Frank,

My Aerostar gives much different numbers than anyone else's so I am clearly in the minority.

I fly a 700P which was the last version of the plane made at the factory. It has the U2A motors and my intercoolers are behind the engines. I probably have the highest fuel burn of anyone. On departure, with full rich, I burn 41 GPH per side. That has me climbing out at 1500 fpm at 130 to 140 knots. I usually get up to altitude pretty quickly and then level off and set up for a cruise. Seeing 82 GPH leaving your tanks for the first fifteen minutes of the flight is eye opening.

At cruise I burn 22.5 gph on the left and 24 gph on the right which is probably because my right TIT probe is lying but it has been that way for a while. That keeps my TIT's at about 1520 per side which is, by many Aerostar pilots, cooler than most run. With that said my CHT's are all below 360 and most are around 315 which is pretty good. I know I am wasting some fuel but I have a pretty good record of making cylinders last a long time.

Although my airplane will cruise at about 245 knots at 25,000 feet I usually fly around on most flights at 17 - 19K because it gets me a longer cruise at around 225/230 knots and saves some fuel used in a climb up another mile higher. If I fly more than 500 miles then I get up to 25K and go. If I get up that high I have to fly with the cowl flaps open to keep my hottest cylinder below 390. Many pilots will fly them hotter but it is just not part of my program.

Another way to look at this Greyhound Bus-drivers have the most miles but only have one takeoff and landing per trip.

Well shoot.

Is it the tail or the wingspan?

Forrest,

The biggest hangars are: 41' wide, 31' deep and 12'1" high at the door opening.

The Aerostar Model Comparison chart shows the 601p:

Wingspan: 36.7' -- OK
Length: 34.8' -- NOT OK
Height: 12.1' -- just barely NOT OK

I believe some (or all) 1974 model 601Ps have the short(we) wings.

And some folks have used a small ramp to raise the nose to lower the tail enough to get through a slightly too low door opening.

But, an Aerostar's length is immutable.



Nothing else available?

Forrest,

Do you realize how few people know what immutable means

I have two very small software companies.

I am looking for shared hangar space - so far none available

Thanks.

(I think)

Heck, a significant number of my posts produce dumb looks (justifiably) and/or dislikes (IMO unjustifiably).

I do appreciate the folks who are able to appreciate my approach to BT posting.

FYI an Eclipse for future thought
Wingspan: 37' -- OK
Length: 33.1' -- NOT OK
Height: 11' -- OK

I ran into this "dimensional challenge" way back

Just BUILD a hangar - I built three right-sized ones and sold two of them at cost. Airport loves the initiative because they get income without cap outlay. They also attract big twins - sell more fuel and increase maintenance business.

I eventually built 39 hangars at 2 airports. BTW NONE are "t" hangars - big squares are the best value and most sought after.

50 by 50 is a great template - 14 ft min door *(clear).

Bob

You have a great idea...

But, depending on the size of the airport, you need 52'+ for the door to squeeze a 441 in and 56' for a BE200.

For now, I'm stuffing a 441 into a 50'-6" door, but it's not easy since the wingspan is 50'8"...

I'm amazed at how many people build a hangar for "their sized airplane" never thinking about resale. I have a hangar that I bought that is 42' wide, and 48' deep, and a 12' ceiling (and 10' door). It probably would have cost 2% more to make the door 2' taller and open it up to a large number of buyers...

I previously owned one that was 40wX30 deep. They built the door for a Cherokee and a 172 wouldn't fit through it... Why?

Jason

What does a 50x50 cost to build? How do you get a municipally owned airport to just let you build on their property?

What is the operational difference between old KFC200 autopilot and slightly newer KFC225?

Of the two A*s I am contemplating one has the 200 without Altitude preselect and one has 225
which has preselect built in (Me tinks)

Other differences?

The KFC225 is an excellent autopilot. The newly announced Garmin GFC600 will trump it if its ever certified for whatever airframe you're interested in, but the 225 is pre-GFC700/600/500 attitude-based state of the art. It has built in altitude preselect, vertical speed preselect, and roll steering (GPSS). The roll steering does not require any button pushing or or knob twisting. You arm NAV and if your navigator is sending roll steering commands, the 225 does the rest.

The 225 does require an extra button push when flying a GPS approach with vertical guidance from GNS or GTN navigators (I don't know about other boxes). For the 225 to "spoof" the behavior of a glideslope on a GPS approach, GTN and GNS boxes have to be armed to "enable APR output" going into the FAF, before selecting approach mode on the 225 control head. The Garmin boxes prompt you when it's time. There are KFC225-specific instructions in the Garmin Pilots Guide and Cockpit Reference Guide for both GTN and GNS boxes.

The KFC 225 arms altitude hold automatically when you enter your desired altitude. The 200 requires a button push to arm the altitude hold after selecting the altitude. I have never forgotten to arm the altitude hold after selecting the altitude but I have heard other pilots have.
The KFC 225 has rate select, pitch select and altitude hold. The KFC 200 has pitch or altitude only.
When capturing altitude the KFC 225 does it very smoothly and accurately. My experience with the 200 in an Aerostar is that when climbing to an altitude the autopilot will level off slightly below the altitude, stay there for 30 seconds then start a climb, shoot through the selected altitude, overshoot the altitude by 100 to 200 ft. then start back down to the altitude and go on altitude hold. I asked a King expert about this and he said, "I mentioned that problem to my boss once and he said something to the effect, "" just hit altitude hold when it does that and adjust it up 20 feet."" He said, "when I heard that I knew it would never get fixed."
The 225 will not accept external inputs such as from a G600 but I understand a 200 will. I have not seen this setup in an Aerostar so I don't know how well it works.
The 225 will fly an LPV gps approach in approach mode which seems correct to me. The 200 will need to be in heading with gpss selected. The 225 has GPSS built in. Maybe that is why but I don't know for sure.

In my plane the k200 has to be in APPROACH MODE to capture the lpv glide slope