Corn starch is bad for tires. It reacts with moisture and degrades over time as microbes attack it and the starch molecules denature. Not an issue for a baby's bottom that gets bathed every day, but an issue for stuff that's trapped inside a tire for months or years.

Talc is a mineral, it doesn't degrade with time.

There is also silicone based tire powder, which works well too. I've been using it for several years.

https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/ ... -11180.php

Thanks Larry.

For the Aerostar nose tire changes and other gear door inspection issues, what I used to do with mine was put some shipping blankets on the horizontal stabilizers right at the base by the tail cone. Then lay bags of tube sand like you get at hardware store to increase car weight/traction in snow. Mine were 70# each. I think I usually used two on each side. You can then hook a simple ratchet strap to the tail tie-down ring and lift the nose tire without much force. The other advantage of using a counterweight system is that it will prevent loss of limb/life if the strap/anchor breaks with somebody under the nose. Be careful, as you pull the tail down, it gets easier and easier and then it just wants to tip onto its tail once you lift high enough…so don’t lift that high or be ready for it with a tail stand.

As to the frequent tube failures…not sure on that. Use high quality tubes, check tire pressure regularly so tube won’t spin and shear valve stem, make sure inside of tire is clean with no debris. Use the more expensive yellow metal valve stem caps with o-rings as they will stop a leak or slow it down if the valve loosens. I’m not sure why the Aerostar was more prone to tire issues than other planes I’ve owned, but I took to carrying a valve stem tool in my wallet because I had a couple times when I unscrewed the cap to check pressure and it loosened the stem.

OP mentioned that when he finds the tire flat he puts in a new tube.

Do you use the same tire inflation chuck. I had a problem a few months ago. I usually go around the hangar and inflate tires or check pressures (15 airplanes) about once a month.

For some reason something happened with the tire chuck and when I came back and 6-7 of them had tires low or going flat. I blew them up again and it was worse with audible leakage. The only thing slowing it down was the yellow valve stem caps with gaskets giving some sealing. The chuck had damaged the valve stem cores and I had to replace them.

Try a different one.

Thanks guys. Some good stuff here.
George