Is funny you should say that Tom, as the second question I asked all the Aerostar owners (after I'd asked how much they cost to run) was "how are they on grass and short strips?". The answers were always, oh you can't do that, it needs a minimum of 4000ft, don't ever try that, it's not made for it, etc etc. I'm obviously trying to shoehorn the Aerostar into something it wasn't meant to do. Combined with a deficiency in my brain which means I want to prove it
can be done even more when people say "it can't be done". Then I find this collection of crazy Aussies on YouTube who fly Aerostars into small unpaved fields without killing themselves repeatedly. So some of the advice has to chalked up to the fact that unlike UK pilots, Americans rarely see and land on grass or unpaved, so they tend to be overly cautious and fear this. And as the thread progressed, a few Aerostar pilots said they repeatedly operated from pretty short, unpaved strips down to 2000ft. So, yes, your analysis is very correct. I do love that the 520 can get into any field, and that would be something I'd miss. But I'm pretty sure that you could squeeze an Aerostar into many of them with some training... But for now the Commander is staying. I've agreed that anything involving financing is prob bad choice in these times, so the Aerostar will have to wait a little bit longer until I can afford it outright.
Silvaire - I just ordered a radio as well. An old Collins Microline VOR and will have that mounted during the annual to ease my IR flying. It's been rough just having one. And that would make her a basic IFR ship, even though she technically already was.
The XJS is starting to play up after years of faithful service, so not even the 6 is immune... Here's a cool take off of an Aerostar from a short grass strip: