Lancair International, LLC
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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.
In early 2017 the company, including all the older aircraft designs, was sold and moved from Redmond, Oregon to Uvalde, Texas under the name Lancair International, LLC. The newest model, the Lancair Evolution was retained by the existing company, Lancair International, Inc, which changed its name to the Evolution Aircraft Company.
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.
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