Beechcraft 2000A Starship
Looking like something out of a science fiction movie, the Beechcraft 2000A Starship, appears to be flying at a high rate of speed when it is just sitting in the Arizona sun. When it was built, the Starship was one of the most advanced aircraft of its type. Its development began in 1982 when Beechcraft contracted with Burt Rutan's Scaled Composites to refine a design they had begun in-house and to develop an 85% scale proof of concept (POC) aircraft. The POC was built and flown successfully albeit without some of the details planned for the production version, such as a pressurized cabin and approved avionics. The design is unconventional in that it incorporates a two-pusher-prop configuration, no tail, winglets and a variable geometry canard. Oh, it also sports a carbon fiber composite airframe. Beechcraft underestimated the engineering challenges of this design and overestimated the market for such an aircraft. Fifty-three were built but only 11 were sold — a few were leased. As of January 2010, nine Starships held an active registration with the FAA.
Size: 7345px × 4897px
Location: Tucson, AZ
Photo credit: © B. David Cathell / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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