We flew our Aerostar from Cincinnati to Jackson Hole during Spring Break. That's our longest trip so far. We planned a late departure around 4 p.m. Saturday, so my son could attend a friend's birthday party in the early afternoon. Because of that, coupled with my relative inexperience with (big) mountain flying, and never having been to Jackson Hole before, I chose to overnight in Sioux Falls. I figured my wife and son would enjoy the waterfall there, and that proved to be correct. We needed a fuel stop anyway for the 1,200 NM westbound flight, and it was supposed to be a fun trip, so why slog through six hours in one day, just so we could arrive around 11 PM our time?

The ILS Z 19 into JAC was fun, and kept me busy with crossing restrictions, and multiple course/heading changes, since my autopilot isn't as capable as many here. There was light to occasional moderate turbulence, and the surface winds were 200º @22 knots. There was also some light rime icing in the descent between FL 180 and about 12,000 feet. Surface temperatures were around 6º C, if I recall correctly.



[youtube]https://youtu.be/Xt0ZaZs_34o[/youtube]

Arriving at the airport for our flight home, we found this....time to put my son to work!



Contamination removed, slammed full of fuel, loaded, and ready to depart:


We were only projecting an average 30 knot tailwind at FL230 for the return trip to Cincinnati, which even at economy cruise didn't leave me with a comfortable fuel reserve...plus at economy cruise it would have been a six hour flight - not a big deal for me, but this is supposed to be fun for my wife and son also...so we made a 39 minute fuel stop in Iowa, where we loaded up with AvGas at $3.89/gallon, and used a real restroom in the FBO. Including the fuel stop, it took 5:52 from takeoff at Jackson Hole, to landing 1232 NM later at our local Cincinnati-area airport. Not bad for a 40-year-old airplane.

Great vid. Jackson is a fun approach. It’s not such a “fun” airport when you pay your bill to the FBO on departure! I haven’t seen that type of camera mount. It appears to be on a gimbal such that it stays level as the plane turns? Or is that software? What kind of camera and mount is that? I like the map and speedo/compass in the corners. Thanks for posting your trip report.

Amazing planes. Very jealous.

Thanks Sir. The mount is nothing special...just a suction cup RAM mount, stuck to the passenger side eyebrow window. I think the "gimbal effect" is coming from the camera, the GoPro Hero 7 Black, as part of the in-camera image stabilization.



The map and speed overlays come from the GoPro editing software...apparently there is an internal GPS in the Hero 7. It's quite amusing sometimes, because it gets confused pretty easy. This video, climbing out of Jackson Hole, I ended up cutting early, because the ground speed readout dropped all the way down to a ridiculous 43 m.p.h. After my initial acceleration at lower altitude, I had pitched up for a climb at blue line, to gain more margin over the terrain, but still...43 m.p.h.?

[youtube]https://youtu.be/McyId0KKLhQ[/youtube]

Then there's this one...where I take a 90º turn off the runway after landing, at "353 m.p.h.".

[youtube]https://youtu.be/wr3wmSzlCSw[/youtube]

I was getting tired of fussing with the rollers on my seat and continually trying to adjust the buttons so the seat would roll smoothly without binding. Closer examination revealed the rollers and the associated bushings were basically shot allowing the wheels considerable movement, and hence the binding.

A quick eBay search provided some cute little sealed bearings (1601-ZZ) that made the seat work better than new. Amazing the difference it made, especially when my mass is in the seat...

Did you just ream out the existing rollers, or fabricate new ones?

Same old roller, just turned the holes 1-1/2 thousandths tight and shrunk them onto the bearings. Even used the same mounting hardware on the seat so I didn’t have to disturb the plastic seat surround. Couldn’t have been much easier.

I pulled all of mine, cleaned them, lubricated them with white lithium grease, new bolts and it made a huge difference. The bearings would be one step better!

An occasional shot of PB Blaster Dry Lube occasionally sprayed and wiped on the tracks also made a huge difference.

On Friday I took my first intro lesson in the Aerostar, a 601B. It was addicting! We were doing 200kts as a demonstration at 3000 feet. I look forward to taking it up high and seeing 230-240!

It lands like a dream but the nose steering took a few landings and taxis to get used to!

It is an awesome plane. 200 kts at 3000 ft is not shabby at all! Do you have a large O2 bottle since you are not pressurized? I've contemplated getting a MU-2, but the Aerostar is such a nice ride it's hard to make a switch.

One of the guys I trained in the Aerostar just gave up on the nosewheel steering and uses brakes to turn.

Noooooooooo,

Nosewheel steering is awesome.....just gotta get used to it
I had AAC add another nosewheel steering switch on left side of panel

I am having severe Aerostar withdrawal.....been in paint for two months now.

Cirrus is great.....but not an AEROSTAR!

It is an awesome plane. 200 kts at 3000 ft is not shabby at all! Do you have a large O2 bottle since you are not pressurized? I've contemplated getting a MU-2, but the Aerostar is such a nice ride it's hard to make a switch.

One of the guys I trained in the Aerostar just gave up on the nosewheel steering and uses brakes to turn.

Jason,

I did the mod where you replace the slides with the HDPE slides. Ended up doing all the seats because it was such a vast improvement. Now I can get to the 176 panel in a matter of seconds.

Thanks Eric. I sent an email for more information to them a while back and never got an answer. Then I became busy and never followed up. After the good cleaning, adjustment, and reinstalling using a 0.020" shim under the pins, they are working pretty good right now.

Understood. He is a one man operation and inherited the STC from his dad. When the seats move easily (however you accomplish the goal) it makes the airplane a lot nicer to use. The mod is amazing for how well it works but also for how expensive it is. I asked him why it was so expensive and he reminded me, quite appropriately, how much effort it took to get the STC across the line.