Beech Starships parked in AZ [Post 1 of 9] - IMGP2884.jpg (1/1)

[John Meyer]

Beech Starships parked at Avra Valley Airport near Marana, Arizona.

[Alan Erskine[_3_]]

"John Meyer" > wrote in message
...
> Beech Starships parked at Avra Valley Airport near Marana, Arizona.

Sad end to a great idea.

[J.F.]

Present Day Status of the Starship
The rumors are true: the Starship line is indeed being put out to pasture.
It's unclear just how much longer Starships anywhere will be flying, for the
clock, it appears, is inexorably ticking. Raytheon has been quietly buying
back its Starships, offering attractive terms and trade-up programs to the
company's newer, modern jet aircraft.

The Starship was finally, inevitably, doomed by economics-which seems to
kill more planes today than traditional factors like reliability, safety or
the end of a technology life cycle. While Starships were made to last
forever, in that they were the first airframe with such advanced composite
technology that their hulls literally didn't have decommission dates, there
just weren't enough of the plane made for Raytheon to be able to justify
keeping the line alive. A Raytheon spokesperson has been quoted as saying
"the costs of supporting the fleet are prohibitive. There are many parts on
the Starship that are unique to that aircraft. We have a backlog of parts,
and will part out those aircraft that are being decommissioned to add to
that backlog.

Industry observers suggest the Starship fell victim to a confluence of
factors. First, it was both a radical design breakthrough, and a radical
manufacturing technology breakthrough - and while you can always improve one
or the other, some in the business say messing with both at the same time
can be a recipe for failure. Add to that the fact the sales and marketing
divisions of Beech Aircraft, the original manufacturer, aggressively
pre-sold the plane. So when production delays and FAA certification
stretched years past original forecast delivery dates, demand began to wane.
Customers eventually went elsewhere. It appeared the final screw in the
coffin was the economic climate of the late 80s into which the Starship was
finally introduced. An economic recession had taken hold in the U.S. Out of
fiscal austerity, many of the corporate customers that'd actually wanted to
buy Starships chose not to, for fear of shareholder criticism.

The radical design that Beech hoped would transform its company into a
leading purveyor of personal and commercial transport aircraft of the
future, a next-generation Boeing-type empire, was just too different. It was
arguably the wrong thing (or maybe it genuinely WAS the right thing) at the
wrong time.

The Starship fleet is being gathered by Raytheon at the Pinal Air Park near
Tucson. Some are being stored. At least two have been donated to museums.
Some are apparently being disassembled for parts to support Starships still
flying. Some say Raytheon is intent on repurposing their bits and pieces for
use in military drones. For now, the nine or so Starships still in private
hands will have the chance to continue flying ... until the price for parts
becomes prohibitively high.

[J.F.]

At 25,000 ft 324 kts. (373 mph)

MAXIMUM CERTIFIED ALT 41,000 ft.


Why would they scrap this program?


"John Meyer" > wrote in message
...
> Beech Starships parked at Avra Valley Airport near Marana, Arizona.
>
>