Collection Gift Guide: Heart of Glass

Jan Morgan

12/02/2003

Lancair Columbia 400
With airports more crowded and delays commonplace, many executives with places to go and people to see are turning to private business aircraft. Lancair Certified Aircraft already has the fast Columbia 350 in production, but has pushed even further with the introduction of a turbocharged version dubbed the Columbia 400. Powered by a 6-cylinder Continental TSIO-550 engine making 310 hp, the Columbia 400 is an impressive 40 knots faster than the 350, with a top speed of 230 kts (265 mph) at 18,000 feet.

In addition to upping the power level from Lancair’s Columbia 350, the Columbia 400 uses computer displays for flight data.  (Click image to enlarge)

Performance is only half of the story on the new 400 series, as Lancair has equipped the new aircraft with an advanced instrument panel to match its side stick flight controls. Instead of “steam gauges” (the quaint term for those round dials with their spinning pointers), the Lancair 400 has what is referred to as a “glass cockpit.” The standard “T” formation of flight instruments—altitude, attitude, airspeed, and direction—has been replaced by a pair of flat plate computer displays with primary flight instruments and navigational charts.

Digital displays are used in lieu of traditional flight instruments. (Click image to enlarge)

Once powered up, the pilot’s panel displays a large attitude indicator, with a horizontal situation indicator below. These images are flanked by the airspeed, vertical speed, and altimeter, rendered in thermometer-like vertical scales. Airspeed is displayed in both indicated and true readings. Those pilots with handheld flight computers and ancient E6Bs now have museum-quality relics to cherish as family heirlooms. Other pertinent flight information, including current navigation and communication radio frequencies, is also displayed.


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.

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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