The Lancair 200 and Lancair 235 are a family of

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

amateur-built aircraft that were designed by Lance Neibauer and produced by his company, Lancair of

Redmond, Oregon Redmond is a city in Deschutes County, Oregon, United States. The population was 33,274 at the 2020 census, and according to 2023 census estimates, the city is estimated to have a population of 37,009. The city is on the eastern side of Oregon ...

. The Lancair 200 was initially called the Lancer 200, but the name was changed due to a naming conflict. It was first shown at

AirVenture EAA AirVenture Oshkosh (formerly the EAA Annual Convention and Fly-In), or just Oshkosh, is an annual air show and gathering of aviation enthusiasts held each summer at the Wittman Regional Airport and adjacent Pioneer Airport in Oshkosh, Wiscon ...

Oshkosh, Wisconsin Oshkosh () is a city in Winnebago County, Wisconsin, United States, and its county seat. It is located on the western shore of Lake Winnebago and had a population of 66,816 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List o ...

in July 1985. Now out of production, when it was available the aircraft was supplied as a kit, for amateur construction. The design later evolved into the Lancair 320, Lancair 360 and the

Lancair Legacy The Lancair Legacy, a modernized version of the Lancair 320, is a low-wing two-place Landing gear, retractable-gear Composite material, composite monoplane manufactured by the American company Lancair. It is available as a Homebuilt aircraf ...

, all ancestors of the Lancair Barracuda.

Design and development

Neibauer, a

fine arts In European academic traditions, fine art (or, fine arts) is made primarily for aesthetics or creativity, creative expression, distinguishing it from popular art, decorative art or applied art, which also either serve some practical function ...

graduate from

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State or MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State o ...

, designed the 200 because he found the existing production aircraft in the 1980s uninteresting. "That was my primary motivation for starting on the Lancair 200 in the first place, to build what I hoped would be an aesthetically more pleasing design with better performance and handling." The prototype was intended as a "one-off" aircraft for his own use and not for production. Neibauer bought a

Cessna 150 The Cessna 150 is a two-seat tricycle gear general aviation airplane that was designed for flight training, touring and personal use.Plane and Pilot: ''1978 Aircraft Directory'', pages 22-23. Werner & Werner Corp, Santa Monica CA, 1977. In 19 ...

and salvaged the engine, instruments and

avionics Avionics (a portmanteau of ''aviation'' and ''electronics'') are the Electronics, electronic systems used on aircraft. Avionic systems include communications, Air navigation, navigation, the display and management of multiple systems, and the ...

, selling the

airframe The mechanical structure of an aircraft is known as the airframe. This structure is typically considered to include the fuselage, undercarriage, empennage and wings, and excludes the propulsion system. Airframe design is a field of aeros ...

. After displaying the Lancair 200 at Oshkosh in 1985, the design generated a high degree of interest and he began selling kits, initially under the company name of Neico. The aircraft features a cantilever

low-wing A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple wings. A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing config ...

, a two-seats-in-

side-by-side configuration Tandem, or in tandem, is an arrangement in which two or more animals, machines, or people are lined up one behind another, all facing in the same direction. ''Tandem'' can also be used more generally to refer to any group of persons or objects w ...

enclosed cockpit under a

bubble canopy A bubble canopy is an aircraft canopy constructed without bracing, for the purpose of providing a wider unobstructed field of view to the pilot, often providing 360° all-round visibility. The designs of bubble canopies can vary drastically; so ...

, retractable

tricycle landing gear Tricycle gear is a type of aircraft undercarriage, or ''landing gear'', that is arranged in a tricycle fashion. The tricycle arrangement has one or more nose wheels in a single front undercarriage and two or more main wheels slightly aft of th ...

and a single engine in

tractor configuration In aviation, a tractor configuration is a propeller-driven fixed-wing aircraft with its engine mounted with the propeller in front, so that the aircraft is "pulled" through the air. This is the usual configuration; the pusher configuration ...

. The prototype was made of urethane and hot wire cut

styrofoam Styrofoam is a brand of closed-cell extruded polystyrene foam (XPS), manufactured to provide continuous building insulation board used in walls, roofs, and foundations as thermal insulation and as a water barrier. This material is light blue in ...

, all covered with wet lay-up

fiberglass Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English) is a common type of fibre-reinforced plastic, fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened i ...

skin. The production aircraft is made from

composite materials A composite or composite material (also composition material) is a material which is produced from two or more constituent materials. These constituent materials have notably dissimilar chemical or physical properties and are merged to create a ...

, including DuPont

Nomex Nomex is a trademarked term for an inherently flame-resistant fabric with meta-aramid chemistry widely used for industrial applications and fire protection equipment. It was developed in the early 1960s by DuPont and first marketed in 1967. ...

honeycomb structure Honeycomb structures are natural or man-made structures that have the geometry of a honeycomb to allow the minimization of the amount of used material to reach minimal weight and minimal material cost. The geometry of honeycomb structures can ...

, some graphite parts and epoxy-impregnated

cloth for covering. Its span wing employs a NASA NLF(1)-0215F natural

laminar flow Laminar flow () is the property of fluid particles in fluid dynamics to follow smooth paths in layers, with each layer moving smoothly past the adjacent layers with little or no mixing. At low velocities, the fluid tends to flow without lateral m ...

airfoil An airfoil (American English) or aerofoil (British English) is a streamlined body that is capable of generating significantly more Lift (force), lift than Drag (physics), drag. Wings, sails and propeller blades are examples of airfoils. Foil (fl ...

and mounts flaps. The standard engines used are the

Continental O-200 The Continental C90 and O-200 are a family of air-cooled, horizontally opposed, four-cylinder, direct-drive aircraft engines of 201 in3 (3.29 L) displacement, producing between 90 and 100 horsepower (67 and 75 kW).''Federal Aviation Admini ...

on the Lancair 200 and the

Lycoming O-235 The Lycoming O-235 is a family of four-cylinder, air-cooled, horizontally opposed, piston aircraft engines that produce , derived from the earlier O-233 engine.Textron Lycoming: ''Operator's Manual, Textron Lycoming Aircraft Engines, Series O-2 ...

powerplant on the Lancair 235. The

Lycoming O-290 The Lycoming O-290 is a dual-ignition, four-cylinder, air-cooled, horizontally opposed aircraft engine. It was first run in 1939, and entered production three years later. A common variant of the type is the O-290-G, a single-ignition model wh ...

engine has also been used. The two models are otherwise identical. The manufacturer estimated the kit construction time as 600 person-hours.

Operational history

By April 2019, there were two examples of the Lancair 200,

registered Registered may refer to: * Registered mail, letters, packets or other postal documents considered valuable and in need of a chain of custody * Registered trademark symbol, symbol ® that provides notice that the preceding is a trademark or service ...

in the United States with the

Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is a Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government agency within the United States Department of Transportation, U.S. Department of Transportation that regulates civil aviation in t ...

, plus 50 Lancair 235s. In April 2019 there were six Lancair 235s registered with

Transport Canada Transport Canada () is the Ministry (government department), department within the Government of Canada responsible for developing regulations, Policy, policies and Public services, services of road, rail, marine and air Transport in Canada, tra ...

and one Lancair 235 registered with the British Civil Aviation Authority.

Variants

;Lancair 200 :Model first flown in 1984, powered by a

engine. Overall length is . ;Lancair 235 :Model introduced in 1985, powered by a

engine. Overall length is , slightly longer than the 200, due to the engine and mount dimensions.

Aircraft on display

EAA Aviation Museum The EAA Aviation Museum, formerly the EAA AirVenture Museum (or Air Adventure Museum), is a museum dedicated to the preservation and display of historic and experimental aircraft as well as antiques, classics, and warbirds. The museum is lo ...

, Prototype Lancair 200 *

Planes of Fame Air Museum Planes of Fame Air Museum is an aviation museum at Chino Airport in Chino, California. History The Air Museum was founded by Edward T. Maloney on January 12, 1957, in Claremont, California, to save historically important aircraft.

Chino, California Chino ( ; Spanish for "Curly") is a city in the western end of San Bernardino County, California, United States, with Los Angeles County to its west and Orange County to its south in the Southern California region. Chino's surroundings ha ...

, Lancair 235

Specifications (Lancair 235)

References

External links

{{Lancair aircraft Lancair aircraft 1980s United States sport aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft Low-wing aircraft Homebuilt aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1984 Aircraft with retractable tricycle landing gear Single-engined piston aircraft