×
Aircraft / Aviation Vehicles & Artillery Small Arms Warships & Submarines Military Ranks Military Pay Chart (2024) Special Forces
HOME
AVIATION INDEX
MODERN AIR FORCES
AIRCRAFT BY COUNTRY
AIRCRAFT MANUFACTURERS
COMPARE AIRCRAFT
AIRCRAFT BY CONFLICT
AIRCRAFT BY TYPE
AIRCRAFT BY DECADE
MODERN AIRCRAFT
Aviation / Aerospace

Beechcraft Model 2000 Starship


Business Passenger Pusher Aircraft [ 1989 ]



The futuristic Beechcraft M2000 Starship failed to make a market impression in sales - leading to little success for the project.



Authored By: Staff Writer | Last Edited: 12/06/2021 | Content ©www.MilitaryFactory.com | The following text is exclusive to this site.

VIEW SPECIFICATIONS [+]
The Beechcraft 2000 "Starship" was the bold initiative pushed by the company (with defense powerhouse Raytheon as its parent) to deliver a new, advanced business aircraft as a possible successor to its popular "King Air" series of twin-turboprop multi-role aircraft. The driving force behind the new design was enhanced performance with greater passenger-carrying capabilities. In early 1980, the futuristic aircraft emerged under project "PD330" and further work was handled through Scaled Composites who constructed the critical "Model 115", a 85% scale model to prove the design sound.

The resulting aircraft was a streamlined, eye-catching product with rear-set mainplanes (located aft of midships), pusher-prop arrangement, and canards (small-area foreplanes). The canards were of particular note for they were completed with a variable-geometry capability, able to changed their angle depending on phase of flight. The turboprop engines were another physical quality of note mainly due to their placement at the rear of the aircraft, along the trailing edge of the wing mainplanes, and driving propulsion forces rearwards ("pushing" the aircraft as opposed to "pulling" it). As such, no traditional vertical tail surface was featured - the mainplanes were capped with fins at their tips to compensate. Construction involved heavy reliance on carbon fiber composites, another advanced feature of this aircraft. A conventional retractable wheeled tricycle undercarriage was fitted for ground-running and the entire cabin was pressurized for higher altitude flight. The aircraft was given the Rockwell Collins AMS-850 series avionics set which became the first-ever Business aircraft application of an "all-glass", digitally-driven cockpit.

Power was from 2 x Pratt & Whitney Canada (PWC) PT6A-67A turboprop engines outputting 1,200 horsepower each used to drive five-bladed propeller units.

The proof-of-concept scale model by Scaled Composites, went to the air for the first time in August of 1983 as a bare bones offering lacking many of the key internal features planned for production-quality offerings. Beechcraft then followed with three full-sized prototypes for additional testing, these encompassing NC-1 (first-flight February 1986), NC-2, and NC-3. On April 25th, 1989, the first production-quality Model 2000 went airborne.

The initial production models were designated "Model 2000" and twenty were constructed including the three aforementioned prototypes. The "Model 2000A" followed as a finalized design form and included enhanced cabin noise reduction, removal of stall strips, and a slight reworking of the fuel system. The resulting variant was heavier than the original and was offered by the company as an upgrade kit.

The aircraft was crewed by two in a side-by-side cockpit seating arrangement aft of the well-sloped nosecone. Up to six passengers could be carried in comfort, offering all of the luxuries expected of a business industry hauler. Dimensions included an overall length of 46 feet, a wingspan of 54.5 feet, and a height of 12 feet. Empty weight was 10,085lb against a gross weight of 15,010lb. With its unique design and engine arrangement, the airframe could reach speeds of 353 miles-per-hour and range out to 1,742 miles. Landing speed was 112 mph.

In all, fifty-three examples were completed but sales proved hard to come by - just eleven were purchased in the first three years, forcing incentives such as leasing options to be presented by the company. Unfortunately for the Model 2000, the aircraft was too advanced for its own good, the features driving up development costs and creating a prohibitively expensive end-product as a time when the U.S. economy was slowing and a luxury tax was in place. The final Starship airframe was manufactured by the company in 1995.

A preserved example (Model 2000A variant, NC-49) of the Starship is on full display at the Beechcraft Heritage Museum in Tullahoma, Tennessee. Others exist across the country and a limited set continue to fly.©MilitaryFactory.com
Note: The above text is EXCLUSIVE to the site www.MilitaryFactory.com. It is the product of many hours of research and work made possible with the help of contributors, veterans, insiders, and topic specialists. If you happen upon this text anywhere else on the internet or in print, please let us know at MilitaryFactory AT gmail DOT com so that we may take appropriate action against the offender / offending site and continue to protect this original work.

Specifications



Beechcraft - USA
Manufacturer(s)
United States
Operators National flag of the United States
1989
Service Year
United States
National Origin
Active, Limited
Project Status
2
Crew
53
Units


COMMERCIAL AVIATION
Used in roles serving the commercial aviation market, ferrying both passengers and goods over range.
BIZJET
Used in roles serving the business aviation market, primarily VIP and regional travel.


MULTI-ENGINE
Incorporates two or more engines, enhancing survivability and / or performance.
PUSHER-PROP
Design incorporates rear-facing pusher-prop arrangement, a contrast to the more conventional puller-prop layout.
WINGLETS
Mainplanes capped with winglets, providing improved fuel efficiency and enhanced handling.
CANARDS
Small foreplanes ahead of the mainplanes reduce wing-loading and / or enhance maneuverability during high angle-of-attack or stall actions.
HIGH-SPEED PERFORMANCE
Can accelerate to higher speeds than average aircraft of its time.
HIGH-ALTITUDE PERFORMANCE
Can reach and operate at higher altitudes than average aircraft of its time.
EXTENDED RANGE PERFORMANCE
Capability to travel considerable distances through onboard fuel stores.
SUPER PERFORMANCE
Design covers the three all-important performance categories of speed, altitude, and range.
MARITIME OPERATION
Ability to operate over ocean in addition to surviving the special rigors of the maritime environment.
CREWSPACE PRESSURIZATION
Supports pressurization required at higher operating altitudes for crew survival.
ENCLOSED CREWSPACE(S)
Features partially- or wholly-enclosed crew workspaces.
RETRACTABLE UNDERCARRIAGE
Features retracting / retractable undercarriage to preserve aerodynamic efficiency.


46.1 ft
(14.05 meters)
Length
54.5 ft
(16.60 meters)
Width/Span
13.0 ft
(3.95 meters)
Height
10,086 lb
(4,575 kilograms)
Empty Weight
14,903 lb
(6,760 kilograms)
Maximum Take-Off Weight
+4,817 lb
(+2,185 kg)
Weight Difference
monoplane / low-mounted / swept-back, w canards
Mainplane Arrangement
Monoplane
Design utilizes a single primary wing mainplane; this represents the most popular modern mainplane arrangement.
Low-Mounted
Mainplanes are low-mounted along the sides of the fuselage.
Swept-Back
The planform features wing sweep back along the leading edges of the mainplane, promoting higher operating speeds.
Swept-Back, with Canards
The planform features wing sweep back along the leading edges of the mainplane, promoting higher operating speeds, with added controlling provided through smaller foreplanes ('canards') seated ahead of the mainplanes.


2 x Pratt & Whitney Canada (PWC) PT6A-67A turboprop engines developing 1,200 horsepower each driving five-bladed propeller units in pusher fashion.
Propulsion
385 mph
(620 kph | 335 knots)
Max Speed
353 mph
(568 kph | 307 knots)
Cruise Speed
+32 mph
(+52 kph | 28 knots)
Speed Difference
41,010 ft
(12,500 m | 8 miles)
Ceiling
1,743 miles
(2,805 km | 1,515 nm)
Range
2,748 ft/min
(838 m/min)
Rate-of-Climb


MACH Regime (Sonic)
Sub
Trans
Super
Hyper
HiHyper
ReEntry
RANGES (MPH) Subsonic: <614mph | Transonic: 614-921 | Supersonic: 921-3836 | Hypersonic: 3836-7673 | Hi-Hypersonic: 7673-19180 | Reentry: >19030


None.


Military lapel ribbon for Operation Allied Force
Military lapel ribbon for the Arab-Israeli War
Military lapel ribbon for the Battle of Britain
Military lapel ribbon for the Battle of Midway
Military lapel ribbon for the Berlin Airlift
Military lapel ribbon for the Chaco War
Military lapel ribbon for the Cold War
Military lapel ribbon for the Cuban Missile Crisis
Military lapel ribbon for pioneering aircraft
Military lapel ribbon for the Falklands War
Military lapel ribbon for the French-Indochina War
Military lapel ribbon for the Golden Age of Flight
Military lapel ribbon for the 1991 Gulf War
Military lapel ribbon for the Indo-Pak Wars
Military lapel ribbon for the Iran-Iraq War
Military lapel ribbon for the Korean War
Military lapel ribbon for the 1982 Lebanon War
Military lapel ribbon for the Malayan Emergency
Military lapel ribbon representing modern aircraft
Military lapel ribbon for the attack on Pearl Harbor
Military lapel ribbon for the Six Day War
Military lapel ribbon for the Soviet-Afghan War
Military lapel ribbon for the Spanish Civil War
Military lapel ribbon for Special Forces
Military lapel ribbon for the Suez Crisis
Military lapel ribbon for the Ukranian-Russian War
Military lapel ribbon for the Vietnam War
Military lapel ribbon for Warsaw Pact of the Cold War-era
Military lapel ribbon for the WASP (WW2)
Military lapel ribbon for the World War 1
Military lapel ribbon for the World War 2
Military lapel ribbon for the Yom Kippur War
Military lapel ribbon for experimental x-plane aircraft

Images



1 / 5
Image of the Beechcraft Model 2000 Starship
Image copyright www.MilitaryFactory.com; No Reproduction Permitted.
2 / 5
Image of the Beechcraft Model 2000 Starship
Image copyright www.MilitaryFactory.com; No Reproduction Permitted.
3 / 5
Image of the Beechcraft Model 2000 Starship
Image copyright www.MilitaryFactory.com; No Reproduction Permitted.
4 / 5
Image of the Beechcraft Model 2000 Starship
Image copyright www.MilitaryFactory.com; No Reproduction Permitted.
5 / 5
Image of the Beechcraft Model 2000 Starship
Image copyright www.MilitaryFactory.com; No Reproduction Permitted.

Disclaimer | Privacy Policy | Cookies

2024 Military Pay Chart Military Ranks DoD Dictionary Conversion Calculators Military Alphabet Code Military Map Symbols

The "Military Factory" name and MilitaryFactory.com logo are registered ® U.S. trademarks protected by all applicable domestic and international intellectual property laws. All written content, illustrations, and photography are unique to this website (unless where indicated) and not for reuse/reproduction in any form. Material presented throughout this website is for historical and entertainment value only and should not to be construed as usable for hardware restoration, maintenance, or general operation. We do not sell any of the items showcased on this site. Please direct all other inquiries to militaryfactory AT gmail.com. No A.I. was used in the generation of this content; site is 100% curated by humans.

Part of a network of sites that includes GlobalFirepower, a data-driven property used in ranking the top military powers of the world, WDMMA.org (World Directory of Modern Military Aircraft), WDMMW.org (World Directory of Modern Military Warships), SR71blackbird.org, detailing the history of the world's most iconic spyplane, and MilitaryRibbons.info, cataloguing military medals and ribbons. Special Interest: RailRoad Junction, the locomotive encyclopedia.


©2023 www.MilitaryFactory.com • All Rights Reserved • Content ©2003-2023 (20yrs)