Lance Aircraft - Lancair International, Inc. (pronounced "lance-air") is an American manufacturer of general aviation aircraft kits. They are well known for their series of high-performance single-engine aircraft that offer cruise speeds that exceed many twin-engine turboprop designs. Along with the Glasair series, Lancair's early designs were among the first aircraft to bring modern molded-composite construction to light aircraft.
In early 2017, the company, including all older aircraft designs, was sold and relocated from Redmond, Oregon to Uvalde, Texas under the name Lancair International, LLC. The last model, the Lancair Evolution, was retained by the existing company, Lancair International, Inc, which changed its name to the Evolution Aircraft Company.
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The company was founded by Lance Niebauer in 1981 as a manufacturer of composite kits for domestic aircraft. It was in aviation that Neibauer met his uncle, Ray Betzold, who partnered with Al Meyers to build the Meyers 200. Whenever he visited his aunt and his uncle, he always rode Meyers.
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Hooked, he searched for an airplane twenty years later and found nothing he liked, and decided to join the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) and design his own.
Neibauer began work on the new design after asking every builder he could find what features they were looking for in a home-built design. Looking to enhance performance with the latest features possible, he chose the new NASA NLF 0215-F airfoil designed by Dan Somers at Langley. NLF, short for "Natural Laminar Flow," is a series of designs that replaced the older GAW series with more forgiving laminar flow characteristics. By 1983, the basic parameters of the aircraft had been set, and Neubauer settled in Santa Paula, California, and began work on the design.
Intending to present the plane to Oshkosh in 1984, a small fuel leak in the wing tanks forced them to miss the show so they could fix the problem. A modified version of the prototype, with a redesigned hood and some changes to the wing profile, appeared as the Lancer 200 in December 1984. Powered by a behemoth 100-hp Continental O-200, the Lancer easily outperformed any engine with the same engine and generated a lot of interest at Oshkosh '85. However, a naming dispute forced a renaming of the design and it finally went on sale in 1985 as the Lancair 200.
The 200 was quickly succeeded by the Lancair 235, equipped with the slightly more powerful Lycoming O-235. Regenerated versions quickly followed; Lancair 320 with 150hp Lycoming O-320 and Lancair 360 with 180hp Lycoming O-360. A new tail was introduced for later models in order to solve low speed stability issues with the larger cables.
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Lancair designs provided the highest performance in the GA class from a single giant, and as the kit building market was dominated by pilots looking to outperform existing "off the shelf" designs, Lancair kits sold well. By 1990 they had sold over 600 kits for various two-seater models, giving them, as Neibauer claimed, 30% of the kit market.
Starting in 1990, Neubauer turned his attention to a four-seater design that would retain the qualities of the previous two-seater. These efforts culminated in the Lancair IV, a four-seat optionally pressurized single-engine (IV-P) high cruiser aircraft. The IV broke the speed record for aircraft in its class in February 1991, averaging 360.3 mph between San Francisco and Dover.
Already stretching the boundaries of its existing facility, the company began searching for a new plant and, after examining 200 potential sites, moved to Roberts Field in Redmond, Oregon in 1992. The company became Lancair International with the move. As of August 1998, according to Flight International, Lancair has sold 1,400 kits, of which 300 are of the Lancair IV model.
Shortly after the IV was introduced, Neubauer began work on a simpler fixed-gear version that emerged as the Lancair ES.
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Lancair's designs were prominent in the domestic production market, and in 1994 Neubauer was encouraged by NASA and others to develop a type-certified aircraft.
In nearby Bd, Oregon. The new Lancair LC-40 was based on the fixed-gear Lancair ES. The first prototype flew in July 1996, followed by the certification prototype in early 1997. After a lengthy certification process, the design emerged as the Columbia 300 in 1998, followed by the turbocharged Columbia 400 in 2000.
Was formed as a separate entity on April 7, 2000, and Pacific Aviation Composites merged with The Lancair Company on May 4, 2000.
Deciding to focus on Columbia models, in March 2003, Neibauer sold the entire share of the company to Joseph Bartels, a Louisiana lawyer and builder and owner of the Lancair IV-P. Bartels had already formed Aero Cool to sell air conditioners for the various Lancair models. On July 15, 2005, Niebauer's portion of the company became Columbia Aircraft. Columbias competed relatively unsuccessfully with the new and first to market Cirrus SR22. In 2010, the major shareholders, the Wolstholm family of Colmar, Pennsylvania, purchased the company and appointed Bob Wolstholm as CEO. After a bankruptcy attempt in 2007, Columbia Aircraft was sold to Cessna in November 2007.
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In July 2016, Lancair announced that it would instead sell off Lancair's older aircraft lines to form Lancair Evolution. In February 2017, the 200-360, IV, IVP, IVPT, ES, ESP, and Legacy designs were sold to Mark and Konrad Huffstutler, who now operate the company as Lancair International, LLC, in Uvalde, Texas. They have purchased all assets, intellectual property, and will provide parts and other support for all of the older Lancair models. They plan to resume production of some of the older models and will also develop new models. With the announcement of the sale, Lancair changed its name to Evolution Aircraft.
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