Lancair LC-40 Columbia 300

Overview

The Columbia 300 is a four-seat, fixed-gear, low-wing composite single, the naturally aspirated original of the airframe that later became the turbocharged Columbia 400 and, under Cessna, the TTx. The Lancair Company certified the LC40 Columbia 300 in 1998 and began deliveries in 2000 from Bend, Oregon, on a 310-hp naturally aspirated Continental IO-550-N. It cruises at 190 knots true, fast for a fixed-gear normally aspirated single, and shares the 400’s clean carbon-fiber structure and Utility-category strength.

Production was short. The 300 was superseded around 2003 by the LC42 Columbia 350, and the line later passed to Cessna in 2007. The 300 itself predates the Cessna era and was never rebadged as a Cessna, so a buyer will find it only under the Lancair or Columbia names. The Cessna 350 Corvalis is the later LC42, a separate airframe on the same type certificate.

Against the naturally aspirated Cirrus SR22, the Columbia 300 offers comparable speed with a stiffer, more conventional feel and no airframe parachute. It is the value entry into the Columbia family: the same airframe and cabin as the 400, without the turbo system’s complexity, cost, or altitude reach.

Key Features for GA Buyers

• Fast for a normally aspirated single. 190 KTAS at 75 percent on 310 hp, competitive with the SR22 and quick for a fixed-gear airframe.
• Simple naturally aspirated engine. The IO-550-N carries a 2,000-hour TBO, longer than the turbocharged 400’s 1,700, and avoids turbo maintenance and heat-management complexity.
• Composite Utility-category airframe. The same clean carbon-fiber structure as the 400, certified to plus 4.4 g and corrosion-free.
• Value entry to the family. Earlier and lower-priced than the 400 or the Cessna TTx, with much of the same airframe character.
• Long legs. 98 usable gallons gives roughly 950 nm at high cruise, stretching toward 1,300 nm at economy settings.

Trade-offs

• No turbocharging. The 18,000-foot service ceiling and 190-knot cruise trail the turbocharged 400, and performance falls off at altitude where the 400 holds power.
• Very short production run. Built only from 2000 to about 2003, so the fleet is small and parts or type-specific expertise can take effort to find.
• Composite maintenance specialization. Carbon-fiber repair needs shops with composite experience, less common than metal-airframe shops.
• Thin cost data. No methodology-disclosed operating-cost source exists for the 300, so the figures shown are estimates rather than sourced values.
• No airframe parachute. Unlike the Cirrus it competes with, the Columbia has no whole-airframe parachute system.

See Also

• Lancair LC-41 Columbia 400 – the turbocharged development of the same airframe. Compare
• Cessna TTx Model T240 – the airframe’s final Cessna-era evolution, turbocharged with G2000 avionics. Compare
• Cirrus SR 22 – the naturally aspirated composite competitor, with a parachute and a fifth seat. Compare
• Mooney M20R Ovation – a naturally aspirated retractable rival on speed and range. Compare