Most of us at some point in time will outgrow our Diamonds and will be searching for something new to fulfill a new mission, mine started about two years ago. At the time I had just finished my ME rating in a 42 and was in the early stages of sorting out what my new mission and priorities would be. I was leaning twin and I was leaning heavily toward Diamond. I just love the Diamond aircraft. I had over 1,200 hrs. in my 40 and loved every second of it. In my opinion there is not an aircraft around of similar make and model that can give you what the G1000, SVT, WAAS DA40 provides. When it comes down to capability, cost and fun flying factor nothing comes remotely close.
That being said, I was trying to find those same attributes I loved in the 40, in the 42. It just wasn't there. What it came down to, I consistently wanted three things Diamond could not give me, speed, useful load and range. It just wasn't there. At the time the 42 was the only option Diamond had to offer and pretty much fell short in every category I was interested in. The 62 today still does not adequately address my current wants and needs.
In the background throughout this whole process was the Aerostar. I kept on hearing these wonderful things about this airplane through my instructor who has several thousands of hours in them. But, then again, did I really want to entertain owning a 40 year old airplane, as Dave would say, "it's my fathers airplane." I loved the G1000, SVT, WAAS etc. and all the new technology inherent in the Diamond aircraft in general. So why would I want to go what would appear to be backwards? Then I started to do a little research about the Aerostars, the designer (Ted Smith) and Aerostar Corporation owners Jim Christy and Steve Speers. This is just a little of what I found.
http://www.aopa.org/News-and-Video/All- ... t/Aerostar The rest is pretty much history. Long story short, Ted Smith was a genius far ahead of his time even by todays standards.
The following is a short to the point synopsis of specific items of interest that some people may have interest in including items that drew me to the Aerostar:
1.) The 600A normally aspirated Aerostar is 200 knt. airplane from 2,000 msl (16 gph) to 10,000 msl (13 gph), 12,000 msl (198 tas 12 gph) 15,000 msl (194 tas 11.5 gph)
2.) The Aerostar Super 700 is a 205 kts. airplane @ 44 gph from 2,000 msl to 260 kts. @ 44 gph @ 29,000 msl.
No matter how you cut it, if you want to go fast, whether you're burning avgas or diesel, you're going to burn a lot of fuel. The Diamonds burn what appears to be very little diesel fuel. They are also very slow. Diamond cannot burn a lot of fuel because they cannot carry a lot of fuel. Hence the reason they are slow. They will never be faster unless they can burn more fuel. They will never be able to burn more fuel unless they can carry more fuel. You see where I'm going with this. It's my rationale. Aerodynamic improvements will only take you so far.
3.) I can look out the pilot and copilot window of my Aerostar and see what I used to see when I looked out my DA40 cockpit. The engines and wings are well behind the front seats.
4.) I took out the fifth and sixth seats. I don't need them. I left the rear bench seat in. A 6' 5" person can sit on the rear bench seat, stretch out their legs over duffle bags if available and literally have a make shift bed. It's that roomy. This doesn't include the 240 lbs. of luggage capacity behind the fuselage fuel tank that is still available for whatever.
5.) I can load up 165 gal. of fuel (5.5 hrs. no reserve.) and still have 800 lbs useful load left and able to travel at 200 kts. Not bad huh?
6.) A well maintained Aerostar or brought up to factory maintenance standards with a little glass (G500 GTX750) normally aspirated 600 will require an initial investment of about $200,000.00. After that, normal annuals ranging anywhere from $5,000.00 to $10,000.00 is the norm. Keep in mind there are always exceptions. You are buying a 40 plus year old airplane. There is no warranty. Super 700s which are considerably faster are also considerably more expensive.
7.) The Aerostar flies like a Diamond, it really does. It's as responsive as all get out. It's all push rod and torque tube controls. All you have to do is think where you want the Aerostar to go and it goes there. Only pressure on the controls never push, pull. You push pull at 200 kts. and I guarantee you will end up plastered on the floor or ceiling, especially in the 600. The 600 is about 500 lbs. lighter than the pressurized Aerostars and responds accordingly.
8.) As far as safety is concerned, I know none of you on this forum know me, so for whatever it's worth, there is no way I would be flying this aircraft if i didn't believe for one second that I was not as safe or safer than flying in my old DA40. I am that confident in its safety when operated within poh. I have yet to see an accident that cannot be explained through blatant pilot error.
Just a few facts: There has never been a recorded in air breakup of an Aerostar. Aerostar's have already been tested in a shallow dive up to 500 kts. with no indication of flutter. Computer simulation of an Aerostar at 800 kts. began to show flutter. All of this is published on the web and can be found if you look hard enough. Im just not going to do it here.
Fuel tank issues were all pilot induced. Base to final stalls are just that, base to final stalls. An Aerostar is a 600 to 700 hp. rocket ship. You fly it like a 600 to 700 hp. rocket, not like a Piper Cub, or a DA20, or a DA40, or a DA42 for that matter. Downwind, 18" map, 150 kts., drop 20 degrees of flaps, abeam of the threshhold (1,200 agl) 130 kts., drop gear, full 45 degree flaps, turn towards the runway descending at 120-130 kts., turn towards the runway to align, props full forward, cross threshold at 90-95 kts. touch down at 75 80 kts. The first thing anyone and everyone who flies an Aerostar who comes in contact with a newbie is to convey you do not fly the Aerostar slow, you fly it fast. It didn't take me long to see that after a few lessons with my instructor. Trying to fly an Aerostar without any training, especially a twin of that caliper is nothing short of suicide. Once you see how fast an accelerated stall can occur you understand why. This is not your mothers DA40. Once you know of the accelerated stall, you know how not to get yourself in trouble.
9.) My initial insurance was a million smooth with a hull of $150,000.00. I was required to take ground school and flight training from an accredited Aerostar flight training center. Minimum requirement were complete ground school, 10 hrs. flight instruction, 10 hrs. solo and ifr proficiency check every year. Total cost first year was just under $4,000.00.
If I think of anything else I will add.
Again, I am not here to criticize Diamond. I wish they could have given me what I was looking for. Thank God I was able to stumble upon the Aerostar.

