Unicom: 06/04

Lancair vs. Cirrus
In your article on Cirrus’ safety record, you say there has yet to be an accident involving a U.S. registered Lancair Columbia. We can think of one, the 1999 crash of N141LC.

-Rae Willis
Morristown, N.J.

Well, it was and it wasn’t. That crash involved a non-conforming prototype and, although it did occur after Lancair had received certification for the design, we aim to include only “real” airplanes flown in a real world manner. For that reason, we also did not include the crash of another Lancair during spin test training when the spin chute would not release.

The accident you cite is a unique case because it involved a factory test...

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