Video sponsored by Airmodels.net airmodels.net/... Raj Narinan gives us a detailed Walkaround tour of his awesome Beechcraft Starship. #starship #beechcraft #beech #canard #flying #plane #airplane
If he had worked for Beechcraft, maybe they might have sold better! Such a great airplane. Tragic that so many were destroyed and so few remain flying.
The Starship deserves even more emphasis on its engine out handling and performance, which enhances safety to a level that we simply don’t see enough of. Look at how far apart the propellers are on a King Air versus the propellers on the Starship. Just by eye it’s easy to tell how the engine out controllability would be much better on the Starship. Last summer at the same airport where this was filmed (ADS), a King Air 350i crashed after takeoff. Surveillance videos captured the accident, which are difficult to watch, but they showed exactly what happened; engine failure after takeoff and subsequent loss of control with no survivors. Could that accident have been prevented if the same engine failure occurred in a Starship? The fact is, asymmetrical thrust has caused accidents for decades, so airplanes that have less of it are safer by default. Also worth mentioning is how good the single engine power loading is on the Starship. With less asymmetrical thrust force, the engines can be more powerful without creating an unacceptably high minimum control speed, and that’s exactly what the designers did. Light twins used in the training environment have so poor single engine climb capability because of how underpowered they are on one engine (>19 lb/hp). Acceptable engine out performance starts to happen around 17 lb/hp, and good performance at 15 lb/hp. The Starship is substantially better than good at 12.4 lb/hp!
For a while, I was seeing him often flying out of IAD (KIAD). I live under one of the arrival routes, and the sound is so distinctive, I could hear it, run outside, and see it fly over. And he got around. One time I happened to be vacationing in Key West, and saw him fly in there, and take off later. Haven't seen him around in a while -- I hope he's o.k. -- and the aircraft too.
I’ve been in love with this airplane since I saw it in an airplane card collection in early childhood. To me it represents bold innovation and daring to be unique, an essence of 80s technology.
I was sitting on my boat enjoying some wine and heard an odd aircraft sound. I was witnessing one of the first flight tests as the Starship as it banked all the way around my position. It was so beautiful. Sexiest aircraft EVER. Screw the FAA for being unwavering on this masterpiece.
The FAA wan't the factor. Low sales volume, high maintenance costs, and being far ahead of its time were the big factors. The Starship had a very distinctive sound. You knew what it was without looking up. Beautiful in flight too.
Near unlimited life airframe, engine & parts in current production, flys at 41K ft, excellent one-engine operation, turbo-prop fuel frugality, let's destroy them all.
I remember when one of these came to KBOS when I was a flight coordinator for Continental Airlines, and I had the privilege to step inside one. At that time I was a newly licensed pilot and was totally blown away by all that "new technology ". Man they had to drag me off that plane so they could continue on their journey . I though for sure that this was the future and that this is what I wanted to fly. But of course it was not to be. WAY ahead of its time.
What a beautiful and futuristic aircraft, even today! Thank you so much for sharing this with us, glad to see a couple are still flying and seem to be well looked after. I hope to see it flying one day.
wow Erik, that was fantastic, lots of things i did not know about the starship mainly the flight deck. super cool. thanks for bringing us an intresting look at such an unusual & rare bird
This is the best explanation of the Beechcraft Starship and it systems that I have seen! Thanks for posting! I worked at Evergreen Air Center at Pinal Air Park when the Starships were flown in to be scrapped and it was a shame to see them get chopped up. Luckily a few survived to be flown out to museums and its good to know that there are still 4 remaining airworthy examples.
I was at a shop on short final at KADS yesterday and heard this MASSIVE noise of an AC (well a lot louder than most of the operations at KADS) about to cross the fence. I "ran" outside to see a Starship and was giggling like I'd just won the lottery. My research brought me here and I had no idea that two of these were based at KADS, or that 6 were still flying. I was surprised how loud this AC is from behind and at what I assume was flight idle on short final. Too cool.
What an amazing airplane and great video! As a kid growing up in Wichita, the incredibly unique sound of the Starship flying across town would get us to clear the house to go watch it fly over. I remember the buzz surrounding the airplane and the small 6” carbon Starship rulers that we had at the house after dad snagged a few. It’s a shame she had to be a martyr for composite certification but I am so thankful a few are still flying and I hope I get to see and hear one again. Thanks for sharing!
I was surprised to here that this pusher configuration was quiet to the ground observer. The only pusher plane i have heard…..the Italian Piaggio ……..is outrageously noisier than similar sized plans of normal forward facing engines. So much so that it’s occasional visits to Biggin Hill Airport chased storms of protests from local residents.
I have always been fond of the Starship. It was a treat to see it in this detail. A lot of the avionics look pretty familiar after 8 years behind an old proline 4 system.
@John Johns It’s time? So we should scrap every airplane made before 1980? That would be most of the fleet airplanes last a long time. The B-52 mission life designed for less than 10 years has been extended to 100 years. The only reason Beechcraft bought them back was fear of liability, corporate lawyers decision.
I think I like this avionics setup better than any modern G1000 or similar glass panel configuration in terms of design, and visual usability. It’s 80’s tech with CRT’s and chunky switches but somehow it all comes together really nicely.
What an amazing aircraft - way beyond its time. Seems many aircraft and instrument manufacturers were inspired by this futuristic bird. Great walkaround, thanks!
Awesome EJ《☆》Wow👍Raj only said Piaggio once at 23:00 referring to generic wing lights😁The Starship definitely has some advantages. No FADEC. I didn't see any Garmin products either hahaha. Thanks for the tour fellas🖖😎☮
Thank you so much for posting this! I've always thought the Starship was one of the coolest aircraft around. I've seen it at Oshkosh a number of times and occasionally one flies into Spirit of St. Louis (KSUS) next to where I work.
That was a very clear and comprehensive explanation, one of the most enjoyable I have seen. Thank you. And how nice would it be to see these put back into production - updated of course.
Of all of the aircraft I have flown in and maintained this beautiful example of aviation was one I never had a chance to touch, she is by far my favorite aircraft I have seen in the civilian market
A couple years ago I was near Fresno Ca. when I heard what I knew was a twin, but the sound was very different. I looked up and saw my first and only Starship. I went through the A&P course at Reedley College. Our instructor knew the Rutan brothers personally and spoke of them often.
"The engines are in the back so it's very quiet. You don't need a headset in the cockpit." 25:24 Turns on hurricane-level fans to cool all the avionics?
I was lucky enough to have lived a few miles from Beechcraft in Wichita, Ks. Seen it sitting at the end of the runway running it engines what seem like wide open before take off. It was very noisy when taking off but was a pretty airplane. I enjoyed watching all of Beech's aircraft taking off and landing. Then they build a new runway so could not get a good up and close viewing of the take offs and landings.
-- Erik Johnston, That you are the primary maintenance engineer on this aircraft qualifies the confidence you exude during your walk-around. Although I am not engaged in any facet of maintenance, engineering, nor piloting, I feel that you have demonstrated, more than adequately, essential and peripheral safety considerations, design significance, performance and appreciation for your industry and personal endeavors, therein. Thank you for your time and effort in producing this video. I wish you good health and clear horizons, K (photographer, et al).
I worked for Beechcraft Wichita back in the 70s as a NC machinist. I liked it there and the supervisors were easy to work for. I went to Boeing though for a lot more money. 😊 They had not started the starship before i left. I do not understand why Beech bought most of these back if they were such good planes. They could have upgraded a few things like getting rid of CRT screens and installing LCDs. Those old screens generate a lot of heat. Did they have electric motor powered cabin pressurization and heating, or did they use bleed air? Id love to hear more stats like climb rate and speed. The exhaust hitting the blades made a lot of noise. A very distinct sound.
Still my personal favorite looking private/civilian prop driven airplanes ever. The design of this aircraft was absolute genius as is the name it was given. Unfortunately it didn’t become very popular and used wide scale. Partly due to it very high cost, you could buy a jet for what you paid for this aircraft. It is so quiet inside versus any other prop driven aircraft that I’ve ever been in. It would be awesome to see the starship as a jet as well.
Total comprehensive walkaround! I've forgotten...are they counter-rotating engines? Would be fascinating to know what your daytime profession is.. Must be well! Thanks much for sharing. Such a beautiful aircraft!
What a presentation! One of the best I've seen. Very informative and well delivered. Wonder what the descent rate is at minimum controllable airspeed. I assume that is the vertical speed at which you land the airplane. Do you have to have the bucking effect in the right phase for minimum airspeed landings? Even if it doesn't actually stall, it still comes back to earth somehow. Just wondering. Thank you.
This is a wonderful airframe. Its demise was a mistake Beech made in the contract for maintainnce. It had issued the contract to one company to cover all issues at a low cost to the owner. However the company that held the contract abused its "powers" by overcharging Beech in costs to repair anything since they held a monopoly for service. This was a very foolish move on Beeches part as not allowing several more companies to hold repair contracts which would have provided competition in keeping prices low. Bottom line is that service is what killed the project. A re release of this aircraft today would probably be a bit more successful knowing all that has been learned in previous mistakes. Technology would shave several hundred pounds off of instrumentation alone as well as eliminating the flap system which would save an additional 2-3 hundred pounds off of flaps and control equipment. Even the climate control system could be upgraded to more common refrigerants, the Starship used either R-12 or R-22 refrigerant which is nearly impossible to find today. Too bad it would take several million to receive "re certification" in its updated design making it impractical to market. It is one of the safest designs out there, from what I have read in the past there was one gear up landing ( for what reason the gear was not extended I can not remember ) where the aircraft suffered only superficial damage to the underside and I believe it was easily repaired and placed into service again. Too bad Beech pulled all of the aircraft back, most were on leases and the operators were offered King Airs in exchange. They should have offered to sell the aircraft to these operators and at that point drop the service contract with the single company and opened it up to any Beech service center. I was surprised to see so many airframes in the Boneyard, was this a recent photo? I thought that Beech paid several million to destroy the aircraft through an EPA certified recycler where the airframes were to be ground up and incinerated in special equipment so as not to release any harmful byproducts of the resins used in the construction. I believe several years ago there was also an operator in France that had a Starship with a valid airworthiness certificate and a spare airframe. Wonder if this company acquired it.
I've been in aviation for 45 years. I walked into a hangar one day in Great Bend, KS and it was full of Starships. I didn't know at time they were all slated for the crusher. I asked one of the operators on the field why there were so many. He didn't tell me anything other than Beechcraft was "storing them". I think he knew. This was on old military quonset hut so it could hangar quite a few. We didn't have cameras in phones back then so I didn't get any pictures.
Just a little mention regarding the comment that the Starship was the first plane made fully of composites manufactured and certified worldwide. That is not entirely correct. The first full composite aircraft certified worldwide was the Wassmer 50, in France (1969). That plane resembled a lot the Piper Cherokee. There were various versions with engines of different power (150 to 180 hp Lycoming). All were fixed gear. The Rushmeyer design was based ont he Wassmer 50 series with a retractable gear. I was fortunate to display my Wassmer 54 in 2005 at AIRVENTURE on Aeroshell Plazza. It was parked not far from a collection of Burt Rutan designs. Burt was astonished to see that the only structural metallic part on the plane was the pitch trim tab. We had flown the plane accros the North Atlantic (no autopilot) with my wife to attend AIRVENTURE, departing from France, and flying VFR. We returned in France after the show. Still the Starship is a dream plane and concentrates so many innovative technologies and design novelties that it makes it a unique aircraft. A pity the the FAA required so much changes and unnecessary material resulting in additional weight. I would love to see how this aircraft would have progresse over the years.
What a fantastic plane! I hope to see some flying in it. However; "On the one hand, the single unique thing about the guy presenting it was his love for this plane. On the other hand, the unique thing was how well he knew the airplane. On the third hand, the single unique thing was his unique language - every word was unique, and all of them were the most unique word."
Thank you for your tour the Starship was and is a beautiful plane. I remember seeing one at the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum in McMinnville Oregon, when I lived in the Pacific Northwest it was sitting on their back lot they had not yet put it on display.
When I was in high school, a Beechcraft Starship actually flew over my house, and I was there to see it! I also ran across one of these in the very early 2000's at Brown Field south of San Diego. It was apparently chartered for some band. I saw the band planing up, but I didn't recognize them. I have no idea if they were big or not. I probably should've been bold enough to ask. I did touch the Starship I saw at Brown Field, so I can say I have at least done that!
I painted all the Starships Right Side. Ship 2 to 53. It was a Large part of my Life. Painted 2 with Lester Biggs. Most of the rest I painted with my Dear Friend Jeff Banks, Who has Cancer now, I believe is Caused from years of hard work painting Aircraft. Chad Blanc painted with me on a few. He painted 53 with me. Now I'm the Piston Flight painter at Beechcraft. Those where fun days. Jerry Woods let me do them. Charlie Wade worked us like Dogs. He became my dear friend. He's gone as are so Many People who made the Starship Possible.
In 2004 I landed at Pinal airport AZ.It is an airplane scrap yard.There was a row of starships there maybe 8 aircraft.I wondered if they were all scrapped.
It is an attractive plane. I always admire aircraft that go beyond conventional design. Even better when going beyond such design has a functional purpose too.
The Starship, in my opinion, is the most beautiful commercially available aircraft of all time. Burt Rutan is an absolute genius and pioneered his canard system. I met Burt in about 1972 at a little airport in Newton, KS where he was working for Jim Bede on the little BD-5. Burt was showing off his VariViggen there also. He came to our radio control aircraft club meeting in Wichita and showed old home movies from when he was a kid (he was still really young at the time) showing him experimenting with his designs by building a r/c model airplanes and flying them. I believe Burt will be revered as on of the greatest minds in aviation to have ever lived.
I hardly care how this plane works as it is so beautiful that I would rather look at and photograph it than fly in it, It is wonderful to watch on ground and in the air.. Incredible engineering. Thanks
I can't believe some are *flying!!!* I thought none even _existed_ anymore!! King Air should bring this thing back, now that composites have really rooted their way into the industry!!
I worked at a Wood Die Model Shop where we built a lot of the models used to make the dies to make the parts to build it. It was pretty cool to build the Starship out of wood full size. Everything used to start with die model.
When I was working at a major defense contractor, they had one of these as one of their corporate aircraft. Everyone who flew in it cursed it as the roughest-riding aircraft they had ever flown in. Anyone else have any first-hand experience with it?
Sensational presentation on a really fascinating aircraft. So well presented and filmed - I'm a PT6 maintenance/overhaul engineer and its so enjoyable to see this kind of video.
The Starship has always been my favorite Beech aircraft... So much so that I have a framed picture of the cockpit in my office... Flew King Airs in the 80's but never got the chance to fly the Starship...
i would love to see the same shape built again with modern tech. i mean all the computers inside gotta fit into 1 smartphone today and i bet carbon fiber materials are better nowadays too
Wow, incredible knowledge about this aircraft, well done Raj! Interesting that the placard inside the cockpit for the radio call doesn't match the n-number on the outside.