Evolution Aircraft

Evolution Aircraft Company
Privately held company
Industry Aerospace
Fate Out of business, October 2017
Founded 2017
Defunct 2017
Headquarters Redmond, Oregon, United States
Key people
 President: Kevin Eldredge
Products Light aircraft
Website www.evolutionaircraft.com

The Evolution Aircraft Company was an American aircraft manufacturer based in Redmond, Oregon. The company specialized in the design and manufacture of light aircraft in the form of kits for amateur construction.[1][2]

Kevin Eldredge was the president of Evolution Aircraft.[2]

Founded in February 2017, by October 2017 the company apparently went out of business.

History

In July 2016 Lancair announced it would sell off the older Lancair lines of aircraft to concentrate on the Lancair Evolution instead. Eldredge, who was Lancair's Director of Business Development, indicated that at one time Lancair's products had been unique in the market, but only the Evolution design now occupied that customer niche and thus it made sense to concentrate on that aircraft type. He stated, "there is nothing in the market that can compete with the Evolution" and "unless something drastically changes with the market, after the first of the year, we will be ramping up to one every two weeks." The company had been making 10% of its revenue from supporting the older, out of production designs with parts.[1][2][3][4]

Due to the complexity of the Evolution aircraft design, it is not a traditional kit aircraft, that is normally built in a garage. Instead the kit was designed to be built in professional facilities that assist the amateur builder, including the factory facility and commercial aircraft shops. This focus on using available space at the factory for builder assistance, plus lower sales of the older models, meant there was a good business case for selling off the older designs and freeing space for Evolution completions.[5]

In February 2017 the assets, including the intellectual property for the older designs, were sold to Mark and Conrad Huffstutler, who moved the production of those models to Uvalde, Texas and now operate the company as Lancair International, LLC. With the sale of the older aircraft lines, Lancair changed its name to Evolution Aircraft and remained in its existing Redmond facility.[1][2][6][7][8]

As of October 2017, the company appears to have shut down. The cause seems to have been several high-profile accidents which made obtaining liability insurance impossible.[9]

Aircraft

Lancair Evolution

Summary of aircraft built by Evolution Aircraft:

References

  1. 1 2 3 Kauh, Elaine (29 July 2016). "Lancair To Sell Legacy Assets In Favor Of Evolution Series". AVweb. Retrieved 9 April 2017.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Grady, Mary (14 February 2017). "Lancair Brand Under New Ownership". AVweb. Retrieved 9 April 2017.
  3. ↑ Scheer, Maxine (29 July 2016). "Lancair Announces Reorganization, Restructuring For 'Out Of Production' Aircraft". Aero News Network. Retrieved 11 April 2017.
  4. ↑ Collins, Mike (28 July 2016). "Lancair Announces Restructuring - Many Assets For Sale; Evolution Continues In New Company". Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association. Retrieved 11 April 2017.
  5. ↑ Bergqvist, Pia (28 July 2016). "Lancair finds a new owner". Flying Magazine. Retrieved 11 April 2017.
  6. ↑ "Lancair International Asset Sale Completed". Aero News Network. 14 February 2017. Retrieved 11 April 2017.
  7. ↑ Calderwood, Dave (14 February 2017). "Lancair finds a new owner". Flyer UK. Retrieved 11 April 2017.
  8. ↑ Kitplanes Staff (10 February 2017). "Lancair Sold!". Kitplanes. Retrieved 11 April 2017.
  9. ↑ "Evolution Aircraft Co. appears to have shuttered". www.aopa.org. 2017-10-19. Retrieved 2017-10-20.
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