Country of origin:

United States of America

Description:

Business and touring monoplane

Power Plant:

One 230 kw (310 hp) Teledyne Continental TSIO-550-C six-cylinder, horizontally-opposed, turbocharged, fuel-injected, air-cooled engine

Specifications:

History:

Following the success of the Neico Lancair series of kitplanes, Lance Neibauer designed a production certificated aircraft based on the four-seat Lancair ES and set up a separate company to build and market the new type. First in the series became the Colombia 300. This was followed by the Colombia 350, an all-electric variant of the Model 300 with a 230 kw (310 hp) Teledyne Continental engine which featured a dual battery electrical system which eliminated the dual vacuum pumps on the Model 300, with a PowerLink FADEC controlled TCM IO-550N engine as an option. By 2005 production had reached ten aircraft a month and during that year 114 aircraft were delivered.

The Model 350 was followed by the Colombia 400 with a twin-turbocharged engine and an oxygen system. This model was a logical progression of the earlier models and was aimed at the market for a higher performance aircraft capable of 404 km/h (251 mph) with a range of over 1,852 km (1,151 miles). It was designed as a stable and safe long-distance aircraft with high cruising speed. It was of all composite construction and had a fixed tricycle undercarriage, the main undercarriage legs being mounted on the underside of the fuselage rather than below the wing, this being done to avoid the cost of certifying a retractable undercarriage aircraft and thus reduce the costs associated with maintenance.

Construction took place at the Company’s facility at Bend in Oregon. Electric ailerons and elevator trim were standard, but the rudder trim was not adjustable in flight. The Model 400 featured a larger fin and rudder and a ventral strake to improve directional control and stability. It was fitted with electrically-actuated speed brakes. Control was by side-sticks and instrumentation by two Avidyne EFIS screens.

A modified Colombia 300 was flown non-stop from New York to Paris by Erik Lindbergh, grandson of Charles Lindbergh, to honour his grandfather’s flight in 1927 in a Ryan Brougham.

The Continental TSIO-550-C engine was fitted with dual turbochargers and intercoolers, and was able to produce full 230 kw (310 hp) of power at an altitude of 5,864 m(18,000 ft) and 85 per cent of its power at 7,620 m (25,000 ft). It drove a McCauley propeller but some aircraft have been fitted with a Hartzell three-blade Scimitar propeller.

First of the type in this region was a Colombia 350 VH-LCU (c/n 42075 -exN1475W) registered to Colombia Down Under of Tewantin, QLD in August 2005, this aircraft being imported as a demonstrator, being followed in 2007 by Colombia 400 VH-LCW (c/n 41732).

In late 2007 Cessna, a subsidiary of Textron Aviation Inc of Wichita, Kansas obtained Colombia Aircraft, which was building the type at Bend at a bankruptcy auction and announced it would be continuing to produce the Colombia 350 and Colombia 400 but they would be known as the Cessna 350 and Cessna 400, and the dealers and service centres would integrate them into the Cessna system. Later these models became known as the Cessna 350 Corvalis and the Cessna 400 Corvalis TT, the TT standing for twin turbocharged.

Production of the Cessna Corvalis continued and it was described as the ‘fastest FAA-certified fixed-gear, single-engined piston aircraft in production’.  In March 2011 Cessna announced improvements to the Corvalis 400, this becoming known as the Corvalis TTX, this featuring a new glass cockpit panel based on the Garmin G2000 system, having no traditional instruments, and employing the L-3 Trilogy as a back-up.

Cessna closed the production facility where the Corvalis models were built and moved it to a Cessna facility at Independence in Mexico, the composite construction of the aircraft being transferred to Mexico.

First two Cessna 400s in Australia became VH-JEJ (c/n 001) and VH-CSV (c/n 002) in 2009. On 1 February 2013 another example of the Colombia was registered, described as an LCH-550FG, becoming VH-ODM (c/n 41730) to its owner at Mt Gambier, SA.