Piaggio Avanti

[kitnut617]

I've got a Sanger 1/72 Starship too, which I believe came from the same source as the Avanti as it has the same style of mouldings.

[sotoolslinger]

Does anyone make 1/48 styrene models of these to ultra cool civvi aircraft. I think these a ripe for kitbashing.

[AeroplaneDriver]

I got to fly a Startship for about 15 minutes way back when I was a low time Flight Instructor working for a Beech dealer.  I went out on a flight with two sales guys and got to fly a while.  We flew that last 20-25 miles back to the airport at about 300 feet & 220kts.  Oops, I mean 1,000 feet above the nearest person or structure.

Soooo, how was the flight a '1000 feet above the nearest person'

Ok, here's where I lament the decision by Beech to stop production of the Starship, an amazing machine that was way ahead of it's time. 

It really was an amazing aircraft, but it may have been too ahead of its time.  It never lived up to the performance expectations, and it never met the target empty weight.  When it went on sale it cost as much as a light jet, but with much, much less performance.  Also, because of the way it was manufactured parts supprot became a major issue.  One example a Beech pilot told me about was the door.  When the aircraft was built the composite fuselage was built as a single piece, then the cabin door was created by cutting a section out.  Because of this in if an aircraft had a damaged door it was damn near impossible for Beech to produce a new one that fit properly.  

I loved my short time at the controls, but at the time I was pretty inexperienced.  I've since talked to guys who actually flew Starships for a living who said it was a bit of a pig to fly really.  Several of the guys I knew said the owners ended up ditching the Starship and going back to King Airs.

Though it looks just as advanced, the Avanti is actually a pretty conventional aircraft except for the pusher configuration.  Contrary to popular belief it is not technically a canard, since the forward surface is for lift only and has no control function.  It is also mostly a pretty straight forward aluminum aircraft with pretty limited use of composites.

I think I've mentioned before that at work one of hte offices has a desktop model of a Starship in old USAir colors.  Quite the nice whif!!

[GTX]

Does anyone make 1/48 styrene models of these to ultra cool civvi aircraft. I think these a ripe for kitbashing.

Oohh, how I wish!!!

Regards,

Greg

[sotoolslinger]

Rats and furthermore darnit. I am vexed.