I'm sure many of you noticed that Lancair Certified has changed their web site to www.gocolumbia.com.  I asked one of the salesmen in the certified booth at SNF why they were moving away from using "Lancair" and emphasizing "Columbia".  I was pretty sure it had something to do with distancing themselves from the kit company.

 

The salesman said that the recent string of Lancair crashes has hurt the sales of the Columbias.  After a really positive demo flight, somebody tells the prospective Columbia buyer about a Lancair that crashed a few months ago, or a friend who died in his Lancair.

 

While that story may not be as commonplace as the salesman said, it's been a significant enough issue for the Columbia sales staff to cause a change at the company.  The salesman admitted that "Lancair" has always been a great sales tool for performance and innovation, but it is more than canceled out by the recent safety record.

 

Since Cirrus has been hit with a very poor initial safety record, the Columbia salespeople see safety as a very strong sales point, and they need to separate Columbias from Lancairs.

 

Mike Easley