Research aircraft and systems

Beechcraft Sierra ↗Pilot account

Sierra: AOPA aircraft fact sheet

Real Sierra flight report; September 1982 article reproduced on AOPA’s fact sheet.

Beechcraft Sierra ↗Pilot account

Beech Sierra: owner comments

Owner’s 1976 B24R; Aviation Consumer, November 2016, printed/PDF pp. 31–32. Historical costs omitted.

Beechcraft Starship ↗Simulator documentation

Starship · Black Square · MSFS 2020 · MSFS 2024

A period electronic flight deck with supporting systems

The Starship centres on the AMS-850 avionics suite, including display reversion, cooling and temperature-related instrument behaviour. Black Square also documents the pressurisation and environmental model and optional navigation integrations.

Black Square Starship · PDF p.9; introduction and avionics overview

Beechcraft Starship ↗Simulator documentation

Starship · Black Square · MSFS 2020 · MSFS 2024

An electronic cockpit from before routine GPS navigation

Black Square's AMS-850 implementation can estimate position from its initial location, VOR/DME reception and VLF/Omega sources. GNSS augmentation is selectable, so the simulation can also represent navigation using the original equipment. The moving map can therefore use the original navigation sources as well as GNSS. The manual explains initialization and position updates separately from importing a route.

Black Square Starship User Guide (2025) · PDF p.122 · No GPS navigation and position estimation

Beechcraft Starship ↗Simulator documentation

Starship · Black Square · MSFS 2020 · MSFS 2024

The displays are part of the thermal simulation

The simulated avionics occupy cooled equipment spaces, with airflow and blower operation affecting temperature. The manual describes overheating and equipment failures when cooling becomes inadequate, with an avionics-status view on the multifunction display. It also models the behaviour of the period CRT displays: cold displays can take time to brighten, while excessive heat can make the image fade. A blank or dim display can therefore have a simulated system explanation beyond its brightness control.

Black Square Starship User Guide (2025) · PDF pp.108,110 · Avionics cooling and CRT displays

Beechcraft Starship ↗Simulator documentation

Starship · Black Square · MSFS 2020 · MSFS 2024

What persists between flights

State saving is selective. The guide identifies radio settings, stored routes and user waypoints, engine health and oxygen pressure among the items retained. Some primary operating switches are instead initialized from the flight's starting position. Fuel restoration also has a condition: it applies when the next flight loads with the default fuel levels. The guide records a payload-restoration limitation and notes that the simulator must shut down normally for its native saving mechanism to retain changes.

The tablet adds system visualizers and failure management. Failures can be scheduled or generated using configurable mean-time-between-failure settings, and existing failures persist between flights.

Black Square Starship User Guide (2025) · PDF pp.87,128,151 · State saving, tablet and failures

Beechcraft Starship ↗Research-based aircraft background

Beechcraft Starship

Beechcraft's Starship departed sharply from the conventional King Air outline. The main wing sits aft, a small forward wing provides the canard arrangement, and two pusher propellers turn behind the cabin. Extensive carbon-fibre construction was another defining part of the programme.

Its avionics were equally ambitious for the period. Black Square's simulation centres on the AMS-850 flight deck, including display reversion and supporting systems such as avionics cooling.

Aircraft / family

Beechcraft Starship ↗Pilot account

Starship frequently asked questions

Owner account · NC-51 · undated

Beechcraft Starship ↗Pilot account

Beached Starship

Mark Huber · September 2004 · Tom Carr interview

Beechcraft Starship ↗Pilot account

Beechcraft Starship 1 at Mojave

Cathy Hansen · 13 April 2019 · July 2003 recollection

Beechcraft T-34B Mentor

The piston-powered Mentor developed into one- and two-service training programmes before the later turboprop T-34C. The National Museum of the U.S. Air Force’s T-34A history describes the basic trainer and its relationship to the military training system. That A-model history provides family background for the Navy’s T-34B without assigning the museum aircraft’s exact equipment to the B.

T34B rendition · Carenado T34B · Carenado implementation · USAF Museum T-34A; not a universal T-34B/C specification

Beechcraft T-34C Turbo Mentor ↗Simulator documentation

T-34C Turbo Mentor · JRollon · X-Plane 11

Released product and variants

JRollon chose the T-34C while work on the CRJ200 was paused. His product description lists both cockpits, custom sound and weather effects, and describes the older X-Plane 10 product as functional in X-Plane 11.

Official developer / designated-store reference · checked 2026-09-14