That's me and Starship NC-51 (N514RS) owner Robert Scherer at Oshkosh
The quest continues for getting a flight on a Beechcraft Starship. As stated before, I have been working with Robert Scherer who is the owner of Starship NC-51. When I was at Oshkosh a bit over a week ago, I knew he was going to be there so we arranged to meet.
His Starship wasn’t parked at any of the main display areas, but way on the other side of the field in a hangar. Robert was kind enough to take me over to have a look. How could I say no?
Robert is a true aviation enthusiast and he knows what a rare treat he has and he loves sharing it with other airplane lovers. I felt like a kid going to Disneyland heading over to see the Starship in person. I had already seen amazing planes from around the world at Oshkosh, but this one got me the most excited.
Before we headed over, Robert got word that someone had made his Starship into a paper model. We tracked it down and it is obvious someone spent a lot of work re-creating Robert’s Starship.
Even when the Starship was tucked away in the corner of the hangar, she was beautiful. Luckily I had blog reader, San Jose Airport Commissioner and aviation enthusiast, Ian Kluft there with me to help take some photos. Robert was extremely patient and understanding as we took our time to get inside the cabin and take photos.
Her exterior and interior still look futuristic in my opinion. You can easily tell the plane is something different, something special. We weren’t able to do a flight, but Robert assures me it will happen. We are still looking to fly from Aspen, CO over to Orange, CA and hope to do it in the next month or so.
Robert had the special honor of flying Burt Rutan (the man who designed the Starship and SpaceshipOne, Voyager and many others) from Mojave to Oshkosh, as he has over the past few years. NC-51 is the only Starship that Burt has flown in and what a great way to arrive to Oshkosh.
I can’t wait to listen to those engines start up and fly in an airplane that has helped inspire me since I was a kid!
Check out the other photos Ian and I took of N514RS at Oshkosh
My Quest to Ride on a Beechcraft Starship:
IDEA | CONNECT | TOUR | FLIGHT-PLAN | FAIL | FLIGHT | PHOTOS | VIDEO
Love the pics! I specially love the bunny suit 🙂
Did I miss a bunny suit somewhere? 🙂
David
There’s a little Intel doll, and the doll is wearing a bunny suit. The doll is in the cockpit. A bunny suit is what the techs that make computer chips wear. Here’s a video of the bunny suit in action.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=px-JmuDaYxA
Oh right! I didn’t notice that… I was a bit distracted :).
David
Nice shots. I was over in that hanger area doing some filming for EAA Video and saw her inside the hanger. It is always good to see a Starship. I hope you can get up in her some day. Really looks great still. Really was ahead of her time.
Thanks for posting them.
(I too would love to fly in one)
Hey Sam!
I see in your photos you have taken shots of SpaceShipOne and WhiteKnight…you get to take any when NC-51 was running spot plane?
David
No, I did not sorry.
(darn website did not look like it worked right)
So So So Cool – That glass cockpit still looks good all of these years later – that’s such a ground breaking design
No, I did not sorry.
So very cool! I can’t wait to see videos in flight. Be sure to do LOTS of audio–I want to hear those engines!
I remember seeing somewhere on Flickr that somebody made a paper version of the Starship. Did you happen to know who made it or where one could get that model to make on their own? I think the Starship is an absolutely beautiful airplane design.