From: Bay Elliott <bay@farwellgroup.com>
Subject: [LML] Lanair selling Legacy FG to the Columbian Military for Trainers
To: lml@lancaironline.net
Date: Wednesday, February 4, 2009, 5:04 PM

> With new deal, Lancair is flying high
> Colombian Air Force will get 25 planes in company's largest deal ever
> By Andrew Moore / The Bulletin
> Published: February 04. 2009 4:00AM PST
> 
> A variant of the Lancair Legacy FG model seen here will be licensed for
> production by a Colombian company for use in training pilots of the
> Colombian Air Force.
> Photo courtesy Lancair
> Redmond kit plane manufacturer Lancair International Inc. announced a $6.5
> million licensing deal Tuesday that will allow a Colombian company to
build
> 25 Lancair aircraft for the Colombian Air Force for pilot training.
> The deal with
 the Colombian Aviation Industry Corp. marks Lancair's
largest
> deal ever, according to Lancair General Manager Tim Ong.
> 
> "What's novel about the deal is most military training occurs in
> certificated planes, but by purchasing kit planes and completing them in
> Colombia, their Air Force will get a relatively high performance training
> aircraft at a very reasonable cost," said Max Trescott, a Mountain
View,
> Calif.-based aviation industry consultant. "It looks like a very good
deal
> for everyone involved."
> 
> Kit planes, or planes built from kits, can be certified airworthy by the
> Federal Aviation Administration if they are at least 51 percent built by
the
> plane's owner. Customers are responsible for getting the planes
certified by
> the FAA. This differs from manufacturers, whose planes are certified by
the
> FAA before they're
 sold.
> 
> Due to the growing demands for new technology, such as carbon composite
> materials, the FAA has proposed more stringent manufacturing regulations
for
> kit planes.
> 
> The Lancair planes built in Colombia will not be subject to FAA
regulation.
> 
> The deal helps Lancair's bottom line, Ong said, but he added that the
> company has not been buffeted by the recession as much as other airplane
> manufacturers. Ong said new orders are down, but a backlog of orders as
well
> as the newly announced deal means the company is likely to weather 2009
"in
> good shape."
> 
> To prove the point, Ong said Lancair is hiring. Many airplane
manufacturers,
> including industry giants Cessna Aircraft Co. and Hawker Beechcraft Corp.,
> both based in Wichita, Kan., have recently laid off thousands of
employees.
> 
> The Colombian deal
 calls for Lancair to fabricate the planes' carbon
> composite components either at its plant in Redmond or its fabrication
> facility in the Philippines. All of the planes' components will then
be
> shipped to Colombia for final assembly.
> 
> Ong said the Colombian Air Force currently uses older, aluminum-frame
Cessna
> trainers that have suffered corrosion damage on account of the humidity
> where the trainers are based. A switch to planes made from carbon
composite
> materials eliminates the threat of corrosion, Ong said.
> 
> Plans call for the completion of one aircraft per month in Colombia,
> beginning Aug. 15, and increasing to two per month by the end of the year,
> according to the company.
> 
> The model licensed to Colombia is a variant of the company's Legacy FG
> model. The new aircraft, which exists on paper only, features a
 wing
that's
> 15 percent bigger than the Legacy FG wing, leading-edge cuffs and a
ventral
> fin, all design attributes that provide stability in flight, Ong said.
> 
> "The whole point is they want to develop infrastructure, create jobs,
> (provide) economic development and also bring in core engineering jobs;
and,
> second, they have to replace their fleet of trainers anyway so it was not
> that much more expensive to do it this way," Ong said.
> 
> Lancair was founded in Southern California in 1984 by Lance Neibauer, a
> graphic artist who helped pioneer the use of composite materials in
aircraft
> construction. The company moved to Redmond in 1991. It later spun off the
> manufacturing of FAA-certified, factory-built planes into a separate
> company - Columbia Aircraft Manufacturing Co. - which Cessna bought out of
> bankruptcy in 2007.
> 
>
 According to the company, Lancair has delivered more than 2,000 kit
> airplanes. It employs 54 people at its plant neighboring the Redmond
Airport
> and approximately 90 at its plant in the Philippines, Ong said.
> 
> Andrew Moore can be reached at 541-617-7820 or amoore@bendbulletin.com.





> Warm Regards,
> Bay Elliott
> Executive Vice President, The Farwell Group, Inc.
> Executive Recruiting Consultants
> (305) 529 4811      bay@farwellgroup.com
> "A passion for building high performance teams, one person at a
time."
> www.farwellgroup.com  Corporate Site
> www.linkedin.com/in/bayelliott  for additional personal profile on Linked
In

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