Beechcraft Starship (Video)

I'd seen it before, but was glad to see it again.

An amazing plane and amazing history. I'm glad he's still flying her.
 
My brother flew the Starship for Beechcraft and really liked the ship. Back in 2000 Beechcraft was storing two in the other 1/2 of my hangar at KHUT. Hutchinson was the place for them to go during flight training too. What I found unmistakable was the sound that they made in flight, it sounded like a turbine Skymaster.

My father lost his medical and stopped flying back in 1981. My brother picked him up one time in a starship for a flight to Little Rock. This had quite an impact on my father after flying old Sabreliners
 
I would assume they sound something like a Piaggio.
 
Awesome video, thank you for linking it. =)
Also, with the counter-rotating props so close to centerline I wonder what sort of Vmc/OEI characteristics it has.
 
This is actually a good History Channel DVD. Goes into how they store aircraft at AMARC as well.
 
Thanx for the link...
I regularly see a bunch of Starships setting at the Marana airport (KAVQ), 'not sure if they are his or Raytheon's. I'd heard the lore, but it was nice getting the real story... thanx.
PS- in the picture (from Google Earth), you can see a bunch of "tracks" near the aircraft... the Sports Car Club of America races cars right there!
 

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CT4ME said:
Thanx for the link...
I regularly see a bunch of Starships setting at the Marana airport (KAVQ), 'not sure if they are his or Raytheon's. I'd heard the lore, but it was nice getting the real story... thanx.
PS- in the picture (from Google Earth), you can see a bunch of "tracks" near the aircraft... the Sports Car Club of America races cars right there!
Click to expand...

Have they been tearing them down like they said in the video or are they left pretty much intact?
 
The ones at Marana are pristine looking... Down the road at the boneyard, not so much.
 
Thank you for the link to the Starhip video! Had not seen it before.

A short story with photos. Some years ago a friend had asked me to go with him and see the launch of SpaceShipOne. I had not idea what it or the event was, but I joined him in the Mojave desert where we (and many others) were there for the event.

SpaceShipOne was cool and all, but what got my attention was "The Chase Plane", a Beech 2000 Starship (I had not idea that's what it was back then).

Here are a few snapshops of SpaceShipOne and Beech Starship from that event

Mohave desert early in the morning
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Space Ship One before takeoff (or is it assisted launch?)
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Beech 2000 Starship, the chase plane
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Not sure who was chasing what here, but it looked cool
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... and everyone was looking
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After Space Ship One landed, it was paraded (towed by a truck) so we could all see and cheer ;)
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I didn't call in sick that day :D because I was working the late shift, so we made it back to work after it was all over. Once on the job that evening, my friend and I were covered head to toe in dust and sand. I don't think I got much work done that night but I got some nice memories.
 
I spent a bit of time in Starships that our race team chartered occasionally. I got some right seat time as well though not loggable.....
The pilots didn't think that much of the planes as they used as much fuel as a King Air and didn't have the same cruise speed. They had so many "fixes" to design issues that the handling was odd....things like the canard sweeping back when you dropped the flaps just to keep the CP and CG from drifting too far apart or too close. The rudder/stabilizer underneath that was supposed to take out the waddle (and didn't) etc. The big deal according to the guys we talked to was the high-tech glass cockpit that was a bit ahead of its time but required costly maintainence and upgrades. All the planes we flew in were leased by Cutter aviation of Phoenix and Albuquerque and they said beech wouldn't sell them because it cost too much to be saleable. The were neat airplanes but not perfect. A good step in the right direction for composites and glass cockpits and someone had to be first. The next race team I worked for bought a King Air 350 and it was cheaper and more comfy, just didn't look as cool.


Frank
 
RS was parked at Aspen late last month and flies to KADS from time to time.
 
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The pilots didn't think that much of the planes as they used as much fuel as a King Air and didn't have the same cruise speed.
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Interesting. They were faster than the King Air.

I flew the P.180 (not a starship) for a thousand hours or so. It cruised at FL410, had the same fuel burn as the BE-20, and flew a hundred knots faster.

The starship wasn't as fast, but did top out at FL410.
 
i watched a Starship land here in Wichita yesterday as I was soaring over the northeast side of town in my glider. Cool planes. It is interesting to talk to some of the people who worked at Beech on that project.
 
Are you sure it was a Starship? Very rare these days. Piaggio's are all over the place, and because of the configuration, are often mistaken for a Starship (although they're nothing alike).
 
well he called himself Starship on the radio, and so did Wichita Approach when they were talking to him.
 
Must have been, then. They're a rare sighting these days. One is based down at Orange County, in California. I used to run into him around the west at times.

I picked up a dozen or so airplanes at Pinal Air Park (AZ) last year, and saw the row of Starships parked then. They've been there for quite some time. Rumor was that Beech was destroying them, and I believe they did destroy a number of them.

The owner from Orange County (probably the same one flying with the Starship One affair in the pictures above) told me the there were two left flying.
 
CT4ME said:
Thanx for the link...
I regularly see a bunch of Starships setting at the Marana airport (KAVQ), 'not sure if they are his or Raytheon's. I'd heard the lore, but it was nice getting the real story... thanx.
PS- in the picture (from Google Earth), you can see a bunch of "tracks" near the aircraft... the Sports Car Club of America races cars right there!
Click to expand...

These are, as I understand it, the privately owned parts birds for one of the few still-flying models.

Growing up in Wichita (my high school is about two blocks from the Beech factory airport) these airplanes have always been something special to me. I still see RS out in ASE a lot!

EDIT: All these pictures were taken in March of this year.
 

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iWantWings said:
Thank you for the link to the Starhip video! Had not seen it before.

A short story with photos. Some years ago a friend had asked me to go with him and see the launch of SpaceShipOne. I had not idea what it or the event was, but I joined him in the Mojave desert where we (and many others) were there for the event.

SpaceShipOne was cool and all, but what got my attention was "The Chase Plane", a Beech 2000 Starship (I had not idea that's what it was back then).

Here are a few snapshops of SpaceShipOne and Beech Starship from that event

Mohave desert early in the morning

Space Ship One before takeoff (or is it assisted launch?)
Beech 2000 Starship, the chase plane
Not sure who was chasing what here, but it looked cool
... and everyone was looking
After Space Ship One landed, it was paraded (towed by a truck) so we could all see and cheer ;)

I didn't call in sick that day :D because I was working the late shift, so we made it back to work after it was all over. Once on the job that evening, my friend and I were covered head to toe in dust and sand. I don't think I got much work done that night but I got some nice memories.
Click to expand...

I am supremely jealous that you got to watch that in person! I watched the entire live feed of all their flights from the computers in the university library - I would have LOVED to have been there myself!
 
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