OT- beech starships still flying?

[patrick mitchel]

A friend who lives near oceanside, california, stated that he see a beech
starship flying over his house. There's nothing like the thing on the market
(with the exception of the piaggio avanti which has a differnt wing
sweep).So are there any still flying or has beech bought them all back and
are in the process of scrapping them. TIA Pat

[Fitzair4]

Starship news.
http://www.ainonline.com/issues/07_03/07_03_bulkstarshipp1.html

[Kevin Horton]

On Sat, 29 Nov 2003 08:40:08 -0800, patrick mitchel wrote:

> A friend who lives near oceanside, california, stated that he see a beech
> starship flying over his house. There's nothing like the thing on the
> market (with the exception of the piaggio avanti which has a differnt wing
> sweep).So are there any still flying or has beech bought them all back and
> are in the process of scrapping them. TIA Pat

Beech is definitely trying to buy them all and scrap the fleet, but it
isn't clear to me whether they have finished that process yet.

http://www.ainonline.com/issues/07_03/07_03_bulkstarshipp1.html

One article seems to indicate that Scaled Composites (i.e. Burt Rutan) was
operating a Starship recently, although this may actually be the 85% scale
proof of concept Starship that Scaled Composites built for Beech prior to
the Starship program launch.

http://www.califcity.com/SpaceShipOne.html

There certainly are a big batch of Starships out of service now:

http://xcski.com/blogs/pt/000112.html
http://4dw.net/marcborom/LongEZ/StarshipPics.htm

--
Kevin Horton RV-8 (finishing kit)
Ottawa, Canada
http://go.phpwebhosting.com/~khorton/rv8/
e-mail: khorton02(_at_)rogers(_dot_)com

[Kevin Horton]

On Sat, 29 Nov 2003 17:11:56 +0000, Kevin Horton wrote:

> One article seems to indicate that Scaled Composites (i.e. Burt Rutan) was
> operating a Starship recently, although this may actually be the 85% scale
> proof of concept Starship that Scaled Composites built for Beech prior to
> the Starship program launch.
>
I was wondering whether the "Starship" that was seen could have been the
85% scale proof of concept one that could possibly still be operated by
Scaled Composites. But, it looks like that aircraft was destroyed by
Beech:

<http://www.bobscherer.com/Pages/Starship%20Development%20and%20Construction.htm>

--
Kevin Horton RV-8 (finishing kit)
Ottawa, Canada
http://go.phpwebhosting.com/~khorton/rv8/
e-mail: khorton02(_at_)rogers(_dot_)com

[DJFawcett26]

>One article seems to indicate that Scaled Composites (i.e. Burt Rutan) was
>operating a Starship recently, although this may actually be the 85% scale
>proof of concept Starship that Scaled Composites built for Beech prior to
>the Starship program launch.

If memory serves me correct (and this is not always the case - LOL), I believe
Beech destroyed the proof of concept some time ago. Moreover, I think that
they did it near Burt's facility (in view). Probably the shot at Rutan, but
who knows.

Somebody may have more information on it in this group. As a matter of fact, I
would not be surprised if somebody knows every little detail!

[richard riley]

On Sat, 29 Nov 2003 17:11:56 GMT, Kevin Horton > wrote:

:On Sat, 29 Nov 2003 08:40:08 -0800, patrick mitchel wrote:
:
:> A friend who lives near oceanside, california, stated that he see a beech
:> starship flying over his house. There's nothing like the thing on the
:> market (with the exception of the piaggio avanti which has a differnt wing
:> sweep).So are there any still flying or has beech bought them all back and
:> are in the process of scrapping them. TIA Pat
:
:Beech is definitely trying to buy them all and scrap the fleet, but it
:isn't clear to me whether they have finished that process yet.
:
:http://www.ainonline.com/issues/07_03/07_03_bulkstarshipp1.html
:
:One article seems to indicate that Scaled Composites (i.e. Burt Rutan) was
:operating a Starship recently, although this may actually be the 85% scale
:proof of concept Starship that Scaled Composites built for Beech prior to
:the Starship program launch.
:
:http://www.califcity.com/SpaceShipOne.html
:
:There certainly are a big batch of Starships out of service now:
:
:http://xcski.com/blogs/pt/000112.html
:http://4dw.net/marcborom/LongEZ/StarshipPics.htm

About a month ago I saw one on the ramp at John Wayne (SNA).

[David O]

Kevin Horton > wrote:

>I was wondering whether the "Starship" that was seen could have been the
>85% scale proof of concept one that could possibly still be operated by
>Scaled Composites. But, it looks like that aircraft was destroyed by
>Beech:
>
><http://www.bobscherer.com/Pages/Starship%20Development%20and%20Construction.htm>


Coincidentally, the web site you linked to is Bob Scherer's web site.
It is Bob's Beech 2000 Starship that Scaled Composites is using as
chase plane for their X-Prize project. Yes, Bob's plane is a
production Starship (NC-51). Also, coincidentally, Bob keeps his
plane at KSNA which is about 30 miles north of Oceanside, CA on the
California coast. Oceanside is the area in which the original poster
says his buddy saw the Starship. It is therefore quite likely that
the Starship he spotted was Bob's.

David O -- http://www.AirplaneZone.com