About This File
NOTE: For X-Plane 10.3 and later.
I've only seen one Starship in person, and I'll never forget the sight. It would've been in the early '80s, in Chicago while great old Meigs Field (KCGX, made for XP9, here) was still open. The approach to RWY 18 involved heading due west off Lake Michigan, toward downtown Chicago, with a hard 90-degree left-hand turn, 100-or-so feet off the water, to line up for final. Great fun for an impressionable pilot wannabe to watch for hours on end. When the Starship made the approach, wingtip-mounted landing lights ablaze, banking hard to reveal the plane's radical shape, I thought Batman was paying us a visit.
From airliners.net:
"Conceived as a new generation light corporate transport in the King Air class, the Starship traces back to the 85% scale proof of concept demonstrator built by Scaled Composites, which first flew in August 1983. The prototype Starship 2000 proper made its first flight on February 26 1986, provisionally powered by PT6A65 turboprops. A second prototype equipped with Collins avionics entered the flight test program in June 1986, while a third development aircraft took flight in January 1987. Initial US FAA certification was awarded on June 14 1988, while the first production example was flown on April 25 1989.The improved Starship 2000A was certificated in April 1992. It introduced changes including seating for six instead of eight, a slightly higher max takeoff weight and increased range." Continue reading
This model started life as a made-for-XP9 Starship (still available here), and has been thoroughly revamped for XP10.3. It's a Planemaker-only model, for what it's worth (fair warning if you're looking for animated boarding stairs and obj-modeled lavatory 
). It has a heavily-revised flight model moving to XP10, some cosmetic tweaks here and there, improved textures and an expanded, wider-aspect panel. Happy Flying! 'Hope you enjoy!
EDITED 1 Sep 2014 - Notes on Flying the Beech Starship:
- Adjust payload and fuel weights accordingly. Suggest turning ON all damage in the "Settings/Operations & Warnings" screen.
- Takeoff: Set Roll Trim to "TO" position (Important: Starship's props do not counterrotate to offset each others' torque, so you'll want this for an easily-controlled takeoff). Set the Flaps/Forward Wing to the Extended position for takeoff. Also, depending on weight, it likes a few "clicks" of Up elevator trim (I use four "clicks" with full fuel and payload). Rotate around 110kias, retract gear asap and flaps/forward wing around 150kias. Be aware of the tendency of the nose to drop as the forward wing transits to its "Cruise" position (trying to tune this out). As possible, center the Roll Trim as you get up to speed (180kias for a typical climb), reduce throttle and settle into climb.
- Landing: Extend flaps/forward wing and gear below 180kias. Make your approach around 120kias and watch out not to let speed dip much below 100kias, or the plane will begin to sink rapidly and require a healthy dose of throttle to recover.
EDITED 10 Sep 2014 - Starship v1.1 Uploaded
- Revised flight model with myriad tweaks here and there to make the plane more forgiving over a wider range of circumstances. It will still reward a bit of practice.
Beechcraft promo video (thanks youtube posters one and all):
A video walk-thru of Starship NC51. A special shout out and thanks to the owner of this aircraft, whose website (here) is an invaluable resource for details about the Starship. The second livery in the download pays homage to this plane:
Co-pilot's eye view of the same plane doing some mountain flying. Am I jealous? Oh Yes!:
Two videos, showing the last 12 minutes of a night flight into Austin, TX. While not big on the visual, it's fun to "listen between the lines" for some of the routines of flying the Starship:
And last, some stunning air-to-air video of NC51 during her time as chase plane for Spaceship One:
What's New in Version 1.1 See changelog
Released
No changelog available for this version.
