Keep in mind that pilot skills vary. There are people who fly Pbarons and kingairs out of PAO, but that doesn't mean I can. I'm not a bad pilot but I don't have the expertise of people who fly 5X as much as I do.

There are always tradeoffs between airplanes: speed, carrying capacity, runway length, comfort, weather capability, required pilot expertise, and always cost. Depending on a pilot's budget and use case, different airplanes make sense.

My home airport is 2500' x 40' and 3500' x 40'. I take the longer runway unless the winds are right down the short one.

40' wide runways instill great centerline discipline.

Bumped into N500BU today...she's getting acclimated with cold weather.

Bumped into N500BU today...she's getting acclimated with cold weather.

So Forrest, you'll put it down on ice (I'm impressed!) but 2,400 ft is too short for an Aerostar?

I beg to differ, Josef. If Wikipedia is correct your B55 is 5,100 lbs gross with 260HP engines. That's 9.8 lb / hp.

My 600 is 5,500 with 290HP. That's 9.5 lb / hp.

How can I have a better power to weight ratio than you but your B55 can make it in and out of 2,400 feet of runway more easily than my Aerostar? Between the 60 extra horses and the 40 degrees of flaps, I've got you beat coming and going. And I don't even need the optional star-stopper brakes.

I haven't landed there since Moyer moved back to Mt Pocono but I used to fly in and out of N43 Braeden Airpark fairly regularly: 1,956 x 50. Also 42B, 2,120 x 50. Not theoretical. Been there; done that. Piece o' cake.

As far as maintenance costs, you'll never convince me that a B55 is less expensive to maintain than an Aerostar 600 given the eye-popping prices of Brand B parts. If you add pressurization and turbocharging, then you're comparing apples and oranges.

BTW Until they went to 42" manifold pressure / 350HP with the 700, the 600 had the best power-to-weight ratio of the entire Aerostar family.

Geo

A G600 has better power to weight than either, but it needs a lot more runway. It has to to with takeoff and landing speeds.

I think an aerostar has higher wing loading than a B55, so everything else being equal it will takeoff and land faster, but have higher cruise speed. That is a typical tradeoff that, its why aircraft optimized for short field don't generally have good cruise performance.

Design of flaps of course helps, but since both the Aerostar and Baron were design by very competent engineers, its likely they both did a good job of optimizing, and just chose different performance points.

I don't question that you can land an aerostar on a short runway, but I question that I can. I fly <100 hours / year and sometimes have to go 2 months without flying due to work travel. The B55 is about the limit of what I'm comfortable flying into that airport, its not a comment on what anyone else thinks is OK for them.

I don't know a lot about the 600. I have a POH for a 601P, but as you say that is a different animal. If you know a source for a 600 manual, I'm interested in seeing it just from curiosity.

My B55 will be a PII in a week or so, so 300HP, but that isn't standard.

This 600 might be just the ticket:

https://www.controller.com/listing/for- ... ston-twin- aircraft

I believe the it has the longer wings and it might already have the winglets.

It would be an adventure bringing it back, and it’s new owner would need to budget for motors and props, but kept fairly light (think 500# below mtow), a long wing 600 ought to do fine into and out of a 2,400’ field.



Forrest

I saw that but there is almost no information in the add and its in Austrailia

Doesn't really matter - I bought my a baron a year ago and including purchase have >$300K in it. If I suggest getting another plane my wife will kill me, and any reasonable jury would view it as justifiable .


Motors and props (which just did on my baron) is a big chunk of change....

What is a typical useful load on a 600 aerostar?

I think you’re underestimating the value of your relationship. You are the PIC. Wives are smart and any reasonable wife knows you need two piston twins to almost guarantee dispatch. Problem solved.

If she really wants to go cross country, she knows, or will learn, it has to be pressurized and fast. Therefore, she will support the twins and the turbine step up. Hopefully at the same time as you have communicated the value of maximum uptime, right?

Just sayin.’

Bumped into N500BU today...she's getting acclimated with cold weather.

As someone who is in the market for a very expensive to own and operate twin, I will throw in the outrageous insurance cost of the Aerostar.

My insurance rep quoted:
$5,300 for Baron NA
$5,800 for P Baron
$19k for Aerostar

My Aerostar search ended immediately following the phone call.

KANP
Annapolis, MD
2,500’

I looked for a picture of N601PE on the ground @ 58M (Claremont Airport, Maryland) and found this one:

It is in Virginia.

That seems way high for the aerostar.

I paid less than your NA baron 5 yrs ago with ZERO A* time.
This year I paid: $5415. 1M (not smooth) and 240K hull.

I've got about 1800 hrs or so... and now about 400 in the A*

Last renewal (5/2021) I paid 3K for 1MM smooth, just liability.