BEECHCRAFT STARSHIP

The Beechcraft Starship is a twin-turboprop six- to eight-passenger pressurized business aircraft produced by Beech Aircraft Corporation.
The Starship is noteworthy for its carbon fibre composite airframe, canard design, lack of centrally located vertical tail, and pusher engine/propeller configuration.

Carbon fibre composite was used to varying degrees on military aircraft, but at the time the Starship was certified, no civilian aircraft certified by the US Federal Aviation Administration had ever used it so extensively. Beech chose carbon fibre composite for its durability and high strength-to-weight ratio. According to Beech, the Starship weighs less than it would have if it were built from aluminium. Nonetheless, the empty weight of production aircraft exceeded the target by several thousand pounds.

Beech studied several configurations before settling on a canard configuration in early 1980. As configured, the Starship is difficult to stallthe forward surface stalls before the main lifting surface, which allows the nose to drop and more-normal flight to resume.

A traditionally located vertical tail would have transmitted propeller noise into the airframe. In its place, directional stability and control is provided by rudders mounted in the winglets (Beechcraft called them tipsails at the tips of the wings.

Mounting the engines so that the propellers are facing rearward, pushing rather than pulling the aircraft, has the potential of a quieter ride since the propellers are further from the passengers and because vortices from the propeller tips do not strike the fuselage sides. However, the propellers are operating in a turbulent airflow in the pusher configuration (due to airflow past the wings moving aft

in vortex sheets) and high-velocity exhaust gasses are discharged directly into the props, thus the resulting external propeller noise is more choppy and raucous than otherwise.[8]

Flight instrumentation for the Starship included a 14-tube Proline 4 AMS-850 "glass cockpit" supplied by Rockwell Collins, the first application of an all-glass cockpit in a business aircraft. WING SPECIFICATIONS: WING AREA AND LOADINGS Wing Area Wing Loading Power Loading (PT6A-67A: 1200 SHP) 280.88 sq. ft. 53.0 lbs./sq. ft. 6.21 lbs./shp.

DIMENSIONS Aft Wing Span Forward Wing Span Cruise Landing Length 21 ft. 11.5 in. 25 ft. 8 in. 46 ft. 1 in. 54 ft. 4.7 in.

3D MODEL OF THE WING:

MESH MODEL OF THE WING:

ADVANTAGES OF BEECHCRAT STARSHIP: 1) Safety

a) Stall resistant main wing.

Like all good canard designs, the Starships forward wing (canard) is more heavily loaded that the main wing. In fact, the Starship's forward wing has almost twice the loading of the main wing; 72.68 lbs/sq ft vs. 37.13 lbs/sq ft respectively. The result is that the forward wing stalls first while the main wing continues to provide lift and aileron control. When the Starship's forward wing stalls, it is a relatively benign event. At stall angle of attack, the forward wing gently lowers itself to an angle of attack that gets it flying again. Under many conditions it does not even drop appreciably, but simply refuses to raise the nose to a higher angle of attack. Under other conditions, you can get the Starship into a pitch buck routine. Imagine holding full aft elevator through forward wing stall and beyond. The forward wing will stall, then it lowers itself to a flying angle of attack, then it gains lift raising the nose again, then the forward wing stalls and the cycle repeats. It's a bit like riding a very gentle roller coaster. In a pitch buck at a low power setting the Starship will exhibit this roller coaster routine while descending at an average of about 1,000 ft per minute. Add power while holding the yoke in your lap and the Starship will continue the pitch buck while climbing at 1,000 ft per minute! The point of all this is that the Starship is very safe when it comes to stall/spin accident potential.

b) Reduced yaw during engine out.

The Starship's aft mounted pusher props are about 8 inches apart, providing almost centerline thrust from each engine. In the event of an engine failure there is almost imperceptible yaw moment. No rudder input is required by the pilot if the yaw damper is engaged at the time of engine failure. Also, the Starship's auto feather feature will automatically and instantaneously feather the dead engine. No need to step on the good engine and feather the correct prop; Just go to max power and fly the airplane normally. Nice.

c) A super strong fuselage.

During testing, Beechcraft dropped a Starship at 17 feet per second and the fuselage incurred no damage. The test dummies in the Starship's seats sustained lumbar loads of only 1,000 lbs. Crippling spinal injuries are likely to occur at 1,500 lbs. Imagine dropping a metal fuselage at the same speed.

d) Single pilot friendly

The Starship is wonderfully easy to fly and stay mentally ahead of . The integrated avionics and Flight Management System (FMS) reduce pilot work load and provide enhanced situational awareness allowing him./her to concentrate on flying the airplane at all times. The flight computers handle all of the mundane chores that used to require an E6B. Detailed fuel data, Vnav advisory info, 10 second advance airspeed prediction and a litany of other information is always available at a glance or the press of a button. When a busy controller rifles off a new course, altitude, frequency and airspeed, the Starship pilot just enters the numbers into the appropriate instruments and reads them back directly from the panel; No need for a pen.

e) No structural corrosion

Metal airplanes corrode, especially if they are based near the ocean. Such corrosion can eat into an aircraft's structure, weakening the airframe over time. The Starship's composite structure does not corrode. So it's possible that a Starship could fly for a thousand years while based at the Bonneville salt flats.

2) Super smooth ride

As mentioned above, the Starship handles like a big Mercedes sedan and has an unbelievably smooth ride. The Starship's great ride is particularly evident in turbulence. The stiff metal wings on other aircraft transmit turbulence loads to the fuselage with little dampening. But the Starship's composite main wings flex noticeably in bad air, absorbing energy and smoothing out the ride. The tandem wing configuration also helps iron out the bumps. Sometimes the Starship seems to gently rock along it's lateral axis as it makes it's way through turbulence; A bit like a ship on the ocean.

3) Quiet cabin

The Starship's pusher props, composite fuselage and interior sound absorption system create a cabin that is unusually quiet for a turboprop aircraft; Noise levels inside are closer to a jet and cabin conversations can be had at normal voice levels. In the cockpit, most of the ambient noise emanates from the avionics cooling fans, environmental fans and outside airflow. It's so quiet up front that you can actually hear the hobbs meter clicking off tenths of an hour.

4) Efficiency, speed & altitude

Even with all the design modifications foisted upon Beech's original design, the Starship still outperforms the King Air 350. The Starship is 26 kts faster (338 vs. 312) and flies 6,000 feet higher (41,000 vs. 35,000). And get this, the Starship's cabin is 12" wider and 6.5" higher than the King Air 350! ***One benefit to the Starship's large wing is internal storage capacity. Compared with the tiny Avanti wing, the Starship wing has a lot more space in which to store the main gear and fuel.