Columbia Aircraft Manufacturing

Overview

Columbia Aircraft Manufacturing was the Bend, Oregon builder of the Columbia line of high-performance composite singles, the fastest fixed-gear piston aircraft of their era. It grew out of The Lancair Company’s effort to bring a factory-built, type-certificated version of Lancair’s composite designs to market, and produced the Columbia 300, 350, and 400 from 1998 until its assets passed to Cessna in 2007. The independent company no longer exists; its designs continued under Cessna as the Corvalis and TTx, and its aircraft remain well supported through mainstream Continental power and an active owner community.

Heritage

The certified-aircraft venture began in the mid-1990s within Lance Neibauer’s Lancair, the Oregon kit-aircraft pioneer, formed to type-certificate a factory-built composite single. It certified the naturally aspirated LC40 Columbia 300 in 1998, the LC42 Columbia 350 in 2003, and the turbocharged LC41 Columbia 400 in 2004, and was renamed Columbia Aircraft Manufacturing Corporation in 2005 to stand apart from the Lancair kit brand. Financial difficulty led to bankruptcy, and in late 2007 Cessna acquired the assets, rebadging the 350 and 400 as the Cessna Corvalis and carrying the 400 forward as the Corvalis TT, Corvalis TTx, and finally the Cessna TTx until Textron ended the line in 2018.

Design Signature

Columbia built for speed in clean carbon-fiber. Its airframes were aerodynamically efficient, corrosion-free, and certified in the demanding Utility category, and the turbocharged Columbia 400 is still the fastest FAA-certificated fixed-gear piston single ever built, at 235 knots true. The naturally aspirated Columbia 300 opened the line. Where the rival Cirrus answered the safety question with a whole-airframe parachute, Columbia pursued outright performance and a stiffer, more conventional control feel, on fixed landing gear throughout the range.

For Owners

The marque is out of production and the original company is gone, but the fleet is well supported. Cessna and Textron Aviation continue to back the airframes through the Corvalis and TTx type certificates, the Continental TSIO-550 and IO-550 engines are mainstream and widely serviced, and a committed owner community keeps type knowledge alive. The main ownership consideration is the one common to any low-volume composite type: a smaller fleet, a thinner used market, and a need for shops with composite repair experience.

Related Manufacturers

• Cessna
• Evolution Aircraft Company