Happy Customer Picks Up Lunch Tab For Entire Lancair Company Crew

The late Science Fiction Author Robert Heinlein often stated (by himself or through his stories), that "There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch." That may have been true in the far reaches of the galaxy... but NOT if you work for the Lancair Company.

Imagine the chaos at the drive through window when new Lancair Columbia 400 owners Doug Bernard and Becky Larson of New Iberia, Louisiana ordered 450 sandwiches from the local Schlotzsky’s Deli yesterday morning – enough lunches to feed The Lancair Company’s entire 450 person staff.

In truth, they used the phone not the drive through window, but they did buy lunch for The Lancair Company – the entire Company. Doug and Becky say they did it as a gesture of thanks to all of the people who contributed to building their new airplane, a turbocharged Columbia 400 in river rock green with pewter and cashmere beige stripes.

“The airplane is nothing but quality,” Doug said. “From the first time I saw one to the first time I flew one I knew that the folks who build them must be decent people.”

The Columbia 400 (file photo, below) is Doug’s first aircraft, though he’s been a pilot since the 1970s. As he tells it, “I’ve wanted to own an airplane since I left the military, but the money and time necessary were never available at the same time until now.

“She’s a beautiful airplane and we just wanted to thank the people who built her for us,” Doug said. “When someone does something nice for you, you should tip them. That’s just what you do.”

According to The Lancair Company, they have had lots of happy, even effusive customers since they began delivering their certified Columbia aircraft in 2000, but never anything quite like this.

“This is really a classy thing to do,” said The Lancair Company’s North American Sales Manager Mike Schrader.

“Our sales staff hear the customers’ excitement for the product all the time, but the folks who actually put them together don’t get to hear that, at least not directly, very often. I know this means a lot to them and on behalf of the entire company, I’d like to thank Doug and Becky for being so considerate. It’s things like this that make what we do fun.” [ANN Thanks Aaron Kathman for the pix of Doug, his wife, and "the other woman," their new lancair Columbia 400.]

FMI: www.lancair.com/certified