Lancair Celebrates 100th Anniversary Of Flight With Delivery Of
100th Columbia
It's turning out to be an even
bigger week for aviation than we expected. With the 100th
anniversary of the Wright Brothers' first powered flight just over
a week away, The Lancair Company is celebrating a century mark of
its own - the delivery of the 100th Lancair Columbia certified
aircraft.
"Having the two milestones fall so close to one another is a
fitting coincidence," said Lancair President Bing Lantis. "This
delivery is symbolic in that The Lancair Company has seen more than
its share of challenges, but we've persevered and today our outlook
for the future is limitless. I don't know how Orville and Wilbur
felt after their flight a century ago, but we're very excited."
The company's 100th aircraft, a Lancair Columbia 350 (N241GB),
rolled out of the factory escorted by a large contingent of the
Lancair factory team. The blue and white airplane features a
special graphic commemorating the 100th delivery and 100th
anniversary of flight. The aircraft's owner is a business family
based in Central Oregon.
"We're producing aircraft at an ever increasing rate, we're
continuing to bolster our sales and service network across the
nation and we're developing new models," Lantis said. "All of this
is thanks to the hard work and commitment of the people surrounding
Columbia number 100 here today. I'm proud to be a part of this.
"Looking forward, we're in the process of implementing a number
of capital improvements at our production facility that will enable
us to continue to increase our production rate and make room for
possible future aircraft models," Lantis continued. "We're adding
square footage and tooling as well as refining our production
process to increase our speed of production while maintaining our
extremely high quality levels."
The celebration surrounding delivery of the 100th Columbia will
be a short one as Lancair personnel get back to not only building
aircraft, but also completing the certification of a new model, the
turbocharged Columbia 400. Based on the Columbia 350, the Columbia
400 will be faster and fly higher than the current model while
maintaining the Columbia 350's enviable low speed handling
characteristics.
"Reaching our 100th delivery is just the latest achievement for
this company," said Lancair Co-Founder and Vice President of Sales
& Marketing Mark Cahill.
"We're very well positioned for growth and are already working
on projects that will keep The Lancair Company at the forefront of
general aviation innovation for years to come."
The Lancair Company is currently delivering the all-electric,
normally aspirated Columbia 350 and is also in the process of
certifying a turbocharged version of the Columbia dubbed the
Columbia 400.
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