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. www.airspacemag.com My video on the Beechcraft Starship: www.youtube.com My video on the Piaggio Avanti: www.youtube.com Robert Scherer’s Starship web site: www.bobscherer.com A book entitled “The Starship Diaries” may also be of interest you: www.starshipdiaries.com Enjoy art in motion. My thanks to the History Channel for the production of this program. .