400kt Aerostar

This was the coolest airplane at the show for me. I went back numerous times to check it out.
 
That is really sweet! Think I'll get one for Christmas.
 
Lance F said:
This was the coolest airplane at the show for me. I went back numerous times to check it out.
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+1 (or 3 or so).

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Great seeing you, Lance. Had been too long.
 
Nice plane. I was at the Aerostar factory a few weeks ago and got to see some of the work they do on various kinds of conversions, including the jet add-on.
 
Very neat airplane. But I wonder how much fuel it will realistically hold - 1000 nm range at 400 kts really isn't a lot of fuel time wise.
 
They are planning on 300 gallons. Here's the engine. Looks sweet to me.
 

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Lance F said:
They are planning on 300 gallons. Here's the engine. Looks sweet to me.
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300 gallons in a piston is a lot, but my recollection is that's lower than what the Cheyenne holds with PT-6s. Could you give me some representation of what that means as far as an effective time, and what sort of practical range you'd need to include your destination, alternate, +45 minutes? Just curious, since I don't have a good feel for turbine fuel burn.
 
No, they do not have 300 gallons at this point. There is still plenty of development to go. Nice to see the good ROC's and FL280 cruise altitude even on a one hour hop. Obviously they're not ready to publish NBAA ranges at this time. Probably won't matter to me, but I just think it's a cool project.
 
Ok so I just seen this thing and did a seach to see if it had been talked about yet, and sure enough I am behind the times again. Ha So right now they are saying it has 1000nm Range and burns 81gal/hr which is lower than they thought. But at the price point they are talking about don't know how many they will sell. I think its pretty sweet and I found a different video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nVTzlDsmME
 
Looking at the video I couldn't help but stare at the slim vertical stabilizer and tiny rudder and wonder how the single engine handling is. They mentioned possibly extending the fuselage 32 inches, which would add a little rudder authority. For the money it seems like a nice little plane. Like others, I am wondering how short the legs will be in real life.
 
The shortest thing about this plane will probably be the production run.

Threefingeredjack said:
Looking at the video I couldn't help but stare at the slim vertical stabilizer and tiny rudder and wonder how the single engine handling is. They mentioned possibly extending the fuselage 32 inches, which would add a little rudder authority. For the money it seems like a nice little plane. Like others, I am wondering how short the legs will be in real life.
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TWO 615Ds. Can you say $$$s. It has to be at a substantial discount to the Citation Mustang (same engines) to make this worthwhile. A rear fuse extension will kill the project from a W&B point of view.

I also wonder how they cope with rear W&B as they didn't move the spar....
 
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It flew within the last month so they're still messing around with it. Best ground speed straight and level at FL250 was 421kts. I could live with that. I just think it's a good testament to Ted Smith and the Aerostar that they can do this at all. (and pretty cool that someone's willing to make the investment to try.)
I would think they could handle W&B issues by where they hang the engines.
 
With that cost, wouldn't it make more sense to buy a Citation II or similar?
 
That's what I was thinking also.


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Clark1961 said:
Naw, Citations are slow
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It's true that a II will be slower, but since it's purpose-built as a jet, certified, etc., it might be an easier buy. Then again, the only airplane I've ever own was a model airplane!
 
spiderweb said:
It's true that a II will be slower, but since it's purpose-built as a jet, certified, etc., it might be an easier buy.
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Agree. If you want to go faster get a Lear 35. Lots of them in the $1M range.
 
Legacy Citations burn ~165 gph and must adhere to very expensive maintenance programs. That's why the 500's are only worth remaining engine time and the 550's (II) are selling for 500k.

spiderweb said:
It's true that a II will be slower, but since it's purpose-built as a jet, certified, etc., it might be an easier buy. Then again, the only airplane I've ever own was a model airplane!
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