The Shape of Planes to Come

By Philip Elmer-DeWitt

With their swept-back wings, forward-mounted canards, or stabilizers, and pusher propellers, they look a little as if they should be moving through the air tailfirst. But the two new designs -- Beech Aircraft's Starship and Rinaldo Piaggio's P. 180 Avanti -- are very much forward-looking pieces of machinery. Using advanced technology to deliver high performance and good fuel efficiency, they could dictate the shape of small transport aircraft in the coming years.

Last week the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration announced that Beech, based in Wichita, had met Government standards for airworthiness with its Starship, and granted "type certification," clearing the way for deliveries to customers by next spring. Piaggio, which has headquarters in Genoa, Italy, hopes to receive U.S. certification for its Avanti model by the end of the year. Both planes, each seating seven to ten passengers, are expected to be warmly welcomed in the corporate market. Says Henry Ogrodzinski, communications director of the General Aviation Manufacturers Association: "It looks like ((both firms)) have come up with a winner."

Elements of the design are as old as powered flight itself. The original Wright brothers' 1903 Flyer was of the canard type, with a pair of horizontal stabilizers mounted in front of the pilot. Though the shape had certain advantages in slow-speed flight -- it was highly resistant to stalls -- it proved too unstable at high speeds, and was eventually abandoned in favor of aircraft with stabilizers fixed to their tails. Now, with computers available to design planes and with fly-by-wire controls to help steer them, Beech and ) Piaggio have revived the original concept.

The result is two aircraft that are every bit as revolutionary as they look. Except for its landing gear, engine mounts and a handful of other components, the Beech Starship is constructed entirely of composite synthetics -- graphite fabric wrapped around honeycombed Nomex, a nylon-like material used in fireproof clothing. This makes the twin-engine plane lighter and stronger than similar craft constructed, in the conventional manner, of aluminum.

The Starship's rear-facing propellers push rather than pull it through the air. A pair of 7-ft. tip sails, fitted to the end of each wing, serve as vertical stabilizers and help reduce aerodynamic drag. The forward-mounted canards swivel back during high-speed flight to further reduce drag and are equipped with elevators that eliminate the need for a tail. Beech is keeping the Starship's performance characteristics secret, but early reports suggest it can reach cruising speeds approaching those of business jets at about 40% the fuel cost of a Gates Learjet or a Cessna Citation. The Starship sells for $3.7 million, a little over half the price of a similar-size jet.

Piaggio's Avanti, while sharing such features as rear-facing engines and nose-mounted wings, has a somewhat less radical design. It is equipped with a standard tail and is built mostly of aluminum. But Piaggio claims it will fly faster and more efficiently than its U.S. competitor. Prices will be roughly comparable.

Both manufacturers are aggressively pursuing sales in each other's markets. Beech claims that a quarter of the 50 orders it has received have come from European customers, while Piaggio says it will sell 60% of its planes in North and South America. By some estimates, fewer than 8,000 corporate aircraft are in use today worldwide, but the industry is coming out of a decade-long slump, and there may be a backlog of pent-up demand.

How much of that demand will benefit the Starship and the Avanti is uncertain. The manufacturers still have to demonstrate that their performance claims are valid. Moreover, some executives may not like the idea of entrusting their lives to such novel and unusual designs. Ogrodzinski, for one, thinks they will. "Looks and status have always been a selling point in corporate aircraft," he says. "There is a certain prestige in owning the latest design."

With reporting by Debra Beachy/Wichita and Leonora Dodsworth/Rome