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

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....

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...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.

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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.

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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.

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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...

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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...

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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....

....continued.

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On the ground finally. My first solo landing in less than ideal conditions. Let's just say it left something to improve upon...:}

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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...

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Somewhere over New Mexico at a...

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...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.

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.

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.

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.

Another great read, keep it coming!

Have you parted company with your Rockwell Commander?

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

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

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. ;)

videos videos videos videos videos :)

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.

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

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.

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:

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!

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.

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.

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

Björn Fritsch

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.

Avgas Cost
 

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?