N26DS started life as a new 1979 model Piper Aerostar 601P with the registration mark N6073U.  On September 22, 1979 she completed 4.2 hours of test flight time and was awarded a standard airworthiness certificate at the Santa Maria facility of Piper Aircraft.  The first owner was a cosmetic surgeon in Scottsdale AZ, who purchased the plane from Valley Aerostar in Santa Ynez, California.  Gerald Penn of the San Francisco Bay area purchased N6073U in 1984 and changed the registration mark to N601GP.  Mr. Penn is an Aerostar owner presently, and I believe N6073U may have been his first of three Aerostars to date.  In 1990, N601GP continued to its third owner Rick Rives of Medford, Oregon, who owned the plane for two years before it made its way to a military and test pilot by the name of Jeff Peer who looks to have split his time between the Buffalo NY area and Aspen Colorado.  Under his ownership the Superstar modification was done.  After spending a short time based in the east with a Rhode Island based company, N601GP found its way to Jim Moore, a long time owner in Springfield Missouri who owned this Superstar from 1994 until 2004.  I flew this plane back to Boulder Colorado in 2004, where shortly thereafter it went through customizing and refurbishment for the current owner, a machine-shop owner in the Tulsa area of Oklahoma.  A turbine upgrade brings this fantastically equipped and maintained Aerostar to the market presently.

 N26DS is a far cry from the plane that was delivered by Piper in 1979. This plane has a very high pedigree, modified to be a 700 hp Superstar 700 in the early 1990's  by Master Aviation of Danbury Connecticut, a well known Aerostar specialist.  There is no known damage history, and maintenance records are complete since delivery in 1979.  Much of the maintenance on this plane has been done in the well known Aerostar maintenance shops. 

N26DS has a fantastically updated avionics package, with  two WAAS enabled Garmin GPS/Map/Nav/Comms, a GMX-200 multi-function display, and the Aspen primary flight display.  The Century IV autopilot works flawlessly, having had a great deal of money invested in overhauled components and fine tuning.  The systems in this plane all work exceptionally well - power comes up smoothly and evenly, and the needles all match up very well.  The current owner has done blank check maintenance, going well beyond the basics required to keep a Superstar flying.  Nearly all of the available modifications have been done.  Engines were major overhauled with brand new heavy cases, brand new cylinder assemblies from Lycoming, and new camshafts.  Engine mounts were refurbished and powder coated.  All accessories on this plane are low time and functioning correctly.  N26DS is one of the faster known-ice equipped Superstars that I have flown, generally delivering cruise speeds at altitude of 230 knots true at 55%.

Recent annuals on this Aerostar have been done by Aerostar specialist The Flight Shop, in Brigham City Utah.  N26DS had its last annual completed in February of 2015.  Over $600,000 was invested in this plane over the past 10 years to make it one of the nicest flying Superstars in the fleet!

Aerostar 601P

N26DS