O.K. guys this is not a question to start a (These guys suck forum), but has anybody heard what is going on with lancair? In my opinion it is just important for them to make it as Cirrus.
So I pose the question “waaassss up” with the columbia count and where are they in the country?
Thanks…Ed
So I pose the question “waaassss up” with the columbia count and where are they in the country?
Agree with you that Lancair’s success would be Good For The Cause (of having more planes, better planes, a wider choice of planes, wider public acceptance of planes, and so on).
Don’t know anything about their delivery pace.
I do know that Bruce Holmes, “Mr.Advanced General Aviation” from NASA, will actually be at the Lancair factory tomorrow for a ceremony. He’ll be accepting one of their Columbia 300s as a NASA test vehicle for advanced-airplane concepts. (There was a little note about this at the AOPA web site, plus a Q-and-A with Holmes. I understand that Holmes will give a speech about overall progress toward a “small aircraft transport system.”) NASA, ever mindful of parity, will collect an SR22 later on for the same test purposes – but I imagine that Cirrus has told them to take a place in the queue.
I live 20 miles from the Lancair factory. I visted the plant recently. They are working hard with about 80+ employees. They have several aircraft coming down the assembly line with the NASA plane at the head of the que. There appeared to be very few people working on the assembly line. I came away with the image of a big but mostly empty production line with good potential. Most of the production people are in other parts of the plant making composite parts. The folks seem dedicated. However, I didn’t see much progress, or change from the last time that I visited 5 months ago.
My guess is that a significant infusion of capital would help them out and speed up production immensely. The rep did say that Lancair is taking a different approuch to profitability than Cirrus. Where Cirrus is priced aggressively requiring them to produce large number of airplanes, Lancair is positioned to be profitable with a much smaller production output. They also pointed out that they have far less capital tied up in bringing the airplane to market then Cirrus does.
So I pose the question “waaassss up” with the columbia count and where are they in the country?
Two of my partners at work expect delivery of Columbia # 4 (yes, number four!!) next week. Their plane is currently in Ft. Worth having a Garmin 430 installed, halfway home to Georgia.
So I pose the question “waaassss up” with the columbia count and where are they in the country?
Agree with you that Lancair’s success would be Good For The Cause (of having more planes, better planes, a wider choice of planes, wider public acceptance of planes, and so on).
Don’t know anything about their delivery pace.
I do know that Bruce Holmes, “Mr.Advanced General Aviation” from NASA, will actually be at the Lancair factory tomorrow for a ceremony. He’ll be accepting one of their Columbia 300s as a NASA test vehicle for advanced-airplane concepts. (There was a little note about this at the AOPA web site, plus a Q-and-A with Holmes. I understand that Holmes will give a speech about overall progress toward a “small aircraft transport system.”) NASA, ever mindful of parity, will collect an SR22 later on for the same test purposes – but I imagine that
Cirrus has told them to take a place in the queue.
Well done Cirrus !!!
A friend of mine is # 12 for Lancair, you think we have been delayed. I told him that I will probably be flying my SR22 #85 before his #12.
Have a great Cirrus day.
Woor
I live 20 miles from the Lancair factory. I visted the plant recently. They are working hard with about 80+ employees. They have several aircraft coming down the assembly line with the NASA plane at the head of the que. There appeared to be very few people working on the assembly line. I came away with the image of a big but mostly empty production line with good potential. Most of the production people are in other parts of the plant making composite parts. The folks seem dedicated. However, I didn’t see much progress, or change from the last time that I visited 5 months ago.
My guess is that a significant infusion of capital would help them out and speed up production immensely. The rep did say that Lancair is taking a different approuch to profitability than Cirrus. Where Cirrus is priced aggressively requiring them to produce large number of airplanes, Lancair is positioned to be profitable with a much smaller production output. They also pointed out that they have far less capital tied up in bringing the airplane to market then Cirrus does.
Money is essential to the game. Developments such as Cirrus and Lancair consume copious (meaning COPIOUS) amounts of the stuff.
BTW, does anyone know whether the recent Cirrus financing effort was successfully concluded?
Pete
So I pose the question “waaassss up” with the columbia count and where are they in the country?
Two of my partners at work expect delivery of Columbia # 4 (yes, number four!!) next week. Their plane is currently in Ft. Worth having a Garmin 430 installed, halfway home to Georgia.
Bob if you can get them out of the plane Im sure everyone would love to see a posting from these guys about there delv. Maybe Lancair is doing something we can all learn from. What was there total wait time from deposit to delv…Ed
What was there total wait time from deposit to delv…Ed
They “traded up” from a higher position to number 4 about two years ago. I have no idea when the original holder bought that position. Also, I find it interesting that the factory pilot called them and recommended a Garmin GPS (GNS 430) rather than the factory UPS avionics. Ought to make us feel better about the Cirrus standard packages. Sounds like a bite to me- buy a new plane for >250K and swap avionics (at significant cost) before you even take delivery.
They “traded up” from a higher position to number 4 about two years ago. I have no idea when the original holder bought that position. Also, I find it interesting that the factory pilot called them and recommended a Garmin GPS (GNS 430) rather than the factory UPS avionics. Ought to make us feel better about the Cirrus standard packages. Sounds like a bite to me- buy a new plane for >250K and swap avionics (at significant cost) before you even take delivery.
Say its not so! Thats like getting married and taking her for a face lift and a boob job on the honeymoon!..Ed
What was there total wait time from deposit to delv…Ed
They “traded up” from a higher position to number 4 about two years ago. I have no idea when the original holder bought that position. Also, I find it interesting that the factory pilot called them and recommended a Garmin GPS (GNS 430) rather than the factory UPS avionics. Ought to make us feel better about the Cirrus standard packages. Sounds like a bite to me- buy a new plane for >250K and swap avionics (at significant cost) before you even take delivery.
Bob,
As a matter of interest, what were the specific reasons given for preferring the Garmin 430 over the UPS avionics? Did they replace all the UPS stuff, or only the GPS?
Thanks, Pete
Bob,
As a matter of interest, what were the specific reasons given for preferring the Garmin 430 over the UPS avionics? Did they replace all the UPS stuff, or only the GPS?
Thanks, Pete
Talked to one of the guys today. Because of a lack of panel space for a 430, they are swapping the UPS GPS only for a Garmin 155. They were told (and after checking,apparently agree) that it is significantly easier to use. It ends up being a less drastic swap than originally planned. The way the radios and GPS are laid out in their panel (separate areas in panel and console) doesn’t leave room either space to easily fit a 430 and keep a second nav-com radio without considerable cutting.
As a matter of interest, what were the specific reasons given for preferring the Garmin 430 over the UPS avionics? Did they replace all the UPS stuff, or only the GPS?
Thanks, Pete
Pete – at the risk of budding in, I spent a great deal of time reseraching both Garmin and Apollo GPS units and while each have some advantages, I’ll bud in and tell you why I went with a 430 over an Apollo in my 260SE:
Garmin has STARS/SIDS - Apollo does not.
Garmin interfaces with the STEC GPSS option, and apollo does not.
In order to do dual nav receivers for IFR back-up, with Apollo you need a GPS and Two seperate radios. The 430 saves you space therefore.
The 430 has a larger/faster data bus which gives it an advantage for future applications.
The 430’s interface with the Sandel EHSI is far superior to UPS, allowing it to send map data/holding patterns…etc.
The 430 displays holding patterns on its unit, the apollo does not.
The 430 is WAAS upgadeable, the Apollo’s are not…
I believe the 430 can display certain types of traffic and weather data that the Apollo cannot. You need their mx20 map (which is an amazing product) to see that stuff.
Anyway, Apollo has some virtues to be sure, but those are Garmin advantages.
Dean
As a matter of interest, what were the specific reasons given for preferring the Garmin 430 over the UPS avionics? Did they replace all the UPS stuff, or only the GPS?
More info: seems the driving reason behind the change was a desire for GPS steering with STEC autopilot. The Garmin unit can accept the interfaces, UPS not ready yet. The change after that became known was driven more by the owners rather than the factory pilot. Other stuff I was told is secondary.