Aerostar's Not Here, Is Home Working

Aerostar Aircraft Corporation does not have a booth at NBAA. Vice-president Jim Christy says that the company is busy with the final stages of raising $40 million to certificate and produce a twin-engine business jet based on Ted Smith's sleek, fast Aerostar piston twin, which was produced first by Smith's company and then by Piper in the 1960s and 1970s. A new company, Aerostar Jet LLC, should be formed early next year to develop the new aircraft, named FJ-100.

A finance announcement could be made around the time of the show, and could involve a move from the company's base in Hayden Lake, ID. Aerostar president Steve Speer and Christy are talking to some other communities about financial support, as well as some foreign investors.

The FJ-100 will be a new-build aircraft with a new type certificate, says Christy, but the first conforming flight-test aircraft will be modified from an existing Aerostar. Other Aerostars with piston engines will be used to test systems and components. The result is that the program is paced by the availability of flight-cleared Williams FJ33 engines. The engine ran this summer and is less than a year away from delivery. With a program start by the end of the year, the first flight should take place in 2002, with first deliveries by June 2003.

Aerostar has taken orders for 25 aircraft at $1.95 million apiece. This far ahead of delivery, says Christy, "we don't need more orders." The company expects to deliver 17 aircraft in the first year, double that number in 2004 and 50 FJ-100s in 2005. Current plans call for a production line that could build 70 aircraft a year-a very profitable production rate, according to Christy. The current Aerostar company is FAA-approved to produce Aerostar parts and subassemblies. "All we lack is the final sign-off to produce aircraft and do assembly and flight test," says Christy.

Christy points to the Aerostar's original design as the reason for the startlingly low development cost. From the outset, Smith designed the Aerostar to be built with pistons, turboprops or jets. (For history buffs, the engine first considered was the Turbomeca Astafan, with its variable-pitch fan, which was tested on one of Smith's Commanders.) The Aerostar was designed for a 241 kt indicated airspeed (IAS); the jet will have a modestly greater IAS limit (260 kt) which accommodates its design 415 kt true airspeed limit at jet altitudes. Consequently, much of the flight envelope has already been explored.

Other features, including a rigid pushrod flight control system, accommodate the jump to jet speed. The FJ-100's cruciform tail and stretched fuselage were tested in the 1970s on the Aerostar 800, a pressurized aircraft with eight-cylinder Lycoming engines. The new aircraft will require some systems and component changes (such as dual-pane windows) and will have thicker skins in some places, but will otherwise be similar to the original Aerostar. Avionics specifications have not yet been defined.

Speed and efficiency will be the Aerostar's selling points, along with enough range (1,750 nmi) to cover either coast or to fly a one-stop transcontinental mission. Maximum cruise altitude will be 41,000 feet, and operating costs are estimated at 93 cents per mile. The six-place Aerostar will not have the industry's largest cabin, but that also saves weight and improves performance.