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.

FMI: www.lancair.com/certified