Lancair IV
The Lancair IV and IV-P are a family of four-seat, low-wing, retractable-gear, composite monoplanes powered by a Continental TSIO-550 twin-turbocharged piston engine.
Production of the aircraft kit was ended in 2012.
Development
The Lancair IV and IV-P were designed by Lancair around the Continental TSIO-550 — a twin turbocharged engine that is capable of developing at sea level, and capable of operating at altitudes as high as.By the fall of 2011, 110 Lancair IVs and 250 IV-Ps had been completed and were flying.
In July 2016, the company announced it would sell the older Lancair lines of aircraft, including the Lancair IV, to concentrate on the Lancair Evolution instead. Once the transition was complete, the company changed its name to the Evolution Aircraft Company. The buyer of the old lines of aircraft continued in business as Lancair International, LLC.
Operational history
In 2014, Bill Harrelson piloted a Lancair IV, and set a world speed record for solo flight between the earth's poles for an aircraft under in a 175-hour-long series of flights. The flight also broke a record from Fairbanks, Alaska to Kinston, North Carolina. The aircraft was modified to hold of fuel, so he had to fly solo; his engine was not turbocharged.In March 2013 Harrelson set the current record for straight-line distance for aircraft under 3000 kg: 13060 km from Agana, Guam to Jacksonville FL.
In December 2019 Harrelson set the record for flight westward around the world in a piston aircraft, flying Ontario, California to Ontario in 182 hr 18 min total time, 121 hr 50 min flying time. He flew alone, with the 361-gallon fuel tanks, and stopped at Honolulu, Djakarta, Cape Town and San Juan; great-circle distance for the five segments totals 40503 km, greater than Earth's equatorial circumference.
The Lancair IV has set many point-to-point speed records in its weight class; one of the most astonishing was a January 1999 flight by Gary Burns and Peter Lindsay, Brisbane to Sydney and back averaging 531 km/h for the round trip.
Philippine Aerospace Development Corporation produced 2 units.
Variants
;Lancair IV;Lancair IV-P
;Lancair Propjet
;Lancair Tigress
;RDD Enterprises LX7
Accidents
On February 3, 2012, Steve Appleton, CEO of Micron Technology, was killed while attempting an emergency landing in a Lancair IV-PT turboprop at the Boise Airport in Boise, Idaho, moments after takeoff. He had aborted a take off a few minutes earlier. In the Investigation Report, the NTSB noted that "twenty-six percent of Lancair airplanes have been involved in accidents, and 19 percent have been involved in fatal accidents".the NTSB Aviation Accident Database recorded 20 crashes involving 18 fatalities across all IV variants.
On November 11, 2023 a Lancair IV-P overran the runway at Aero Country Airport in McKinney, Texas.
On July 30, 2025 Anh-Thu Nguyen died in her Lancair IV-P in a crash shortly after departing Indy South Greenwood Airport in Greenwood, Indiana. She was starting the second leg of a planned solo around the world flight.