History Channel: Starship Boneyard

The Beechcraft Starship is now an extremely rare aircraft, only five are currently flying world-wide. I was fortunate enough to be able to capture video of two back in October 2000.

Nowadays you might see a newer aircraft of similar configuration, it's probably the Piaggio Avanti. The most noticeable difference on the exterior is the rudder system (Winglet "Sails" vs. T-Tail). Unlike the all composite fuselage of the Starship, the Avanti's is conventional aluminum. Both aircraft really know how to "haul the mail."

Here's a link to a Smithsonian Air & Space article entitled "Beached Starship" that has some more of the Starship story. The photo with the on-line article is of a LearFan, a third revolutionary twin-engine pusher-prop configuration that failed to make it into production.
http://www.airspacemag.com/military-aviation/starship.html

My video on the Beechcraft Starship:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5T-QdXvARJ8

My video on the Piaggio Avanti:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUJ0i3-_Yxc

Robert Scherer's Starship web site:
http://www.bobscherer.com/Pages/Starship.htm

A book entitled "The Starship Diaries" may also be of interest you:
http://www.starshipdiaries.com/book.html

Enjoy art in motion.

My thanks to the History Channel for the production of this program.

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Category:

Education

Tags:

• Beechcraft
• Starship
• N514RS
• Burt
• Rutan
• Piaggio
• Avanti
• canard
• wing
• LVK
• KLVK
• Spaceship
• One
• Scherer

[helljumpr5150]

I wonder if the maintenance manuals for it still exist.

[paralleler]

@helljumpr5150 I'm not sure about maintenance manuals but there is a book entitled "The Starship Diaries" you might want to check out. I can't put a HTML link in this response but I have it above in the video description under "Show more" or you can Google it.

[S9297AircraftReviews]

where did you get the fact that there is 4 left flying today?



[paralleler]

@S9297AircraftReviews One of the Starship owners, Robert Scherer, has a very good web site on the aircraft. His site, along with a search of FAA aircraft registration of Beech 2000, shows five Starships active. There is a link to Mr. Scherer's web site above in the video information above.

[MrCsviper]

A real beauty, got to see one in a hanger next to mine. Shes stripped but none the less a beautiful piece of engineering.

[JustaRegularPatriot]

Typical government ineptitude. It says in the video it's 5x stronger than aluminum! Someone please enlighten me on the FAA's thought process!

Nevertheless, the most beautiful, elegant and harmonious airframe ever built IMO.

One used to fly out of Bermuda Dunes airport and right over my real estate office in Sky Valley, though it's been a year or so since I've seen it. I'd run outside whenever I heard its' distinctive exhaust note to pay homage.

[R5H4D0W]

I have never in my life actually seen one in real life, but I have witnessed several times another similar aircraft, an P180 Avanti by Piaggio Aero... Fell in love with that at first sight, but it will take several years before I can get remotely close to owning one. There's definitely something about pusher props that raises eyebrows

[azimuth361]

Great plane. Pity it came out before its time.

[rpscherer]

@eelb53 You can dismiss the false rumors you have heard. The Starship meets or exceeds her published book performance figures. I fly over 330 kts all the time and have flown many times at FL 410. I also get book range numbers every time. The Starship is the best airplane Beechcraft ever built; quiet and vibration free as a jet and solid as a Mercedes Benz.

[eelb53]

@rpscherer Well, I have 15,000 hours in everything from Cherokees to DC-9's, so I wouldn't say I'm completely clueless. I just know when I managed a corporate flight department when the Starship came out, it was difficult to justify the cost when compared to other aircraft of similar performance. What few pilots I've run into through the years, who have actually flown the Starship, all conclusively stated it failed to meet to meet book performance figures.

[rpscherer]

@eelb53 You never flew one; so you're excused for being completely clueless. The performance specs I stated are for the actual production Starship, right out of the Pilot's Operating Handbook.. The airplane has a cruise speed of over 330 knots, not 280 as you state. As a current Starship owner/pilot with over 2500 hours in the type, I can verify these specs. And just so you know, every pilot who has ever flown the Starship (and I know a lot of them) loves the airplane.

[eelb53]

@rpscherer The legacy of the Starship is that it appeals to airplane groupies, who have no idea about the economics of owning and operating a corporate aircraft. Just because an airplane looks exotic and cool, doesn't make it practical. All said and done, it was a turboprop, with high acquisition and operational costs. It didn't break any new ground in performance. There's a lot of airplanes that could do the same thing for a lot less money.