It’s a pretty picture, that’s for sure. Tooling along at Flight Level 280, truing out at 260 knots in pressurized comfort, a pair of powerplants humming away as the miles slip behind you. If you hadn’t already read the title, you’d probably be thinking “turboprop” right now. Unless you already fly an Aerostar. Then you’d know.
Designed by aviation legend Ted Smith, the Aerostar twin has been around for more than 40 years, though it’s been out of production for more than 20. While the Aerostar 702P isn’t a new airplane, this mod package, done by and at the factory, represents the likely pinnacle of Aerostar development. Short of bolting on turbofan or turboprop engines, just about everything that could conceivably be done to make the airplane fly faster or handle better has already been done.
