaving them "hot" constitutes no real risk of an accidental start by moving the prop. Unless of course you can spin it a couple hundred rpm by hand. Still bad form, sort of like taking off with the pitot cover still on, or departing in a seaplane with the water rudders down. I suppose the real risk is in it eroding the habit of turning them off even is ever so slightly for when are in planes where it does makes a difference.

There was a beautiful magazine shot, might have even been the cover, a few tears ago of a floatplane in flight, with the water rudders still down... oops. Yea done that a few times too.

I recall once missing the fact that the maintenance crew had turned off the hydraulic shut-off valve. I started, got my clearance and then taxied to the runway which is when I noticed that the valve was closed. I figured the shaft had surely sheared by that time but it had not, so I guess it doesn’t happen right away.
On the fuel shut-offs, I would test them before every start, but I left them on when the plane was sitting especially when overnighting away from home base as I was always afraid they would fail and prevent me from getting home. Over 10 years and two Aerostars, none ever failed so I guess it was a false concern.

If you're not operating the gear or flaps the hydraulic system is static so opening / closing the shutoff valve should have no effect, right? You must have gotten lucky and been a very light hand on the nosewheel steering that day.

I wouldn't worry about the fuel selectors. You've got two of them. If the main selector failed couldn't you just use the crossfeed in that situation to ferry to maintenance? As long as you've got more than minimal fuel in the wing... I thought the only concern with the electric fuel selectors was not their reliability but rather that you'd lose your entire electrical system and then you wouldn't be able to switch out of double-crossfeed if you just happened to be flying along in double-crossfeed.

Plus it's such a joy listening closely to the Aerostar "sing" before its first flight when you switch main to cross-feed and hear the harmony of the two valves - one closing, one opening - simultaneously.

That's not my understanding. Closing the valve shuts off flow to the engine driven pump. Since it's engine driven it doesn't stop turning and you're running it with no fluid. It heats up quickly until the point it seizes and shears the shaft.

That's not my understanding. Closing the valve shuts off flow to the engine driven pump. Since it's engine driven it doesn't stop turning and you're running it with no fluid. It heats up quickly until the point it seizes and shears the shaft.

You won't shear the shaft because the valve is on the supply side, not the discharge. Running the pump with the valve closed will simply starve the pump for fluid causing it to cavitate. No harm dome unless you do it for a while causing the pump to overheat due to lack of fluid flow.

Same idea as continuing to run a fuel pump after the tank is empty.

Jeff

Maybe he got lucky.

Maybe the electric valve that shuts of the hydraulic pump is (was) inop.

Around 2900 nm in 7 legs in 2.5 days this week in the Aerostar so I’m getting the hang of it. I wasn’t totally sure how it would out but some of the things I appreciated about my 601P on this trip:

- it’s fast on not much fuel. Takes the sting out of the headwinds.
- it’s an easy plane to land smoothly
- it’s a pilot’s plane - goes right where you point it, always does a little more than you ask of it
- the door is right where you want it
- it works like a baby Commander Jetprop on a piston budget
- I didn’t need to add any oil in 15 hours (a fresh oil change is a nice way to start a trip)
- it’s flexible, 4,000’ cruise or flight levels, whatever the winds say
- 24” and 2200 rpm on 16 gph per side is about 68% power and works about any altitude as far as I can figure
- it has infinite leg room
- it rides decent in the chop
- it’s well supported by Aerostar Aircraft
- descending is as easy as pushing the nose over and enjoying the speed

Biggest downside is i really want an aux tank to get more than 4 hours usable range and, of course, a G600TXi and Stec 3100 are on the list.

Get a good one and they are rock solid

Which also makes it the easiest airplane I've ever worked under the panel on....

Sold my 600 last summer and bought a 601P for a winter project. (I’m an AP/IA) ton of work and a ton of money but it’s getting closer to completion every day. Pretty much every mod available, new interior, new garmin avionics etc. I wanted a high compression 601P for the efficiency, not needing a useful load of the 700 as I fly alone or with 1-2 passengers most of the time.

Cool paint scheme. Nothing like the confidence that comes from spending time and money on your flying machine. Trey, you’re gonna have to post more pics and details on that bad boy ...

That's beautiful Trey!