Aircraft Information
Aircraft Make: Beechcraft
Aircraft Model: 2000
Aircraft Nickname: Starship
Aircraft Mil Civ Description: Airplane ME Turboprop
Category: Airplane
Class: Multi Engine Land
Engine Description: Twin Engine
First Flown Information
Sequence First Flown:
Date First Flown: 04/26/1991
Location First Flown: NAS Patuxent River, MD
Who and/or What Organization First Flown With: Tom Carr, Beechcraft
Aircraft Experience
As of: 06/06/2020
Number of Hours Flown: 1
Number of Times Flown: 1
Other Aircraft Models Associated: King Air line
Recollections: This flight, in N15535 (I did not record the serial number) was a “Qual Eval” (Qualitative Evaluation) flown when I was an instructor at USNTPS. When I flew this QE I had quite a bit of time/experience in the King Air and my overall memory of this flight–besides it being flown with Tom Carr, a Test Pilot I would 12 years later work with again when I joined the FAA (flight test is indeed a small world!!)–was how amazing it was to me that an airplane that looked SO DIFFERENT (look at the photo) could still be “just a King Air”. I was instantly at home in the cockpit (despite some new-ish avionics which I’m sure I didn’t understand very well), the basic controls were all in the same place as every other King Air. The of flying it was, at least within the scope of that one flight and my memory 30 years later, was just like every other King Air.
The history of the Starship was an interesting one and it came back into my life when I joined the FAA…not because I ever flew it again, but because I heard stories and, from a distance, watched as it’s commercial history played out. There’s always many sides to every story but the “party line” at Beech was that the FAA had made it so hard to certify this unusual design (composite, pusher, canard, etc) that it grew too expensive. FAA bubbas around at the time had a different take, of course (since I wasn’t involved, I reserve opinion). Regardless, the cost of this 300-ish knot airplane was the same as a 400+ knot bizjet and, so, only the most diehard owners kept it going. Beech, tired of having to support it, tried to get rid of all the starships, scraping the ones they could and offering to give Startship owners a jet in return for their prop. But, airplane owners are nothing if not stubborn and so–to this day–a few remain flying. There’s even a Facebook page for the Starship. I feel lucky to have gotten to fly one, even if just once…and even if early in my Navy career when I had no idea I’d “meet” the airplane again under wholly different circumstances.
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