Extremely rare, unorthodox aircraft reportedly seen flying over Texas

An image said to be a photo of an extremely rare aircraft flying over Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, the Beechcraft Starship, has been circulating on social media, grabbing the attention of the online aviation community.

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Jaime Edrosa, director of Addison Airport in Texas, told SFGATE by email Thursday that it’s his “understanding that one of our tenants currently has four of them based here.” Aerospace Quality Research & Development (AQRD), an engineering company based in Addison near Dallas, says on its website that it operates two airworthy Beech Starships, of which it says only four remain worldwide. 

Created by Burt Rutan, an aeronautics engineer who pioneered several unorthodox aircraft like the Grizzly and the Boomerang, the Beechcraft Starship was designed in 1982 and heralded as one of the most technologically advanced planes of its time. According to news reports in 1990, it featured an in-flight telephone, stereo systems and hidden cabinets of refreshments, and was capable of transporting executives at 385 mph on their 600-mile trips. Described as a “radically different” luxury aircraft, it offered significantly quieter travel for wealthy C-suite executives, and was made with a light epoxy composite material that was supposedly stronger than metal. 

But from an economic perspective, the plane failed to take off: Manufacturing issues led to production delays, pushing the first official flight to 1986, and most of the aircraft were eventually leased out to Raytheon. Despite the starship’s futuristic design, only a few of the 53 that were manufactured actually sold. As a result, most of them were doomed to scrap yards or placed in museums, and only a small handful exist today. 

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The photo of the recent Starship sighting was posted on Monday, showing the aircraft flying from a distance. AQRD says that it provides repairs and modifications for a broad range of aviation clients.