I would modify this and say "If a prebuy isn't done by a reputable shop - run, don't walk."

When I bought my Aerostar, I knew nothing about them. I literally found out about the airplane 24 hours before I owned it. I had 0.5 hours in one a decade earlier.

My IA (which had never touched one) and myself got it airworthy and maintained it for five or so years before I sold it. The reputable shop that it was taken to for the prebuy said the squawk list was significantly shorter than many that he sees maintained with an "open checkbook" at several big name Aerostar shops.

Like most airplanes, 90% of the maintenance is just common sense items. With support from AOA, the Aerostar Forum and Aerostar, most maintenance isn't difficult. Other than one or two challenging issues, they are just an airplane....

why did you buy it? Asking for my own knowledge- I'm looking for something practical for my family; and I have decision paralysis between another pressurized twin, or SETP (higher cap-ex).

The price was embarrassing low.

Looking at putting a GWX75 in my aerostar.
Does anyone know if it will hold a 12" antenna or only the 10?

I believe this has now been discontinued in favor of the GWX 8000 StormOptix.

I believe the GWX75 and GWX8000 are basically the same hardware with different unlock options on XI displays.

Garmin still lists GWX75 as a current product.
The unlock to add the fancy GWN8000 stuff is like 14K and
9K for ground clutter suppression... and turbulence detection....
(not sure if the 14K include the 9K, but given its garmin my guess is they are differnt.)

I installed a GWX70 with a 12” antenna into an Aerostar in 2016. The GWX75 is dimensionally identical to the GWX70. The GWX8000 is a GWX75 with a software upgrade that utilizes computing power in the GTN, GX000 Or G500/600xi to post-process the returns

The GWX8000 unlock includes all unlocks including GCS. I don’t know the current price but it was about $13K when I did it

Question about the Superstar II, is there room to put a turbo blanket on or is it even legal?

On my Superstar II everything around the turbo is well insulated and has either stainless steel sleeves, orange fire sleeve wrap, or is coated with orange high temp silicone. Mine has the Machen control cable relocation where all of the cables are relocated to behind the firewall. Even my engine mount has a stainless steel wrap on it. With that big retractable cowl flap on the top of the engine I am not sure if a turbo wrap would be beneficial or if it would only hinder the cooling transfer / dissipation of the heat by shielding the turbo from the airflow that you get with the cowl flap open, or partially open. I am certainly no aeronautical engineer, but I can only assume that the purpose of moving the air inlets for the ram air from the top half of the cowls to the bottom half was to change the air flow pathway to accommodate the J2BD engines and the exhausts being on top of the engines vs being on the bottom side of the engines.

The engine compartments definitely don’t have any extra room in behind the engines to work.

Engine photo was taken right after I bought the aircraft prior to me cleaning up the engine compartments. I had to install new dry air pumps due to the aircraft setting for a few years. They lasted less than 5 hours before they started to fail. They weren’t as bad to change out as I thought they would be.

Thanks, Frank

Thx. I have not actually seen one but have heard it’s tight and the heat is hard on everything in there. I like the idea of only one turbo instead of two per engine to deal with but also know they come with their own set of problems

Bryan, we spoke about mine and I'm biased of course, but I really do think the info on the Aerostar Owners Association in regards to the Superstar II not only out of date, but also misleading. I think Mr. Frank Bullard would probably agree and I would love for him to chime in here (as he probably has much more up to date numbers).

When you actually speak to Superstar II owners, they love them and don't experience higher maintenance costs or higher failure rates. Yes, they have their known weak spots (cowl flap motors, changing oil filter and the stupid dual magneto), but with PE owning Hartzell/Knisley now, prices for the two turbo models have skyrocketed. Like 3-5x. I used toy be able to overhaul a turbo on my 601P for $1500-2000 when I owned mine, now I hear they're $5K a piece. And it has two. On the Superstar II, any Navajo salvage or repair shop can help you out.

Also, the numbers for the Superstar II on the AOA website were also based mainly on numbers from a vendor in NorCal, who's admittedly great, but he's the service center type of mechanic with white glove treatment, caramel bonbons on your logbook and embossed tissue over the headrest. Everything is very, very expensive there, skewing the numbers for that old AOA guide. There are ways to skin a cat.

If it was that easy to fix don't you think it would have been done by now?

Those have been flying since the early 80’s - if not the late 70’s.

Never know, I had to ask. We started using them in the early 2k’s on trucks but wasn’t sure if it had been tried or just flat out no room for it

Brother Adam,

If there’s anyone who ought to be convinced by now that quality specialists are worthwhile, I would think it would be you. You owned a turbine for many years that you could never fly or enjoy primarily due to Morris Kernick, a convicted aviation fraudster also reportedly responsible for the deaths of several due to his poor maintenance. Wasn’t even a mechanic. I recall you had a fuel leak because he drilled through a fuel bag to run a wire to the wingtip. And that was just one example of many.

I sold my Aerostar back to the original owner in part because I had to fly 1000 miles to Joel for an oil change. I would not trust anyone to maintain the plane who didn’t know the airframe intimately. Sadly, the local guy had a bunch of dead clients. No thanks.

So I am shocked you’d disparage a known quality Aerostar expert in this way. It makes no sense to me other than joining the usual piling on from certain jet owners on this forum. More than any other factor, including the type certificate holder in many cases, the specialists keep these types of planes viable and flying safely period. If you own one and don’t support them, you’re shooting yourself in the foot.