So, I'm finally here in clammy and insanely hot Alabama to learn how to become a safe driver of an Aerostar as well as a responsible owner. I'm both very excited and at the same time have that slight lump in my stomach you get when you've bought something a bit too frivolous...
Four days of ground school started three days ago, but we've only covered about two days of stuff as Don also has to attend to his business when things come up. I don't mind - it gives me lots of time to go through maintenance logs, logbooks, performance charts, drink coffee etc. Not to mention just hanging around the hangar asking the mechanics annoying questions and nerding out. Today we covered
Electric Systems,
Engine Systems and yesterday we covered
Control Systems and
Fuel Systems. Tomorrow is
Pressurisation - a biggie.
Don's knowledge of all systems is actually a bit intimidating - not only does he know all the systems inside out, but he worked for Ted Smith in Santa Maria, CA when they built them so there's even anecdotes and reasonings from the design and test phase. It's all very informative, although I did almost nod off when the electric flow charts/diagrams came on the board....
Ground school lump and theoretical test. Ask me anything.
A gaggle of Aerostars waiting for new owners on the ramp. In fact, the blue obscured fin in the back belonging to 78PA has a new owner who is a gentleman named Oscar Taylor and might sell me his much newer props as he plans on.....
A gentleman by the name of Oscar Taylor dropped by yesterday to have a look at N78PA, another 601P, this one from 1978. She's in pretty poor cosmetic shape having sat outside without an annual for over 7 years. But that didn't stop Oscar - he plans on gutting it and using it as a base for yet another one of his turbine single conversions, so he got it cheap. The previous conversion he did is absolutely gorgeous and a minimalistic masterpiece. I'm floored by what he achieved to make just one guy with some help. He bolted a Garrett 850hp turbine on the front and did some major re-design. It burns 36gph up high and goes almost 300kts. He called it the Speedstar 850. The new one will be shorter, a true 4-place, and have a more powerful PT6 up front. He wants to go fast and is aiming for 350kts. Speed is his thing. Best of luck to Oscar, who's 77 years old. I hope I can start projects like that when I'm his age.
Oscar wanted to sell me his more or less brand new props on the Aerostar he plans to gut. I told him I might be interested, but that any check I write is most likely to bounce as I've now spent all my money purchasing mine. He said he was a millionaire, so it didn't matter.
...stripping the airframe out completely and building yet another single turbine Aerostar/Speedstar (as he calls it) with a PT6 engine instead of the Garrett.
Slide (old school) of the Aerostar's wet wing fuel system. 65gal in each wing and 44gals in the main fuselage tank. The Commander and the Aerostar have some similarities when it comes to fuel systems having both been designed by Ted Smith.
In the evenings I have plenty of time to go through the log books as well as floss my teeth. So far so good with the logs. Teeth I'm not sure about.
Tomorrow we'll probably break up the ground school and go flying a little even though the grunt of the training in the aircraft will come after the ground school. There are quite a few things we need to cover during that portion. Obviously the usual stuff such as stalls, single engine work and all that, but also systems management in the air and such trivial things as learning how to land the damn thing without my teeth fillings coming out! That would ideally be covered early on in the flying part I would assume.
Soon we will meet again, dear cockpit.
After all that is done it's time to face the long journey home. It's a good 1650nm trip, so needs to have the WX gods on my side. Just north of Alabama there have been tornadoes and thunderstorms all week - so bad it even made the news. But they will be gone by the time I set off and I'm not worried in the summer months going west. Going east through the northern states would have been a different thing. If everything goes like a dream it should take about 8-8,5hrs flying with no headwind, plus at least two stops for fuel/food adding 2hrs. Going with the light, this is doable in one day, but a stretch. Depends on how tired I feel and if the weather cooperates. This trip would have been impossible to do in one day in the Commander.
If it's clear skies/few clouds I plan on cruising at 16500ft going west now that I have pressurisation. It's nice and calm up there and almost no traffic. Might get nailed with some headwinds up high, but even so it normally pays off to go high with the higher TAS and the lower fuel consumption. We'll see.
Will the new hatchling make it back to California in one piece with its inexperienced new owner? Time will tell.
Even though Don's course is a pre-requisite/approved for the insurance companies, I will be flying her back to California uninsured (legal in the US, just don't crash on someone's property...
). I don't have the time to shop around and fill in tons of forms and arrange insurance beforehand, so it will have to wait until I'm settled in back home. Plus, I have a suspicion they might want me to get a few more hours with an instructor experienced in type locally as well.
I'll let you know how it goes..
