So, with the apparent demise of Evolution and Lancair being "on pause" (as per their website). what options exist for someone who wants to build a high performance, 4-passenger traveling airplane? Something that's say, in the same ballpark as my Columbia 400? Except, without all the burdens a certificated aircraft has?

Just musing, but what the heck is out there?

Velocity.

I think the XL RG with a TN’d 550 is boasting north of 240 KTAS.

The RV-10 isn’t as fast, but for kitplane standards it’s pretty quick. 170+ knots.

I wonder how much the insurance industry has affected that segment of the homebuilt market. But I also wonder if there are enough potential buyers in this segment for anyone to succeed. Lots of players have failed. The Lancair Evolution seems like it was a niche at best. Not sure how many millionaires there are with time to go to the build center.

Do you insist on building it yourself? They sell for less than the cost to build, and there are always several on the market. Given the demographics of those who can afford the time and money to build something like an Evolution, owners age out pretty regularly.

Velocity XL-RG with an IO550 is a 200kt airplane burning about 13GPH cruising at around 8,000’. No short or soft fields though.

They show up for sale pretty often. There's one up in Calgary for sale but it has an LS1 engine. Which probably explains the $159K price. Lately they seem to have been going for around $200k.

I think RV-10 is the closest thing at the moment.
That will likely be my next airplane, either build it or buy it not sure which yet.
170+kts

Compair - I had a customer 10 years ago who had a CA8 with a Walter 601. Nowhere as efficient as the Columbia

http://www.compairaviation.com/

Larry,

I don’t think there are any on-going offerings, After considering the entire market up to a Meridian, I bought a Lancair IV-P as the best choice for me. It’s a very personal decision as to whether one can fly and maintain safely and adequately.

You might consider a Lancair ES.

I would stay away from the Velocity. I once was in an IFR group along with a couple who were instructors that owned one. They would continually lament what a difficult handful it was to fly cross country.

The Lancair ES is the genesis of your Columbia. It’s a pretty simple design. They come on the market from time to time. Good to follow lancairtalk.net for opportunities.

Example: https://www.controller.com/listing/for- ... t-aircraft

There is also a pressurized ES available on Controller.

Blue skies,

Tom

I think owning a pre-built experimental A/B is part of the question. You still have to rely on certificated IA for a condition inspection (annual). If one is also the builder, then all the maintenance and inspections are your own.

I'd sort of like to control the whole deal, end-to-end. Let's just say, the state of certificated maintenance operations is not making me happy at the moment. I'm also particular about how things are built and just being either the one who did or supervised and observed it before it went together, would make me feel better.

It doesn't seem like there are as many active EAB offerings, especially at the higher-performance end right now. I don't think I can justify a turbine anything, unless I stumbled upon a suitable engine with a few hundred usable hours on it at an incredible price.

Nope. An A&P can do the condition inspection. Now finding one willing to that inspection could be a challenge. One might have to travel to find one.

Nope. An A&P can do the condition inspection. Now finding one willing to that inspection could be a challenge. One might have to travel to find one.

My bad - just an A&P is required.

It is getting a lot harder to find people willing to do this kind of stuff.

Not sure how comfortable I'd be in a EAB built by someone else.

Worth thinking about.

One of my ex bosses "built" an Evolution. I suspect much more money than time was invested. He aged out a few years back.

True 'dat. My Lancair 235/290 is for sale at roughly 2/3 of what I have in it, not counting thousands of hours of labor.

RV-10 is very similar performance to a later V tail Bonanza (S model+) and will cost more when completed. But it will be new instead of 50+ years old, and less expensive to maintain. Which brings up a story…..


A friend of mine who was 77 at the time started an RV10 build, he was over 80 when finished. A previous builder of an RV-6. The good news is, it will be a great lifetime airplane for his son who is also a pilot and an engineer. A wonderful gift.

But if I had been 77 and wanted RV10 performance I would have gotten a V tail Bonanza and started flying it on day 1….