Lancair International continues to celebrate its Twenty-fifth anniversary with new products and a look to the future.

Most notable is the arrival at Oshkosh of two Evolution aircraft and the completion and first flight of the first customer built Evolution. The two company aircraft include a Turbine Evolution powered by a Pratt & Whitney PT-6 Turboprop engine and Piston Evolution powered by a Lycoming TEO-540-EXP iE2 electronically controlled engine.

The Turbine Evolution will be stationed at Fond du Lac for customer demonstration flights*, and the Lycoming powered aircraft will be on display at the Lycoming booth. Andy Cruce of Vero Beach, FL is celebrating the first flight in his beautiful blue and silver PT-6 powered Evolution (picture attached). The all-composite Evolution offers four seats, pressurization, and 300kt+ speeds (Turbine) with full fuel payloads for 4 adults and baggage (With a 1950# useful load you fill the seats and the tanks). The airframe can accommodate a BRS Ballistic parachute and utilize airbag seat belts and standard energy absorbing seats for enhanced safety. The Evolution's docile handling and 61 knot stall speed will simplify the transition from existing 4 place single engine aircraft.

The Lancair Piston Evolution marks the first use by an OEM of the new Lycoming TEO-540-EXP twin-turbo engine with the integrated iE2 electronic engine management system.  The iE2 provides single lever power control of all engine, turbo and propeller management functions, reducing pilot workload and improving fuel efficiency (automated preflight checks and continuous system monitoring offers improved reliability). The iE2 is also brought to the market with the capability to carry multiple fuel calibrations, allowing the system to be easily adapted to new types of aviation fuels as they are brought to market.  Lancair is proud to be bringing the iE2 to market in the Evolution.

On the Avionics front, in addition to the Industry leading Garmin G900x Suite, Lancair proudly announces the availability of the Avidyne Entegra Release 9 integrated Flight Deck System as an option in the Evolution aircraft. The Release 9 FMS (Flight Management System) is WAAS capable with dual high-resolution integrated Flight Displays and includes Sirius/XM weather and music, traffic alerting, color lightning detection and dual 16 watt digital VHF Nav/Com radios.

A QWERTY keyboard facilitates sensible data entry. Release 9 will provide a new level of communication between the FMS and autopilot to further enhance safety.

The company's focus for the future is on the two Evolution versions, Piston and Turbine, and the two Legacy versions, fixed gear and retractable. The Legacy continues to be best in its class, and is benefitting from improvements brought about by Lancair's agreement to supply 25 aircraft to the nation of Colombia. This is an ongoing program and the first aircraft kit is being delivered this month.

In these difficult times Lancair remains a confident, forward-looking company. The recently announced arrival of Tom Bowen as Lancair COO is an example of Lancair's continuing commitment to engineering excellence, safety, quality and growth. Lancair sees a bright future for it's products, customers, and the industry with more exciting High Performance Aircraft as The Evolution continues.