Beechcraft Starship 2000A

The Beechcraft Starship is arguably the most radical clean-sheet general aviation aircraft ever certified: an all-composite, canard-configured, twin pusher turboprop business aircraft designed by Burt Rutan's Scaled Composites (as the Model 115 proof-of-concept, an 85% scale flying prototype) under contract to Beech Aircraft in the early 1980s. Beech intended the Starship to replace the venerable King Air 200 with a futuristic aircraft that would redefine corporate turboprops. Instead, it became a cautionary tale.

Only 53 Starships were built between 1983 and 1995 (including prototypes), and the program famously cost Beechcraft an estimated $300 million to develop. List price in 1989 was $3.9 million—more than contemporary light jets that were substantially faster. When Raytheon (Beech's parent company) concluded in the early 2000s that ongoing product support for such a tiny, structurally unique fleet was uneconomical, it embarked on an aggressive buyback-and-destroy program, offering owners trade credit toward new Beech aircraft (notably the Premier I jet) in exchange for their Starships, which were then scrapped at Pinal Airpark, Arizona, beginning in 2003. As of the mid-2020s, only around six to eight airframes remain airworthy, operated by a small cadre of dedicated owners in Oklahoma, Texas, Colorado, and Germany.

The Starship is flown almost exclusively today by collectors and enthusiasts who value its unique character, its place in aviation history, and the undeniable ramp presence of a 14,900-lb carbon-fiber canard twin. It is not a rational choice for business-travel by any conventional metric—but it is a remarkable flying museum piece that still does 307 KTAS at FL410.

A Model 115 (Scaled Composites 85% scale proof-of-concept, N115SC) flew in 1983 to validate the canard configuration; it was scrapped at Mojave in 1990.

Book cruise of 307 KTAS at FL330-FL410 is generally achievable on the 2000A, though real-world owners report high-290s KTAS as more typical with realistic payloads. Fuel burn in cruise is approximately 90-110 GPH total for both PT6A-67As, giving NBAA IFR range around 1,450-1,600 nm depending on altitude and reserves. The book 1,742 nm figure is theoretical maximum range.

The canard configuration is aerodynamically stall-resistant: the forward wing (canard) stalls before the main wing, dropping the nose and preventing a full main-wing stall. In practice this gives very docile low-speed handling, but the aircraft is heavy on the controls at high speed and requires active trim management. The variable-geometry canard (sweeps forward for takeoff/landing, aft for cruise) was unique in general aviation.

Single-engine climb performance at max gross was marginal—this was the specific reason the 2000 carried fuel standpipes, artificially reducing usable fuel until Beech could get certification relief for the 2000A. Hot-and-high performance is respectable but not class-leading compared to a King Air 350. Cabin pressurization differential is 8.9 psi, giving a sea-level cabin to FL250 and ~8,000 ft cabin at FL410.

With a 4,815 lb useful load and 3,785 lb max fuel, the Starship has a classic cabin-class tradeoff:

• Full fuel (3,785 lb) + payload: Leaves ~1,030 lb for crew and passengers—two crew plus three adults with light bags. Range at max fuel is approximately 1,400 nm NBAA IFR.
• Full seats (8 pax + 2 crew, ~2,000 lb payload): Leaves ~2,815 lb of fuel (~420 USG), giving roughly 900-1,000 nm range at high cruise.
• Typical owner-flown mission: 2 crew + 2 pax (~800 lb) with 3,200 lb fuel—a comfortable 1,500+ nm leg with reserves.

The cabin is genuinely cabin-class with a 5'10" stand-up aisle, lavatory, and refreshment center—better than a King Air 200 in absolute dimensions, though somewhat tube-like due to the fuselage shape.

Business Travel (6/10): Pressurized, air-stair door, 6-8 pax stand-up cabin (5'10" cabin height is actually taller than a King Air 200), lavatory, 307 KTAS in the high flight levels. On paper an excellent bizprop. Downgraded heavily because parts support, dispatch reliability, and insurance make it unsuitable for any mission-critical flying. Acceptable only for hobbyist-owner trips. Compare to the piaggio-avanti—another exotic pusher turboprop that is faster but has better (if still difficult) parts support.

Cross-Country (7/10): With 1,400+ nm practical range at 300+ knots in pressurized comfort, the Starship is genuinely capable cross-country. Same caveats apply: you'd better have a backup plan if anything breaks away from home base.

Flight Training / Backcountry / Aerobatics / Surveying / Local Fun (1-3): Nonsensical missions for this aircraft. No training pipeline exists, there are essentially no schools. It's a pressurized cabin-class twin, not a bush plane or trainer.

Cargo Hauling (3/10): 4,800 lb useful load is decent, and the cabin is cabin-class, but the economics are absurd—no one freights in a Starship.

The Starship was delivered with an integrated Rockwell Collins Proline avionics suite that was state-of-the-art in 1989: 14 CRT displays including four EFIS tubes, dual FMS, dual AHRS, weather radar, and a fully integrated autopilot/flight director. In 2003-2004, Rockwell Collins formally ended support for the Starship's specific Proline variant, leaving owners to scavenge parts from scrapped airframes or fund bespoke repairs.

A few owners have invested in partial modernization—adding Garmin GTN 750/650 navigators interfaced with the legacy Collins system, or aftermarket engine monitors—but a full panel retrofit (e.g., Garmin G1000 NXi or G600 TXi) has never been certified for the type, and the cost and engineering burden would be prohibitive for a fleet this small. Panel obsolescence is probably the single biggest long-term threat to continued Starship airworthiness. See avionics-pricing for general avionics cost context that does not fully apply to this orphaned type.

Essentially none of commercial significance. The Starship fleet is too small to justify any STC development. A handful of owner-initiated one-off alterations (field approvals or minor STCs) exist for individual tail numbers—engine monitors, GPS navigators, interior refurbishments. The aircraft you buy is largely the aircraft you're stuck with.

The Starship is the quintessential orphan aircraft. Textron (current owner of the Beechcraft type certificate) provides minimal support—essentially just ADs and type certificate data sheet maintenance. No active parts distribution, no factory service bulletins, no tooling loans.

Real-world support comes from:

• The Starship owners' group: A tight-knit community of approximately 6-8 active owners who share parts, knowledge, and mechanic referrals.
• Robert Scherer / Starship Owners Support: In 2004 Scherer purchased Raytheon's entire remaining parts inventory for a fraction of retail value. This scavenged pool has kept the fleet flying but is finite.
• A small number of qualified A&Ps: Mostly retired Beech factory personnel who worked on the program. When they retire or pass, the maintenance picture gets considerably worse.
• PT6A-67A support: The engines themselves are well supported via Pratt & Whitney Canada and the usual PT6 overhaul shops (Dallas Airmotive, Standard Aero, etc.)—this is the one bright spot.

Annual inspection costs range from $50K-$150K depending on what is found; unbudgeted deferred maintenance items can easily exceed $100K in a single event. Expect total annual operating costs (including reserves) north of $250K-$400K for an actively flown airframe. See maintenance-ecosystem for general GA maintenance context; the Starship is outside the envelope of that framework.

The Starship defies conventional valuation-methodology. Recent asking prices have ranged from around $400,000 (for airframes with avionics issues or engines approaching overhaul) to around $900,000 for the best examples with fresh hot-sections and complete avionics. A notable 2011 sale was $1.4M; asking prices trended down through the 2010s as the supportability picture worsened, then stabilized as the fleet consolidated among committed owners.

Valuation drivers:

• Engine time remaining: Dual PT6A-67A overhaul is roughly $500K-$750K+ total; hot sections $150K-$200K. Engines at mid-time or better are worth disproportionately more.
• Avionics health: Working Proline suite with complete LRU spares is a significant premium.
• Spares package: Several airframes sell with boxes of scavenged parts. This is a genuine value-add and can be worth $100K+ on its own.
• Paint and interior: Reasonable secondary concern; originality has some collector appeal.
• Collector premium: As the fleet attrits, the best airframes may become more valuable, not less, purely on rarity/historical grounds. This is speculative.

The Starship is not a financial asset. Buyers should budget as if the purchase price is a sunk cost that will be fully consumed.

The Starship is subject to the general Part 23 commuter category AD stream plus PT6A-67A engine ADs (fuel nozzles, CT blade inspections, fuel control unit overhauls—these are the same ADs affecting King Air 350 and Pilatus PC-12 fleets, so PT6 support itself is robust). Airframe-specific ADs have been limited but include canard attach inspections and composite delamination checks on control surfaces.

Known problem areas:

• Composite airframe inspection: Bonded carbon-fiber structures require specialized NDI; there are very few shops in the world with current qualifications to inspect Starship structures to the OEM procedures.
• Hydraulic system: Centralized hydraulics driving gear, flaps, brakes, and canard sweep actuators are complex and use parts no longer manufactured.
• Canard sweep mechanism: The variable-geometry canard actuator is unique and unsupported; failure modes are typically repaired from scavenged parts.
• Windshield / windows: Pressurized acrylic panes are out of production; replacements are effectively unobtanium.
• Collins Proline CRTs: Original display tubes are no longer manufactured; dead CRTs are replaced from dwindling scavenged stock.

Pre-buy red flags: any logbook gap, any composite damage history, any hydraulic anomaly, and absolutely any missing avionics LRUs. A pre-buy must include a composite inspection by someone experienced with the type—there are perhaps two or three such people.

Exceptionally difficult. Only a handful of underwriters will quote the type at all, and those that do require:

• ATP certificate
• Significant cabin-class turboprop and pressurized time (typically 1,000+ hours turboprop, King Air 350 or equivalent)
• Type-specific training (informal, mentor-based, as no formal school exists)
• 25+ hours dual with a qualified Starship pilot before solo
• Annual recurrent training

Typical hull insurance runs $35,000-$60,000 annually on a $600K hull, with liability limits often capped at $1M smooth or $100K/passenger due to the difficulty of pricing risk on such a small fleet. Some owners self-insure the hull and carry liability only. See insurance-underwriting for the general framework; the Starship is an extreme outlier within the "orphan turboprop twin" category.