I think the engineering was cool, I'm impressed with most large aircraft, it is a shame that any aircraft that took so much effort and resources is shutdown so quickly. I'm in the recycling and resale business now, I wonder who would be risking to tear these down for such a diminishing fleet. I am sure that they will be flying for 15 years or so more, but they will be retiring exponentially, especially if Covid keeps up.
I have flown it in economy a few times for long trips and it wasn't the most comfortable aircraft or the greatest inflight experience. That's just my honest opinion.
DXing wrote:
This kind of reminds me of my favorite corporate aircraft of all time, the Beechcraft Starship. It had such limited appeal that Beechcraft finally bought all of them back so they wouldn't have to keep making parts. One guy bought as many of the spare parts as he could to keep his personal Starship able to fly for the foreseeable future.
The thing with the BE2000 Starship was that it was only slightly better than the performance of a King Air BE350 but at more than double the price. This only appeals to people who would spend 2.5 million extra just for a cool canard look. There were also very finicky in regards to avionics and the electrical system. I have actually have flown on Starship N515JS. The owner stockpiled some parts and flew it long after the rebuy, but eventually gave in. There are a few left. Bob Scherer is the one you are thinking of with, N514RS. This is the one that has been, at times, a chase plane for Virgin Galactic.
https://www.aspendailynews.com/news/one ... 988c1.htmlSupposedly there are 6 remaining... from Wiki "As of September 2020, only six Starships remain airworthy. Two of the last remaining airworthy Beechcraft Starships (NC-33 and NC-50) are owned and operated by an engineering firm in Addison, Texas. NC-33 lost its data plate when it was scrapped, was subsequently registered in Mexico, but when brought back to the USA, the FAA pulled its certificate. It is now registered in the experimental category as N903SC.[44] The other airworthy Starships are located in Oklahoma (NC-35 and NC-45), Colorado (NC-51), and Germany (NC-29, though registered with the FAA by a company in Delaware)."
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