The factory made 262 600's, 157 601's, 455 601P's, 123 602P's, and 25 700p's. So, it is not unusual to see more pressurized airplanes for sale vs. 600's. Also, a lot of 600's were used for check hauling in the 70's so many got used up with 20+ thousand hrs. or more.

700P is the best!

No way Eric! 601P with intercoolers is the best! Kinda like a Boss 302 is better than the Boss ‘9.

Just imagine how fast you could go on so little fuel if you only had higher compression ...

Edit: plus green leather was not available on the 700P. Just sayin’

The raw power an additional 100 horses has to offer is nice to have in your back pocket.

having lost an engine on my 700 on take off, I know for sure the extra 50 per side is great. it kept flying with one windmilling and stayed level (gear up flaps 20) until I got my head working and I could start the drill. It was not banked into the good engine either.

just keep it straight and wings level at or above blue line and a 700 flies fine. the big rudder is really nice as you don't need to put a lot in to eliminate the yaw.

climbing out clean we were doing something like a 500 FPM climb.

No way Eric! 601P with intercoolers is the best! Kinda like a Boss 302 is better than the Boss ‘9.

Just imagine how fast you could go on so little fuel if you only had higher compression ...

Edit: plus green leather was not available on the 700P. Just sayin’

Bruce I'm pretty sure you've got the fastest 601P around....it's a ringer.

Eric, just noticed your plate bracket. LMC are 20 minutes from me. I pop in once in a while for window shopping.

Last time I was there they had a full carbon fiber Pagani.

Bruce I'm pretty sure you've got the fastest 601P around....it's a ringer.

Eric, just noticed your plate bracket. LMC are 20 minutes from me. I pop in once in a while for window shopping.

Last time I was there they had a full carbon fiber Pagani.

I used to love watching his TV show - he seemed like the most interesting and educated of the car guys doing shows.

Aerostars seem popular with car guys.

Plane is in for Annual Inspection.

Hat Section cracks

One of the (few) Aerostar design weaknesses is the structure supporting the nose gear assembly.

I suppose Ted Smith wasn’t thinking about tug drivers when he designed the hat section.

My plane gets tugged by unsupervised strangers pretty regularly and this year I’m going to pay the price.

Good news is that AAC makes a kit that upgrades the structure and should eliminate reoccurrence. Although it’s part of the GW upgrade I won’t get credit for it because I don’t have the 350HP motors.

Bad news is that I am going to lose the plane for (at least) 3 weeks longer than I’d expected.

Forrest that is a true bummer but worse would have been resting on that nose after landing... Glad they found it and there is an improved system to replace the old, which has lasted a long time.... A*'s are built like tanks. Remember in my IFR training sitting in the restaurant window one Saturday drooling over the A that came in and parked (KMIE) Muncie IN. My instructor told me that was my next upgrade from the Mooney I was in then. Perhaps you can upgrade the engines to Jim C's turbines next GA???

Forest,

been there done that. I am surprised your aircraft didn't have that happen before.

that is a bummer. One of the Guys (sandy) is working on an STC to make the early nose gear design have a fork connection on the scissors and then you will be able to remove it when it is on the ground. then you can eliminate the problem when towing. Jack has a one time approval for it on his aircraft and it works well.

Good to hear from you.

There mays still be diesels(EPS may rise from the dead.)some day so you can try the around the work trip again.

Forrest, are you having both inner and outer hat sections replaced, or, just the inner?
The reason I ask is if you are having both sections replaced it is going to require removal of the outer skin I believe on the left side of the nose section and I'd bet money that your plane is going to be down a little longer than three weeks. I could be wrong though.