Lancair IV

Lancair IV
A Lancair IV-P, with a non-standard four-bladed propeller
Role	Homebuilt aircraft
Manufacturer	Lancair
Status	Production completed 2012
Produced	360 (2011)
Unit cost	USD$400,000-500,000 (IV-P in 2011)
Variants	Lancair Propjet Lancair Tigress

The Lancair IV and IV-P are a family of four-seat low-wing retractable-gear composite monoplanes powered by a 550 cubic inch Continental turbo-normalised piston engine.

Production of the aircraft kit was ended in 2012.

The Lancair IV and IV-P were designed by Lancair around the Continental TSIO-550 - a twin turbocharged engine that is capable of developing 350 hp (261 kW) at sea level and capable of operating altitudes as high as 29,000 feet.

By the fall of 2011 110 Lancair IVs and 250 IV-Ps had been completed and were flying.

In July 2016 the company announced it would be selling the older Lancair lines of aircraft to concentrate on the Lancair Evolution instead. Once the transition is complete the company will change its name to the Evolution Aircraft Company.

In 2014, Bill Harrelson piloted a Lancair IV setting a world speed record for solo flight between the earth's poles for an aircraft under 3,000 kilograms (6,600 lb) in a 175-hour-long series of flights. The flight also broke a record from Fairbanks, Alaska to Kinston, North Carolina. The aircraft was modified to hold 361 U.S. gallons (1,370 L; 301 imp gal) of fuel.

As of June 2014, the NTSB Aviation Accident Database records 20 crashes involving 18 fatalities across all IV variants.

On February 3, 2012, Steve Appleton, CEO of Micron Technology, Inc., was killed while attempting an emergency landing in a Lancair IV-PT turboprop at the Boise Airport in Boise, Idaho, moments after takeoff. He had aborted a take off a few minutes earlier.

Data from Lancair websites

General characteristics