The ferrying of my new aircraft to California - a pictorial.

[AdamFrisch]

So, finally the old/new money pit is safely at home.

http://www.adamfrisch.com/images/n79sr/ferry12.jpg
On last day of training we had a binding prop cable, which had to be replaced....

http://www.adamfrisch.com/images/n79sr/ferry14.jpg
...which is no small task as one has to get the whole interior out and re-route under the floor, as well as go though the pressure vessel....

http://www.adamfrisch.com/images/n79sr/ferry11.jpg
...and out through the wing root to the engine. They use the same compound they use on leaky wet wing tanks to seal the pressure vessel.

http://www.adamfrisch.com/images/n79sr/ferry10.jpg
Thankfully we didn't have to order the cable as there was a readily available donor. Great, as I was running out of time and needed to get plane back to her new home for work. Weather was also worsening.

http://www.adamfrisch.com/images/n79sr/ferry9.jpg
It was time to say goodbye to my host and tutor Don and his wife after 10 days of flying/ground school for our long journey home.

http://www.adamfrisch.com/images/n79sr/ferry8.jpg
I was on my own again as a brand new certified Aerostar driver. And I'd managed to pick a day with embedded thunderstorms all over the eastern US, of course...

http://www.adamfrisch.com/images/n79sr/ferry7.jpg
Cumulus annoyus. It got progressively worse. I was deviating around clouds at 10500ft for most of the first 2hrs. As the sun set, I extended another hour to Lubbock, TX rather than stop earlier. Mainly because I was enjoying myself, but also because I knew the fuel gauges had been meticulously calibrated and I dared take her down to pretty low fuel levels...

http://www.adamfrisch.com/images/n79sr/ferry6.jpg
As I closed in on Lubbock a thunderstorm passed right over the airport and I was just about to divert when I could see the field twinkle far away. I landed with lightning all around me, rain and rays of sunshine poking through. It's one of the most beautiful scenes I've ever seen. Very bumpy, though. 4.8hrs non stop from Alabama and I had about 35gals left in tanks after starting with 165gals.

Continued....

[AdamFrisch]

....continued.

http://www.adamfrisch.com/images/n79sr/ferry5.jpg
On the ground finally. My first solo landing in less than ideal conditions. Let's just say it left something to improve upon...:}

http://www.adamfrisch.com/images/n79sr/ferry4.jpg
Next morning I had to fill her up to the brim at the less than cheap FBO at Lubbock. I didn't feel comfortable flying into a 3500ft field for cheaper self serve fuel, so bit the bullet here. Very unpleasant $900 bill ensued. But at least we were now ready for our last leg to LA...

http://www.adamfrisch.com/images/n79sr/ferry3.jpg
Somewhere over New Mexico at a...

http://www.adamfrisch.com/images/n79sr/ferry2.jpg
...comfortable and pressurised 14500ft. I can't say how much I enjoy this feature. Pressurisation is great. No traffic up here and the air is normally nice and smooth.

http://www.adamfrisch.com/images/n79sr/ferry1.jpg
With tired engines, we did a solid 180kts on 25gals/hr as you can see on the Shadin. I ran at peak EGT to save some fuel and still have good speed. With new engines she'll do 200kts on the same fuel flow. That's very good economy for a twin.

No malfunctions and no real issues. The manifold splits a bit at different altitudes - the turbos are a little tired and their output is uneven, I reckon. Or maybe the wastegates, but they did check out pretty good on annual. You can tell she loses her will to climb much after 16000ft. I could never get to the certified 25000ft ceiling with these run out engines/turbos. Also, the Garmin 430 WAAS was all new to me and so was the autopilot. I'm used to hand flying the old Commander, so this was just like a magic carpet ride. I love this autopilot business! The 430 threw a curve ball not having the Western USA database programmed, so after TX I was completely blind. This wouldn't have been a problem had not my iPad with Foreflight not had such s**ty GPS reception in the Aerostar. Thankfully, the VOR's were in the 430, so I navigated the VOR's all the way back to LA. Old school.

At start of my descent into the LA basin I pushed the nose over on the autopilot and saw a cool 220kts descent speed. Felt like ATC treats you different when you get down with some speed. He had traffic get out of my way, rather than the other way around, which was nice.;)

Last leg was 5hrs.

What happens now is that I fly her for a little bit, but I'm already getting bids in for the engine overhauls and as soon as I can afford that she'll get them done. I'm not brave enough to fly her for too much longer. Engines run fine and make no metal, but they do burn a bit of oil which suggests tops are running out of steam.

Great fun, great aircraft. Look forward to many years of flying with her and to one day be able to take her for a European tour. That would be my dream.

[Desert Dawg]

I got my 'fix' of Adam's travels and stories....:O:O

Keep the updates coming Adam... I really look forward to your photos and updates.

Any more on the Commander..???

Dawg.

[treadigraph]

Nice one Adam!

I always think the Aerostar is just about the best and most modern looking light twin - not bad for an aeroplane that must be approaching 50!

Haven't seen one in ages, though I believe at least one is based at nearby Biggin Hill.

[AdamFrisch]

Thanks.

Yeah, either the turbos are tired or it's a wastegate rigging issue. Left engine MP starts to fall off at altitude earlier than the right one, so when you match it up you don't have as much climb power anymore. It's down to about 3-400fpm at 15500ft, which is as high as we've gone.

Know there's at least one N-reg 601P based in the UK. I've seen some clips of it on YouTube. I'm sure there must be more. They made over a 1000 of them, so they are not as rare as one think.

[stickandrudderman]

Another great read, keep it coming!

[N707ZS]

Have you parted company with your Rockwell Commander?

[B2N2]

Nice read, keep us up to date please.
Congrats on your new bird!

[Tinstaafl]

I loved flying Aerostars in Oz. What's the story behind you getting an Aerostar?

[Silvaire1]

Adam has a Ted Smith addiction that we all are able to enjoy vicariously. :)

I'm sure some day the end game will be a Douglas A-26 as a full time retirement project. ;)

[chipmeisterc]

videos videos videos videos videos :)

[AdamFrisch]

I loved flying Aerostars in Oz. What's the story behind you getting an Aerostar?

They are great, aren't they? Well, it's multiple reasons, actually. One is that it's a Ted Smith design, of course (:ok:), but actually the reasons are more tangible than that.

Economy. I fly mainly long cross country flights and that's an area the Aerostar excels at. I did numerous calculations on fuel burn for various aircrafts and the Aerostar consistently came out down low of the legacy types. It also does that getting you there quicker. A diesel TwinStar or P2006T would be even cheaper in fuel, but they also cost about $400K more and are slower. Those two excluded, the Aerostar is hard to beat in pure miles per gallon due to it's low drag profile and high flying capabilities. Reading directly from the POH I get 10.3gal/hr per side in fuel consumption at 2200rpm, at 25000ft doing 184 KTAS. This is ROP operation. At LOP, that could probably be even less. I don't know of many twins that can run 184 KTAS at 20gal/hr. That's almost what a Malibu would burn trying to keep up.

Simplicity. I knew I wanted pressurisation and semi-all weather capability. Flying high is key to long range economy. I looked at the pressurised Commanders, which would have been the most logical buy, but they all have annoying quirks and designs. The 680FP would have been the logical step up - and I could have had one for about the same money - but their gas guzzling geared engines and hydraulic pressurisation system are pretty much unsupported these days. The 685 is a huge beast and although it has bleed air pressurisation, it still suffers from the highly strung geared engines and is a rwy hogger (as the props are too small for its bulk). The last thing one wants in a Commander, as they're made for unimproved strips. Plus - do I really need to lug 9000 lbs of plane around when I fly by myself most of the time? Seems almost criminal from an environmental point of view. Although the Aerostar is a complex aircraft, crammed into a small place, the actual systems are pretty stock and can be serviced by most anyone. There are few quirks there. A good example is the elevator/rudder. They're all the same part and fully interchangeable.

Support. Aerostars are also well supported aircrafts, thanks to Aerostar Aircraft Inc in Idaho. They continually develop modifications and improvements for the aircraft. This means I can grow with the aircraft and make it adapt to my needs. In the future I would like to add many of the improvements available, like the aux tanks that will increase range to about 1500nm, winglets that will increase t/o performance by about 5% and reduce fuel burn by the same amount. Intercoolers that will improve hot and high performance, bigger brakes, various pressurisation improvements, bleed air heating, full de-ice etc. And if you add the 4-blade MT props, you even have reverse braking capabilities. I don't know of many piston powered aircraft that can do that. It ain't cheap, but if it floats your boat, you can do it.

Design. There are other reasons, as well. I like seeing the ground, and both the Commander and the Aerostar has the wing behind the cockpit window, giving a great view below. I love the eyebrow windows on the top, as they give me the opportunity to spot traffic above me, although they make the cockpit a sweat box at times.

Structural integrity. One of my biggest fears is structures breaking in the air. And that's one thing I have to worry less about in this machine. Aerostars were designed to be jets originally, so the structural integrity is second to none. The tail was stressed to 14G before it broke during certification. The main wing to well over 6G. And it has 3 main spars in it. Not only that, the surface skins on the wings are almost 3 times thicker than on normal spam cans. As far as I know there has only been one in-flight structural failure in an Aerostar recorded, so I feel much safer should I ever encounter really bad turbulence or (god forbid) a thunderstorm.

Those are the main reasons. There are some tradeoffs, though.

Tradeoff 1. They need a lot more rwy than the Commanders. In fact at home airport, I could be between 700-900ft in altitude in a Vx climb with the old Commander as the rwy end slipped beneath the airplane. Forget that in an Aerostar. As they rotate, they have this mushy, shallow climb that takes some getting used to. That wing doesn't like to fly slow and it becomes an effort in getting rid of drag quickly to get to a speed where it likes to climb, which is around 117kts. By the time the rwy end slips beneath me in the Aerostar, I'm barely at 4-500ft. After 117kts, the wing climbs great and you easily see 2000ft/min, but it's just that mushy transition period between rotation and 110-120kts. It's designed to go fast, not takeoff fast.

Tradeoff 2. I will also miss going into smaller grass fields, camping etc and all that stuff I used to do with the Commander. It's still possible to go into a grass field, but it has to be long and it has to be smooth or else you might end up braking stuff. The bush aspect is gone, if you wish.

Looks. Lastly, I don't think the Aerostar looks that good in normal paint schemes, to be honest. That wasn't one of the reasons I wanted one. That bulby, pointy nose doesn't lend itself to horizontal and dividing paint schemes. And to be honest, that's 99% of the paint jobs out there, including mine. They look a lot better when they have vertical divisions of colour, or are just one colour. That just transforms them from a nosy thing that looks front heavy into a balanced swan. Like this one:

http://www.adamfrisch.com/images/aerostar.jpg
In my opinion, Aerostars tend to look better in paint schemes that have vertical divisions, rather than the usual horizontal stripes.

Have you parted company with your Rockwell Commander?

Not yet. Want a well maintained one? In annual and ready to fly away. You'll get it cheap..;):ok:

[Tinstaafl]

Those are same reasons I loved the Aerostar. I know what you mean about runway length required and the grey area from airborne to reasonable 1 inop flying speed. They are a bit of a pocket rocket but nice to fly. A sports car really. It was interesting training guys used to Barons et al onto them. Three rules with Aerostars: Don't fly slowly, don't put the gear down sideslipping, and always fill the belly tank first.

I manage a Panther Navajo (a pickup truck in comparison) for an owner and an Aerostar would be wonderful for him - except for the lack of golfbag room!

Are you going to fit an engine data monitor? Can't see one in your pics. I think they should be standard in pistons now. Also, does yours have wing tip extensions or a VG kit to increase MTOW?

If you're ever near Orlando please drop in. I'd love to see it!


Ps: That one you pictured seems to be missing its pitot tube.

[AdamFrisch]

God eye! The last 50-something factory made 702P's in the last year, 1984, had the pitot moved to the side of the nose. Where, in all honesty, it should have been all the time. Sure, it ran in less disturbed air up there, but you could never cover it, so water and other stuff could always get in. There have been some golf ball retriever solutions to get up there, but all of them rather cumbersome.

The engine data monitors are rather expensive. Either the JPI or the Auracle cost a good bit over $10K, so it's pretty low down on the list. First mod will prob be the electric door seal as it's relatively cheap and saves the air pumps, then after that either intercoolers or aux fuel tank. Those are the three big ones I'd like to have. Down the line it be nice with the beefier brakes and stuff like that, but I'm in no hurry. I'm basically broke now and will be for a long time!:}:\:eek:

[Tinstaafl]

We used to use a broomstick with a duct taped cup thing to hold a pitot cover to put the cover on the tube. Easy after the first few attempts. 10k for an EDM? That seems excessive. The Navajo owner paid ~4k + installation. And installation certainly wasn't 6 grand!

[AdamFrisch]

I'm thinking of getting one of those geriatric grabbers and see if that will get me high enough to get to the pitot tube.

You're right - JPI does make a CHT gage that shows all the cylinder temps and it's a lot cheaper.

Couple of nights ago I was out doing some aimless flying. It was so warm here it was impossible to face the thought of a hot cabin during the day. So why not get my 90 day currency in and do 3 landings at night? 1 terrible landing, 1 decent and 1 greaser ensued. All systems OK, I can report. The takeoff visual cues still takes some getting used to, but it's getting more familiar. I made mental note of where the wheels left the ground on a few takeoffs, and when I got home I could look it up on satellite maps - ground roll of 1800-2000ft at 28° C with about 70gals onboard, which is pretty much what the POH says.

The girl is easier to grease than the Commander was, one just needs to nail the last bit. It's like a groove. Need to walk off the throttle as you round out, but it's very easy to over-compensate and flare too high, which will assure a firm landing. If you have no energy left when you flare, it will rattle you - it's the opposite of a Cessna 172 in this regard. It just stops flying. Also, the sight picture is different - you aim short of the rwy and drive her down at 100kts. I can normally tell already on final if it's going to be a good one or a bad one - it's that groove thing again. I'll get a hang of it, just need some more practice.

http://www.adamfrisch.com/images/n79sr/night.jpg
Night flight LA basin is always a spectacular view. All systems OK.

[Tinstaafl]

I have a JPI EDM760 twin in the Navajo I manage. It does everything I need. If you get one, make sure you specify the USB version otherwise they'll ship the serial port version as standard. Much easier to download engine data onto a USB stick than have to muck around with a laptop or handheld with serial port to do the same.

I see you already have digital fuel flow so you won't need the FF option with the EDM. That saves a few bucks too.

[Cheshunt]

Always enjoy your postings! Much fun und luck with the new nice plane.

Björn Fritsch

[cockney steve]

Adam, Thank you for your posts together with your superb , atmospheric photos which really bring your tales to life.
Great stories, great adventures. must be great to have a "daily-smoker" as well as a "weekend toy" :}
I bet it'll be a wrench to part with the Commander, money-pit though it is.

[Leftofcentre2009]

Wow you are very lucky to have such a beautiful and comfortable aircraft.
$900 to fill though? Can i ask how much that is per litre/gallon?

[AdamFrisch]

Yes, that was expensive at somewhere around $6.20/gal, but I had no choice. A, I didn't have enough fuel to go to a smaller field, and B, if you don't uplift fuel they won't waive their overnight fee, so it negates any savings you might do by filling her cheaply. Think we filled 147 gals, if memory serves. All the FBO's at bigger airport charge a premium. These were not the worst, either. I've been quoted up to $8/gal at the real fancy ones. Normally, self serve is around $5.50/gal, but in Texas and some of the states closer to the Gulf one can find Avgas for under $5/gal at times. Cheapest I've ever seen was $4.50/gal. Avgas is normally around $1-1.5/gal more expensive than premium Mogas. These are the taxes levied at the pump. I guess even at $8/gal it's still cheaper than in Europe, so in that regard it's easier here. I could never afford having a twin in Europe. Or at least not afford to fly it much. What's the fuel price for Avgas in the UK now?

It's always cheaper to fly to smaller airfields with no fancy stuff and fill yourself up, but that needs to be balanced against having some conveniences. Many of these smaller airports are in smaller towns that might not have a car service or even a motel (if it's really small), so if one wants to spend the night, it's sometimes just easier to go to a bigger airport and suffer the handling/overnight fees. I've spent a few nights in my sleeping bag in the back of the Commander when I couldn't get any hotel/pickups. I have to say that the USA is pretty good even at the smaller airports in this regard - there's almost always a free courtesy car you can use and even the smallest towns tend to have some kind of motel and a fast food joint to clog up your arteries.

[Leftofcentre2009]

Avgas is much more expensive here in the UK.
It averages around £1.95 Litre (Aprox £7.40 US Gallon) whereas your paying about $1.63 Litre @ $6.20 US Gal. (£1.09 Litre @ £4.16 US Gal) Interesting you mention Self-Serve. I havent experienced anything else here?

How do you get on with Maintenance flying/owning a Twin? Are the schedules more or less the same? You must have to budget a huge amount of cash for the engine fund(s).

I think in general, aviation is much more affordable in the US. Landing fees here in the UK vary enormously. From the large(ish) International Airports - Exeter £27.40 <1Ton, Inverness £17.50, Cambridge £25, Bristol £35 to name a few. Smaller GA fields vary from £5 - £20 depending on facilities.

[AdamFrisch]

Anytime one buys an old aircraft where the previous owner has skimped on the upkeep for financial reasons, which is the case with almost all aircraft that get sold, one is in for a couple of steep annuals. Once caught up, so to speak, the operating costs go down. My old Commander was no different. She was extremely reliable the last year, I have to say. And I've put a lot of hours on her in the 2.5 years I've owned her. We've been all across the US and even to Canada. The reason the last annual was hefty was because I had to do some metal work and comply with a few AD's and overhaul the props and the magnetos. Everything else was chicken feed compared to that. If it hadn't been for those things, the annual would have been less than $4K, probably.

I'm sure this new one will be similar. Pretty much right off the bat I'll have to do the engines, so that's a very big cost. The annuals are also a bit more complex on the Aerostar. The last one was about $10K, so I should assume next years annual will be in that region, barring any big things. They can probably be worked down to around $5-6K on a well maintained specimen, even less if you do owner-assisted ones.

Engine funds - I don't do them.;) Far too depressing - I just grunt and suffer. And I try to delay it as long as possible - top overhauls etc. I'm not afraid of flying over TBO if they're behaving and not making metal. And in the case of my Commander I'm selling now, it will be sold with engines over TBO. So in essence, except for the loss in value that entails, I didn't have any engine costs at all. Well, that's not entirely true because I did top both engines, but you catch my drift. An engine O/H is never going to increase the value of the hull by more than the cost to O/H, so financially it almost always makes more sense to sell the aircraft with the engines not done.:ok::}:)

[Peter Bichier]

I had the idea to see what was going on with you after seen you were selling the old gal... I made the mistake of starting to read this thread and just like a great novel, I could not stop reading it!

Congratulations on the new bird! The Aerostar design indeed is an interesting story, somewhere must be an Aerostar historian buff like Barry Coleman who would add to what I have noticed about the first and the last airplane Ted Smith designed (and made to production).

If you look closely at the "blue goose" (the very first ever Aero Commander) also known as the L-3805 (one of the few prototypes that were also certified and even sold) also the one used for the stunt where they flew from Bethany Oklahoma to DC on one engine (the prop was not even bolted, it was inside the aircraft) well my friend it IS the nose and fuselage of an Aerostar!

It seems he drifted from the original design with later models, but eventually came back to it... so your transition from a 520 to an Aerostar makes perfect sense!

Here is a picture and see what you think, meanwhile...

Buena suerte con la nueva novia!

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/MqPHTGUdup6GV9G1t_B-YGSc7QDhRD1MQy8OLWZbfVI?feat=directlink

(I apologize if this already has shown up... not on my end...)

[AdamFrisch]

Peter - you missed the opportunity to buy the 520!

Well, just an update.

I just dropped the plane off for dual engine overhaul two weeks ago. Flew the engines 420hrs over TBO (to about 2200hrs) and they still ran fine with no squawks and would probably have gone on for quite a bit longer. What made me decide to do it in the end was nothing in particular. One reason was I had put newly O/H props on about a month ago (from another Aerostar that a guy is rebuilding into a turboprop single), and ever since I swapped, the left engines rpm took extra long to come up on T/O. It was lagging about 2-300rpm behind the right all the way up until rotation. It did always come up in the end, but was a little unsettling the first times until I knew the score. Couldn't really figure out what it was as the dome pressure etc all checked out. Consensus seem to be that it probably had something to do with oil pressure or oil sludge in the engine etc. The other factor was the anaemic climb after 15500-17500ft. This is more a turbo problem, but still, they're part of it. Also, the left engine was starting to show oil pressures at the very bottom of the green arc and consuming a little more. All in all, I thought it was time. And with the sale of my old plane, I had some cash to put in towards the overhaul.

In the end I decided to go with a shop called One Stop Aviation in CA. They have a good reputation and gave a good quote. $23,675.00 for overhaul incl. accessories. Thats pretty competitive. Add to this the turbos at around $1600/piece (there's 4 of them), installing GAMI injectors, overhauling the wastegates, oil scavenger pumps, NDT engine mounts, hoses, airboxes and labour, and we're looking at at least $60-65K for the overhaul. But that's the price you pay to play, I suppose. Comparably, this is not that bad all things considered, but still a h**l of a lot of money.

It's probably going to take another month or so before she's done, and it will probably take another month before I've managed to pay it! I've had no real problems with her in the short period of about 70hrs I've owned her. And we've already done quite a few really long range tours (one to NY and back). A leaking O-ring, but that's about it.

I hope she stays good.

[AN2 Driver]

Hi Adam,

thought it might be a good idea after some of your posts. Hope you'll be fine now with the newly overhauled engines.

So back to the Commander for a few or did you sell it already?

[AdamFrisch]

The Commander is tentatively sold. I have a buyer who's put down a deposit. She's still in my possession, though. In fact, I just flew her the other day. Took her up for a little spin just to keep the engines in good shape. She flies like a dream. Very different than the Aerostar, and it took a few landings to get back into the groove. But what a great plane. I had a 15-20kts headwind taking off from Hawthorne the other day and this old girl climbed out like some demented angel. I was at 1000ft by the end of the rwy, almost. Insane. I had forgotten what an excellent bush plane she is. A lumbering, roomy bush plane. No chance of being at 1000ft at the end of the threshold in the Aerostar!

[Pace]

Adam

Thanks from me for your posts too :) Love the AeroStar especially the one with the Machen conversion which are real hot rods.

They were going to make a jet conversion which I believe the designer had originally designed the aircraft to go jet at the start but do not know what happened with that conversion?

Pace

[Hodja]

In fact, I just flew her the other day.
Was it just my imagination, or was it parked over at El Monte on thursday? :) I was doing some multi refresher SE on the VOR approach!

[AdamFrisch]

Correct, she's back at El Monte.

Pace - Aeostar Corp showed off their jet prototype last year and it has flown. There's talk of certifying it. It has two small P&W fanjets and as you can see in the clip around 5:10, it climbs at 5000ft/min showing 190kts IAS! Real little pocket rocket.

Aerostar Jet demo flight AOA Oct 2012 - YouTube

[172driver]

Your next airplane, Adam !

[What Traffic]

0VE sounded lovely climbing out today. I'll miss that sound if in fact she's going to be gone soon.

[AdamFrisch]

Thanks. Where did you hear her - HHR or EMT?

[What Traffic]

I live roughly downwind abeam the tower for 19. With my windows open, there's no mistaking that ship for anything else. It's a good spot, on Sunday I sat out front and watched Gabe do short approaches in the Stearman.

[AdamFrisch]

Oh, great! Yeah, she is loud with those augmentor tubes. I've gotten noise violations from Long Beach.:ouch:;)

Gabe is a good pilot and handles that Stearman like it's a little aerobat. Every time I'm at the airport, he's always there. I almost think he lives there.

[jetsetter250]

You mention purchasing this aircraft due to fuel economy, speed, pressurization, etc. However you dont mention why you chose a twin over a pressurized single. Just curious as to why?

[Saab Dastard]

jetsetter250, have a look at this thread:

http://www.pprune.org/private-flying/522025-new-single-vs-older-twin.html

SD

[AdamFrisch]

Aircraft ownership has its ups and downs and is not always for the faint of heart. It sure as h*ll can be a time eater.

After a 7 month long wait is was time to fire her up with two newly overhauled engines. I loaded in my CFII with me (as I hadn't flown for almost 5 months) and off we went. Box climb above the airport up to 2000ft.

Engines oil pressure barely in the green at full power, and well below green on both engines at cruise. Right engine runs much hotter than left, but otherwise behaving. Cut it short after 20mins and land. Manage to do a good landing after being away for 5 months, which pleased me.

When they pull oil filters, the left engine showed excessive aluminium and steel that my mechanic was not happy with. Engine was sent back to overhauler for further inspection. Turns out there's something called an oil jet that directs oil to the bottom of the pistons for cooling on the S1A5. The one on cylinder 3 had come loose from the oil galley and created a gaping hole - that was the reason the engine could not make oil pressure. The metal in filter came from case damage as the oil jet nozzle exited. They decided to replace case and crank. Right engine was suspected to have the oil jet thingys mis-torqued as well, so it was also opened up for precautionary reasons.

At least they've been very speedy in rectifying it and it is part of warranty. I should be able to do new test flight end of this week if all goes to plan. I hope all goes well then. I'm done waiting.

[Zulu Alpha]

What a shame, but at least it was found quickly and not during IFR at night over the mountains.

I hope all the costs are covered under warranty.

[semmern]

Very interesting to follow your Commander and Aerostar ownership, Adam. How is the Aerostar coming along now?

I have a few hours in one, they're great planes!

[AdamFrisch]

Thanks. They are great machines for sure, but I've now sold my Aerostar. I'm stepping up to an old Turbo Commander turboprop. Mama said I couldn't keep both. Not that I could afford to anyway...

You can read about that adventure at:

Stepping up to old 680V turbine... (http://www.twincommandergroup.com/index.php?topic=15.0)

[semmern]

Bit of a thread resurrection :)

Nice plane! Managed to get a few hours in one of those as well when I worked at a survey company last year.

Love the interior :D

[Pace]

Flew a 690 for a few trips as a co
Amazing performance in climb and cruise but my god the noise like having a machine gun going off by the side of your head
I know the owners went to a lot of trouble trying to eliminate the noise

Pace

[AdamFrisch]

Garrets are loud on ground, but can't say I find them very loud inside.

[Pace]

Garrets are loud on ground, but can't say I find them very loud inside.

Adam

I flew a 690B with Garrets and every time the noise was horrendous. As stated like a machine gun going off and worse in the PAX area
The owners went to a lot of trouble with soundproofing and clever gismos which improved matters.
Apart from that a great performing and strong aircraft with an amazing climb rate and loved by many

Pace

[The Ancient Geek]

Sounds like a prop problem with the blade tips going supersonic.
Aftermarket prop or defective governor ?