Beechcraft Starship

The Beechcraft Starship is an unorthodox twin-turboprop business aircraft designed and produced by Beech Aircraft Corporation. It was the first civil aircraft to feature an electronic flight instrument system and one of the first to make extensive use of composite materials. Development began in 1979 as an effort to replace the King Air, and the design used carbon fiber reinforced polymer throughout the airframe, a forward canard wing, a pusher propeller arrangement and an early glass cockpit. Scaled Composites built an 85 percent scale proof of concept that first flew in August 1983, and type certification came in 1987, two years later than planned. The first production Starship flew on 25 April 1989. Demand was weak, with only 11 sold to private owners in the first three years, and Beechcraft ended production in 1995 after 53 aircraft.