Lancair
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| Privately held company | |
| Industry | Aerospace |
| Founded | 1981 |
| Headquarters | Uvalde, Texas |
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Key people
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CEO: Mark Huffstutler (since 2017) |
| Products | Lancair 360, Lancair IV, Lancair ES |
| Website | http://www.lancair.com |
Lancair International, Inc. (pronounced "lance-air") is a U.S. manufacturer of general aviation aircraft kits. They are well known for their series of high-performance single-engine aircraft that offer cruise speeds that surpass many twin-engine turboprop designs. Along with the Glasair series, the early Lancair designs were among the first kitplanes to bring modern molded composites construction to light aircraft.
The company was founded by Lance Neibauer in 1981 as a producer of composite homebuilt aircraft kits. Neibauer had been introduced to aviation by his uncle Ray Betzoldt, who had collaborated with Al Meyers to build the Meyers 200. Whenever he visited his aunt and uncle, he always took a ride in the Meyers. Hooked, he went looking for an aircraft twenty years later and found nothing that he liked, and decided to join the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) and design his own.
Neibauer began working on the new design after asking every builder he could find what features they were seeking in a homebuilt design. Looking to improve performance with the latest possible features, he selected the new NASA NLF 0215-F airfoil designed by Dan Somers at Langley. The 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 aircraft's basic parameters were fixed, and Neibauer rented a shop in Santa Paula, California and started work on the design.
Intending to introduce aircraft at Oshkosh in 1984, a minor 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 re-shaped cowling and some changes to the wing profile, emerged as the "Lancer 200" in December 1984. Equipped with a 100 hp Continental O-200 engine, the Lancer easily outflew anything powered by the same engine and generated intense interest at Oshkosh '85. However, a naming conflict forced the design to be re-christened, finally going on sale in 1985 as the Lancair 200.
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