Collection Gift Guide: Heart of Glass
December 2, 2003
The center screen displays navigational information, such as the current
navigation chart, with selectable resolution right down to the airfield itself.
This is a true moving map, with the aircraft superimposed over the chart of your
choice. Are you flying an instrument approach? There you are in full color, on
both the localizer and glide slope, confirming course and altitude. These
displays offer a great advantage to the pilot in actual instrument conditions. No longer will the
readings of several disparate instruments have to be mentally calculated into a
picture of the flight. All of the useful flight information—attitude, altitude,
and heading—is on one screen, directly in front of the pilot. Trends are more
easily detected and quickly corrected. The flight can be more accurately
controlled.
The display itself gives large, sharp renditions of the attitude
and horizontal situation indicators, making them easy to read. An added
advantage is that chart, traffic, and weather avoidance information may be
overlaid to produce a visual depiction of the flight. Of course, all this
computer power needs a powerful, redundant electrical system. The Columbia
shares the 350’s dual buss, dual battery, and dual alternator electrical system.
The batteries and alternators are independent, and any combination of components
can be chosen to power the aircraft’s systems.
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Lancair’s Columbia 400 is an ideal solution for those who want to avoid the time
wasted at airports when taking commercial flights. (Click image to enlarge)The 400’s flying qualities
are excellent, and its speed advantage over the naturally aspirated 350 is
available from about 8,000 feet, where I found the turbocharged 400’s true
airspeed to be 196 knots at 75 percent power. This is impressive, especially
when considering the Columbia’s fixed landing gear. The Columbia 400 surprises
in other ways as well. Due to Lancair’s unique wing design and rudder servo
system, I was not able to depart stable flight into a spin or spiral dive. In
fact, I could not make the aircraft stall in the conventional sense. Upon
reaching stall, the nose drops slightly, bobbing up and down as the aircraft
settles into a descent of about 800 feet per minute. Shove the rudder pedals,
and they shove back, as the full-time automatic servo limits rudder authority,
preventing a cross control condition, and the resulting spin. Regaining control
from this flight regime is simple. Relax pressure on the stick, and the aircraft
flies out of the stalled condition and into normal flight.
The Columbia 400
makes an excellent express transport. With its speed, the Columbia can depart
from your local airport, and land at your client’s closest airport in less
time than a commercial flight on most trips
of 1,000 miles or less. Parking,
shuttle rides, and delays in security are
avoided, as are the rigid
timetables of airline reservations. For the executive considering aviation as a
method to grow a business, the Lancair Columbia 400 would be a perfect—and
profitable—gift.
Lancair Certified Aircraft
541.318.1144
www.lancair.com/certified
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