In article . net,
"Steven P. McNicoll" writes:

"DunxC" wrote in message
...

I watched the fantastic coverage of SpaceShipOne's historic flight
yesterday
and was truly impressed. I've long thought of Burt Rutan as the last of
the
pioneers, and this one cements it. However, did I really see a Beech
Starship
flying past also? I though Beech (or parent company) had withdrawn these.
Anyone know what it was up to?


No, you didn't really see a Beech Starship flying past. You saw the
proof-of-concept forerunner to the Beech Starship that was built by Rutan's
Scaled Composites flying past.

No, it's a real Starship. Off the top of my head, (and with a little
checking, there are 7 still in active use out of the 53 produced. $
are in various museums. The remainder are still owned by Raytheon, and
are in storage in Tuscon, eventual fate unknown. The Starship used
fas the High Chase for the SpaceShipOne flights is Ship NC-51/N5a4RS,
owned by Bob Scherer out of Newport Beach, CA. Bob has a website
showing, among other things, the status of all teh Starships built.
It's at:
http://www.bobscherer.com/

The starship's a really neat plane. Unfortunately, it didn't offer
enough of an advance in performance over the King Air to make up for
the difference in price.

--
Pete Stickney
A strong conviction that something must be done is the parent of many
bad measures. -- Daniel Webster