Columbia Aircraft
Encyclopedia
General aviation
General aviation is one of the two categories of civil aviation. It refers to all flights other than military and scheduled airline and regular cargo flights, both private and commercial. General aviation flights range from gliders and powered parachutes to large, non-scheduled cargo jet flights...
aircraft
Aircraft
An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air, or, in general, the atmosphere of a planet. An aircraft counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engines.Although...
. In November 2007 it became a division of Cessna
Cessna
The Cessna Aircraft Company is an airplane manufacturing corporation headquartered in Wichita, Kansas, USA. Their main products are general aviation aircraft. Although they are the most well known for their small, piston-powered aircraft, they also produce business jets. The company is a subsidiary...
.
History
In 1994 NASANASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
launched the Advanced General Aviation Transport Experiments
Advanced General Aviation Transport Experiments
The Advanced General Aviation Transport Experiments project was a consortium of NASA, the FAA, the general aviation industry and a number of universities which was shut down in December 2001. Its goal was to create a Small Aviation Transportation System as an alternative to short-range automotive...
(AGATE) project in an attempt to re-energize the rapidly shrinking general aviation (GA) market. A series of factors, including new regulatory requirements and immense legal liability lawsuit settlements made the GA field unprofitable and most manufacturers had abandoned production of piston-engined light aircraft to concentrate on the business turbine aircraft market. As a result GA design work had basically ended and aircraft for sale in 1990 were essentially the same as those from the 1970s. With a thriving market for used aircraft, American GA aircraft production numbers declined from 18,000 in 1978 to 954 in 1993, an all-time low.
During the same period the kit-built
Homebuilt aircraft
Also known as amateur-built aircraft or kit planes, homebuilt aircraft are constructed by persons for whom this is not a professional activity. These aircraft may be constructed from "scratch," from plans, or from assembly kits.-Overview:...
market was thriving. Free of some of the problems that certified aircraft
Type certificate
A Type Certificate, is awarded by aviation regulating bodies to aerospace manufacturers after it has been established that the particular design of a civil aircraft, engine, or propeller has fulfilled the regulating bodies' current prevailing airworthiness requirements for the safe conduct of...
had, and populated largely by experimenters looking for better performance, the kit market expanded rapidly in the 1980s. Designs available as kits often surpassed the performance of certified aircraft, while also being much less expensive. A leading kit manufacturer, Lancair
Lancair
Lancair International, Inc. 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...
's high performance Lancair IV
Lancair IV
-External links:*...
design set a number of records, including a long-range flight at 360–mph.
As part of AGATE, NASA used a Lancair ES
Lancair ES
-External links:*...
as a testbed for advanced avionics
Avionics
Avionics are electronic systems used on aircraft, artificial satellites and spacecraft.Avionic systems include communications, navigation, the display and management of multiple systems and the hundreds of systems that are fitted to aircraft to meet individual roles...
fits. The ES was a version of the unpressurized Lancair IV with fixed landing gear
Undercarriage
The undercarriage or landing gear in aviation, is the structure that supports an aircraft on the ground and allows it to taxi, takeoff and land...
. Lancair founder Lance Neibauer was encouraged to certify the design, which would make it one the first all-new GA aircraft certified in years.
On 3 April 1995 Lancair established a new company, Pacific Aviation Composites USA, in Redmond, Oregon
Redmond, Oregon
Redmond is a city in Deschutes County, Oregon, United States. Incorporated on July 6, 1910, the city is located on the eastern side of Oregon's Cascade Range, in the High Desert, and is considered the geographical heart of Central Oregon...
. Originally intended simply to spread out production of the existing Lancair aircraft product lines, the new factory was rechristened Lancair Certified and was used as the main site for what was then known as the Lancair LC-40, for "Lancair Certified, model 40". The first prototype flew in July 1996, followed by the certification prototype in early 1997.
After a lengthy development and certification process the aircraft was officially certified on 18 September 1998 as the Model LC40-550FG and marketed under the name Columbia 300. Lancair Certified was renamed Columbia Aircraft Manufacturing Corporation in 2005 to focus on the new design. Neibauer sold the kit-build portion of the company, Lancair International, to Joseph Bartels in March 2003.
The 300 was the fastest fixed-gear aircraft in the world when it was released, but held this title only for a short period until the turbocharged
Turbocharger
A turbocharger, or turbo , from the Greek "τύρβη" is a centrifugal compressor powered by a turbine that is driven by an engine's exhaust gases. Its benefit lies with the compressor increasing the mass of air entering the engine , thereby resulting in greater performance...
and FADEC
FADEC
Full Authority Digital Engine Control is a system consisting of a digital computer, called an electronic engine controller or engine control unit , and its related accessories that control all aspects of aircraft engine performance...
-equipped Columbia 400 (Model LC41-550FG) flew in June 2000. The 400 also featured a new glass cockpit
Glass cockpit
A glass cockpit is an aircraft cockpit that features electronic instrument displays, typically large LCD screens, as opposed to the traditional style of analog dials and gauges...
developed under the AGATE program, which Columbia refers to as the "Highway in the Sky" (HITS). The 400 was certified on 30 March 2003.
The upgrades used in the Columbia 400 were then incorporated in the original 300 design to create the Model LC42-550FG, marketed as the Columbia 350. It appeared in April 2002 and was certified on 8 April 2004.
In January 2003, Composite Technology Research Malaysia (CTRM) bought a controlling interest in Columbia for over $50 million. CTRM is owned by the Malaysian government and was incorporated in November 1990 by Minister of Finance Malaysia Inc. CTRM's CEO is Retired Col. Rosdi Mahmud. CTRM became interested in selling its share of the company in 2006.
All of the Columbia aircraft competed heavily with similar designs from Cirrus Design
Cirrus Design
The Cirrus Aircraft Corporation is an aircraft manufacturer that was founded in 1984 by Alan and Dale Klapmeier to produce the VK-30 kit aircraft....
, which was also developed under AGATE and included many of the same features. First to market, the SR22
Cirrus SR22
The Cirrus SR22 is a single-engine, four-seat, composite aircraft, built by Cirrus Aircraft starting in 2001. It is a more powerful version of the Cirrus SR20, with a larger wing, higher fuel capacity, and a 310 horsepower engine...
outsold the Columbia models by a wide margin.
On September 24, 2007 Columbia Aircraft announced that Textron
Textron
Textron is a conglomerate that includes Bell Helicopter, E-Z-GO, Cessna Aircraft Company, and Greenlee, among others. It was founded by Royal Little in 1923 as the Special Yarns Company, and is headquartered at the Textron Tower in Providence, Rhode Island, United States.With total revenues of...
would purchase the company, which would be merged with its Cessna
Cessna
The Cessna Aircraft Company is an airplane manufacturing corporation headquartered in Wichita, Kansas, USA. Their main products are general aviation aircraft. Although they are the most well known for their small, piston-powered aircraft, they also produce business jets. The company is a subsidiary...
division, including its line of high-performance single-engined aircraft. As part of the sale agreement Columbia Aircraft was to enter Chapter 11 bankruptcy
Bankruptcy
Bankruptcy is a legal status of an insolvent person or an organisation, that is, one that cannot repay the debts owed to creditors. In most jurisdictions bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor....
protection. The arrangement would be subject to approval of the bankruptcy court and also to a final agreement with Cessna.
The fate of Columbia Aircraft was complicated on October 14, 2007 when three additional companies entered the bidding for Columbia Aircraft. These were Columbia's competitor, Cirrus Design
Cirrus Design
The Cirrus Aircraft Corporation is an aircraft manufacturer that was founded in 1984 by Alan and Dale Klapmeier to produce the VK-30 kit aircraft....
as well as Versa Capital Management and Park Electrochemical Corporation. The two latter companies filed motions with the bankruptcy court stating that Cessna has been "getting preferential treatment in the process". On 20 November 2007 Cirrus Design announced that they would not pursue purchasing Columbia, citing Columbia's problems as being too serious and that resolving them would require excessive resources.
On 27 November 2007 Cessna's parent company Textron announced that Cessna Aircraft was the successful bidder for Columbia Aircraft, that the Columbia 350 and 400 are renamed the Cessna 350 and Cessna 400 and that all existing Columbia aircraft will be supported by Cessna. Cessna paid USD$26.4M for the company and committed to investing in the current company location on the southeast corner of Bend Municipal Airport
Bend Municipal Airport
Bend Municipal Airport is a city-owned, public-use airport located northeast of the central business district of Bend, a city in Deschutes County, Oregon, United States. This airport is included in the FAA's National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2009–2013, which categorizes it as a...
in Bend
Bend, Oregon
Bend is a city in and the county seat of Deschutes County, Oregon, United States, and the principal city of the Bend, Oregon Metropolitan Statistical Area. Bend is Central Oregon's largest city, and, despite its modest size, is the de facto metropolis of the region, owing to the low population...
, Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
.
On 29 April 2009 Cessna announced that it would close the former Columbia plant in Bend, Oregon facility where the Cessna 350 and 400 were built and move production to Kansas
Kansas
Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...
. The company laid-off all the remaining 150 employees at the Bend plant.
Columbia aircraft
- Columbia 300 - production completed
- Columbia 350 - now known as the Cessna 350
- Columbia 400 - now known as the Cessna 400