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Piper/Ted Smith Aerostar

The Aerostar is the product of famed aircraft designer Ted Smith, whose name is attached to such classics as the A-20 twin-engine bomber and the Twin and Jet Commander lines. In 1963, Smith formed his own company to build a family of fast fliers, all built around the same fuselage, wings and tail. Five years later, the Model 600 emerged in 1968, with normally aspirated Lycoming IO-540 engines and a takeoff weight of 5500 pounds. A year later, the 601 appeared, with a pair of Rajay turbochargers and manually controlled, electrically actuated wastegates on each engine. With turbos, the engines could maintain 290 HP from sea level to 16,000 feet.

Aviation Consumer Staff
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There’s a lot to like about a Piper/Smith Aerostar. As piston twins go, the airplane has decent ramp appeal and passengers generally don’t complain about its cabin dwelling. Fly one and you’ll see why it has a rep for being blazingly fast, while demanding a healthy amount of pilot proficiency. Still, the aircraft has enough power to climb we’ll on a single engine-something that can’t be said for many other piston twins.

But be ready to feed the machine, as the saying goes. The airplane’s Lycomings don’t exactly sip fuel and although it’s not terribly complex, the Aerostar fleet is aging and getting expensive to maintain. But for owners who can afford it, an Aerostar is hard to beat for getting from A to B faster than anything that doesn’t burn Jet A.

Aviation Consumer Staff