3 hours ago, martinboehme said:

The in-flight relight procedure is in the Airplane Flight Manual, page 3A-3. There are various items related to the generator and generator ties -- maybe that was the reason for the electrical issue you experienced

Thanks, that’s what I needed, and yes that was exactly the problem.

There’s even a caution in the inflight start procedure about loss of EICAS and flight instruments if the generator ties aren’t manually closed (which I didn’t )

So, the my error in not following the correct procedure (as I didn’t have it, I was just playing around) lead to the exact failure as cautioned in the flight manual….very impressive system depth indeed, but I’d expect nothing less from BS.

I’m actually feeling a little guilty paying  just £40 for this aircraft.

Hotfix - 

https://community.justflight.com/topic/8422/black-square-starship-changelog-v1.1-released-updated-25-06-25

 

Haven’t picked this one up yet, but it’s on my list! However, the buzz around it faded quickly. For those of you who purchased it, are you routinely flying it or is it so quirky that after the novelty wore off, its spending more time in the hanger?

You are right the "buzz" around good products fades very quickly, mainly because when you have no complain, why should you waste time to express your satisfaction!

I bought it on day one and flew countless hours with it around the Caribbean in particular, and I am planning a round the world tour with it. This is a work of passion from the developer and a remarkable one, the very best Black Square released so far. 

As Jon b put it in this thread:

On 6/24/2025 at 11:22 PM, jon b said:

I’m actually feeling a little guilty paying  just £40 for this aircraft.

I can't think of a better compliment.

18 minutes ago, Bernard Ducret said:

You are right the "buzz" around good products fades very quickly, mainly because when you have no complain, why should you waste time to express your satisfaction!

I bought it on day one and flew countless hours with it around the Caribbean in particular, and I am planning a round the world tour with it. This is a work of passion from the developer and a remarkable one, the very best Black Square released so far. 

As Jon b put it in this thread:

I can't think of a better compliment.

That’s exactly what I hoped to hear! 😊

5 hours ago, Bernard Ducret said:

You are right the "buzz" around good products fades very quickly, mainly because when you have no complain, why should you waste time to express your satisfaction!

I bought it on day one and flew countless hours with it around the Caribbean in particular, and I am planning a round the world tour with it. This is a work of passion from the developer and a remarkable one, the very best Black Square released so far. 

As Jon b put it in this thread:

I can't think of a better compliment.

 Same here, To busy flying it. 

Adding my voice to the others: too busy flying the plane! It's brilliant and so much fun to learn. I never get tired of listening to the sounds of the CRTs kicking on, and I was giddy when it was time to update the AIRAC data w/ my floppy drive.

Anyone who hasn't flown this thing at night: I suggest you do it ASAP. I flew a sunset flight in Brazil the other night and about halfway through I turned on my master cockpit lights. It was magical in there, especially in VR!

I still haven't got it off the ground yet - a lot to learn (more than any sim aircraft I've ever worked with).  I'm hoping to make my first flight in a few days as I'm still learning systems and procedures (I'm not a let's take off and play around type of guy, and from what I've seen so far if you did that with this aircraft you'd be in trouble).

Overall, I can see this easily becoming my favorite.

Anyone flying it in VR? If so, how big of a hit on FPS was it? It’s a lot of glass.

2 minutes ago, Gulf76 said:

Anyone flying it in VR? If so, how big of a hit on FPS was it? It’s a lot of glass.

I fly in VR and have had zero issues. 7800x3d and 4090 on a quest 3, for reference.

 

Edit: to be clear, I don't watch FPS ever, so I have no idea what the numbers are. I just know things are as smooth as with any other high fidelity plane, just infreqent minor stutters is all.

Edited July 10, 2025Jul 10 by Dermot McClusky

Just now, Dermot McClusky said:

I fly in VR and have had zero issues. 7800x3d and 4090 on a quest 3, for reference.

Awesome! I have same spec PC but using a Crystal. I’m going to go ahead and purchase the Starship this weekend. Not my normal type of plane and I was concerned about FPS in VR, but based on the high praise, it appears I’ll really be missing out if I don’t get it. 

13 minutes ago, Gulf76 said:

Awesome! I have same spec PC but using a Crystal. I’m going to go ahead and purchase the Starship this weekend. Not my normal type of plane and I was concerned about FPS in VR, but based on the high praise, it appears I’ll really be missing out if I don’t get it. 

I really don't think you'll be disappointed. I usually don't fly this sort of thing, either, but it's SO unique and well done that it's hard to imagine anyone who likes flight simming wouldn't get something positive from playing around with it.

 

The Starship is not something I would have had any interest in either, but it was a Black Square product and the cockpit looked so unique.  It was a day one purchase for me and I have flown it quite a bit since.  It seems daunting to learn in the beginning since it is so unlike many other aircraft, but once you learn the basics and flight plan entry, it becomes very easy.  The FMS is rather simple.  You just enter a departure airport, your desired waypoints and arrival airport.  The difference is that if you pick an APP, it'll wipe your current flight plan and replace it with the APP.  I just program the waypoints for the approach manually so I don't lose my plan to the IAF.  There is probably a trick to activating the APP at the end of the flight plan, but I haven't attempted that yet.  Also, you do not have SID/STAR support or Simbrief import.  People have complained about that, but Nick at Black Square was trying to replicate the real aircraft, and you would not have a datalink on a GA aircraft, nor would you use SID/STARs.  You must enter all the waypoints manually.  You also do not have a TCAS.  Again, this is a GA aircraft.  The GNS430 is installed, by choice, and you can use it for TCAS and navigation, but that is not realistic IMO.  

Several parts of the Starship are similar to the King Air, since it was originally designed to replace the King Air.  In some ways, the Starship is very modern and in other ways it's very dated.  I love the CRT glass, FMS, aerodynamics, and other features.  It handles very well hand-flying.  The soundset is Boris Audioworks.  If you can accept that it is a GA aircraft from the 80s and uses older technology to perform certain tasks, it will be a pleasant product to fly.  I think the flight planning and FMS programming aspect is what people complain about the most.  They want simply import of Airbus/Boeing flight plans and easy/fast pre-flighting.  Just understand that you have to enter all waypoints (with your keyboard if you wish), and the plane is largely designed to fly ILS or visual only.  It is not certified for RNAV approaches, but nothing prevents you from entering RNAV waypoints in and doing lower visibility approaches.  Some quirks are that the Starship is very hard to slow down.  Preferably descend 1,200 or less from TOD.  You will build speed if you exceed ~1,200 FPM in a descent.  You have one flap position you can select at 180 (gear at 200).  Vapp is around 120.  You also must get as close to the runway and gracefully fly it onto the runway.  It reminds me of the Dash-8.  If you cut the power at 50 feet or even 20 feet, you will just drop and slam down.  If you keep too much power and speed you will float.  I like to keep the speed around 100 knots over the threshold and slowly flare letting it settle down.  It isn't hard to land well, but it isn't your typical gliding plane that requires cutting the power in the flare.  It also eats a lot of runway during takeoff, so it isn't appropriate for short fields at all.  Landing is a little better if you get down early and use reverse thrust.

15 minutes ago, Orlaam said:

The Starship is not something I would have had any interest in either, but it was a Black Square product and the cockpit looked so unique.  It was a day one purchase for me and I have flown it quite a bit since.  It seems daunting to learn in the beginning since it is so unlike many other aircraft, but once you learn the basics and flight plan entry, it becomes very easy.  The FMS is rather simple.  You just enter a departure airport, your desired waypoints and arrival airport.  The difference is that if you pick an APP, it'll wipe your current flight plan and replace it with the APP.  I just program the waypoints for the approach manually so I don't lose my plan to the IAF.  There is probably a trick to activating the APP at the end of the flight plan, but I haven't attempted that yet.  Also, you do not have SID/STAR support or Simbrief import.  People have complained about that, but Nick at Black Square was trying to replicate the real aircraft, and you would not have a datalink on a GA aircraft, nor would you use SID/STARs.  You must enter all the waypoints manually.  You also do not have a TCAS.  Again, this is a GA aircraft.  The GNS430 is installed, by choice, and you can use it for TCAS and navigation, but that is not realistic IMO.  

Several parts of the Starship are similar to the King Air, since it was originally designed to replace the King Air.  In some ways, the Starship is very modern and in other ways it's very dated.  I love the CRT glass, FMS, aerodynamics, and other features.  It handles very well hand-flying.  The soundset is Boris Audioworks.  If you can accept that it is a GA aircraft from the 80s and uses older technology to perform certain tasks, it will be a pleasant product to fly.  I think the flight planning and FMS programming aspect is what people complain about the most.  They want simply import of Airbus/Boeing flight plans and easy/fast pre-flighting.  Just understand that you have to enter all waypoints (with your keyboard if you wish), and the plane is largely designed to fly ILS or visual only.  It is not certified for RNAV approaches, but nothing prevents you from entering RNAV waypoints in and doing lower visibility approaches.  Some quirks are that the Starship is very hard to slow down.  Preferably descend 1,200 or less from TOD.  You will build speed if you exceed ~1,200 FPM in a descent.  You have one flap position you can select at 180 (gear at 200).  Vapp is around 120.  You also must get as close to the runway and gracefully fly it onto the runway.  It reminds me of the Dash-8.  If you cut the power at 50 feet or even 20 feet, you will just drop and slam down.  If you keep too much power and speed you will float.  I like to keep the speed around 100 knots over the threshold and slowly flare letting it settle down.  It isn't hard to land well, but it isn't your typical gliding plane that requires cutting the power in the flare.  It also eats a lot of runway during takeoff, so it isn't appropriate for short fields at all.  Landing is a little better if you get down early and use reverse thrust.

Wow! Thanks for all of the great insight. It does seem a bit daunting so this information will be very helpful. The things you mentioned what people complain about had caused me some hesitation and it’s not an inexpensive plane if you don’t like it. But it appears I just need to put the effort into learning something different and the payoff will be there. 

I watched V1 Simulations walk-through video with Nick, then used it as a guide along side with the aircraft to learn the various pre-flight steps.  It only took about 3 flights before I figured out things enough to feel comfortable.  Some aspects are strange.  You start the engines in the feather position, not full forward on the props.  But starting up is so easy.  Also, you can program your flight plan in the FMS and switch off the avionics for the start-up then when you re-power the avionics, the flight planning will still be there.  It also has a VNAV advisory in the FMS, so you pick a waypoint, place an altitude, and it'll give you the FPM required to end up there.  I usually just put the FAF in and follow that as a guide down.  The plane has weather radar and a customized terrain mode, so you select GND on the weather page, make sure auto-tilt is selected and it'll paint the terrain as you fly.  

I recommend watching V1's video with Nick to see how things are expected to be done.  It's well worth it to get a video tutorial that speeds up your learning curve.  I have flown maybe 15 times or something and I rarely need the checklist.  Interestingly, the checklists are in the MFD as well, you just need the avionics on to view them.