$1,400,000 Lancair Evolution - Worth Every Penny

Today we review the Lancair Evolution to see how this Turbo Prop sets itself apart from the competition.
Music By: / aka-dj-quads

[@ClearedForTakeoff]

Thanks for visiting, please hit that subscribe button and I promise the next video will be better. Stick around as I do more reviews and go on a few flying adventures, I assure you you won't regret it!

[@lebojay]

For all the high-production-value professional aircraft reviews I watch, this is the first guy who tells us what it’s like to sit in the back seat. THANK YOU!

[@nacemalovic9068]

I absulutely love to see People with low cost stuff do reviews and videos with such enthusiasm... Keep up the good work👌

[@matthewspry4217]

You mean potato cam

[@brianmcgee115]

A review would include a flight as well

[@ClearedForTakeoff]

+Brian McGee thanks for watching Brian, review is coming in part 2(with better audio and footage lol) plane was going into maintenance right after this was taken

[@GaryMCurran]

if AvWeb is right, Evolution Aircraft may be closing. Apparently, they've gone 'incommunicado!' Not a good thing for people who are lining up to buy their aircraft.

[@ClearedForTakeoff]

+Gary C yeah let's hope that's not the case for these owners

[@GaryMCurran]

Aero News Network has today, 11/1/2017, reported that Evolution is for sale. The company. There are apparently issues in getting insurance for the airplanes, there have been a number of fatal crashes, and the company has 'right sized' it's employment force.

[@gbigsangle3044]

Evolution is not for sale...they are looking for investors. They did layoff half their workforce. They do have insurance problems. They have had a spate of crashes recently. Likely they will disappear, sadly.

[@rnordquest]

Sold to JMB in 2022.

[@CarlSmithAviationBroker]

Wow - doesn't he know about Vertical Video Syndrome?

[@ClearedForTakeoff]

+Carl Smith hey Carl thanks for the comment, I'll try not to switch between the two going forward, first video :)

[@eipip1ez]

I don't mean to insult you but if you want to video stuff, get a steadycam. Jerky camera movements are annoying. Also, film during the "golden hour". I could not see the instrument panel very well due to glare.

[@ClearedForTakeoff]

Thanks Mark, been buying myself new equipment whenever I earn a little bit from youtube, just got myself gymbal actually

[@joshuamarks4131]

Starting pilot school in november and love to get inspired by other people, have a sub! Keep up the great work 👍

[@ClearedForTakeoff]

Hey that’s awesome!!! You’ll fall in love fast 😃

[@Firedog105]

Cool video . Never gets old looking at planes ✈️.

[@ClearedForTakeoff]

Thanks Kevin, there are plans for many more of these videos so stick around!

[@hawkdsl]

Plane 1.4 million... Camera.. $7.25

[@lefthandedhardright8839]

General Aviation is up against the ropes, getting its teeth kicked in, and the ref is doing nothing to stop it.

[@ClearedForTakeoff]

Too many rules, but that’s what government does, starts off with good intentions and then becomes more of a hassle.

[@lefthandedhardright8839]

@@ClearedForTakeoff So what you're saying is; we need some sort of a right that allows us to bear arms and fight a corrupt and broken government, that makes stupid laws that destroys an industry? God, I wish the founding fathers would have thought of this. If only we had something like that. Then maybe GA wouldn't be wasting away.

[@willjohnson211]

Did you film this with a potato

[@ClearedForTakeoff]

I see you’ve found my first ever video, welcome. Lol, they get better.

[@mikesmith4337]

To bad about the audio. Good luck in the future

[@samkh4205]

Your funny I’m very sad to say this but you are funnier than any dad joke

[@ClearedForTakeoff]

I love dad jokes so thank you 😂

[@isaacridge4493]

Or a 6 seater piper seneca 5 with all extras for cheaper

[@gavinclaassen6440]

Your sound / volume setting is too low, i have my laptop volume maxed out, and still hardly can hear you.

[@Themanfuhreal]

I don’t care what these comments say this videos good it’s a grey day and he’s just making videos. Leave good small you tubers alone!

[@chamberlin1]

You had me up until 'custom rims' lol

[@ClearedForTakeoff]

Hahaha thanks for watching

[@DanFrederiksen]

Given that the piston IV-P is also very respectably fast I'd say the turboprop version doesn't make sense at all. Otherwise interesting bird. I'm starting to really like the IV-P although I would like to see a tandem 2 seater lighter yet still pressurized version. And of course I'd like to see it done with two tiny jets at the rear instead. It's just a very different level of civility to have vibration free silence at FL400. And that is possible at LSA weight and price.

[@ClearedForTakeoff]

I would love to see your version of the plane too, two jets on a LSA hmm....

[@DanFrederiksen]

​@@ClearedForTakeoff It can sound impossible because we are conditioned to think jet is wild and something for 12 seater 30 million dollar untouchable jets but if you free yourself from convention and rely on engineering numbers, it's much clearer. Say we target 300kg empty weight which is easy, such a light weight vehicle doesn't need the thrust of a 11 ton jet like a falcon 900. Indeed that would be 36 times lighter and for personal use we can live with less than the Falcon 900's 888km/h cruise speed. 600 is plenty great, right or even 500. So the plane might do well with 100x less engine power. See? so you no longer need high strung million dollar engines, you need 2 egg beaters. What got me thinking was the Williams EJ22 engine which was made for the Eclipse 500. It's only 44kg bare bones. And two of those would be way too much power for a 300kg plane. So rather than the dumb solution of a vision jet of only having one engine, crippling your ability to traverse water and general confidence, you use 2 so small engines that they are dirt cheap to make. EJ22 is about 310kg thrust but a passenger jet has about 1:4 thrust to weight so say 500kg take off weight, 100kg thrust would be plenty. So rather than impossible engines we are talking about 8kg jet engines. Little tiny things that can be mass produced. And we are talking turbofans so half decent fuel efficiency. A smaller engine is a bit less efficient but actually not much. As you may understand from insects, material strength is much better at small scale. So making a small jet engine hold together is vastly easier than big ones. The turbines could be machined as one piece in common materials or even sophisticated casting. Heck I wouldn't rule out that you could stamp it. Imagine a 100$ jet engine. Certified even. By placing the engine trailing the wing like a hondajet we can simplify the fuel line and have two quite independent sides. Also easier balance, less on the tail. It might be slightly more noise but I think we can live with that at LSA price in the first iteration. Indeed it could be at the cheap end of LSA with good series production of the engines. Because the crude 912 is not cheap. Tadpole carbon fiber monohull, it could come in much below 300kg empty. And you could do a 4 seater version with 3 or 4 engines. Pretty good redundancy.

[@trickedouttech321]

if this was a true Pilots plane it would be a center stick. The only part about this plane most don't like is the crappy stick position.

[@wyskass861]

Why does it look like it's filmed through a dark smoke filter?

[@amirkazemi2517]

is this a kit - yeah, homebuilt aircraft - whoa - scareeee

[@ClearedForTakeoff]

Oh yeah, I wouldn't trust myself to build it though unless I had a very experienced professional helping me. Thats a lot of power on a little plane!

[@theprojectproject01]

I learned i need this airplane. I also learned i can cringe so hard it slows the rotation of the planet. Awwwwwk-waaaaarrrrd.

[@ClearedForTakeoff]

Hahaha the videos have definitely gotten better since this one, what can I say? No one starts off a professional.

[@mitch858]

Sick plane!

[@ClearedForTakeoff]

Thanks +Mitch

[@connortidler7408]

I saw N76SK in KEYE, beautiful plane!

[@AirplaneDetective]

Awesome shirt, where can I get one?

[@danielsimpson8385]

Awesome plane. Need to work on your video quality and audio.

[@pilotmiami1]

Bravo.perfect

[@orlandoardila1673]

What a subpar video man. So unfortunate

[@ClearedForTakeoff]

Thanks for stopping by, the first video is always the hardest ya know

[@heywoodjablowmeagain9427]

Crazy money.

[@TriadAgone]

Would rather have this than a malibu, unless I'm dealing with ice. Highly laminar wings with low % cross sections suck in ice.

[@ClearedForTakeoff]

Oooooo very interesting thought there, I would also look at the crash history on these, theres been quite a few, I think most are pilot error but I can't say for sure. There was one crash I read about recently when the pilot had a heart attack or something and crashed in the pacific but that wasn't pilot error and that one was highly modified, sad story to say the least.

[@TriadAgone]

@@ClearedForTakeoff I think the issue with the accidents isn't a design problem, but is primarily due to people transitioning from things like SR22s to a Lancair as their first real high performance airplane. The speeds are more like a citation 510 or a TBM930 but with worse handling when slow. These pilots really should be transitioning from aircraft with similar performance and flying much more per year to be proficient. A 100h a year pilot should not hop in one of these, but they often do because the price is SOOO much lower than other comparable aircraft.

[@ClearedForTakeoff]

Yeah I agree, maybe they should look into people that sell these planes to people who shouldn't have them in the first place.

[@user-ht5gp3gu1e]

My dream

[@lukecole6203]

Looks like you have more engine than air plane on that thing

[@ClearedForTakeoff]

Oh it’s definitely overpowered and may be the reason why there are quite a few fatalities on this airframe

[@lukecole6203]

@@ClearedForTakeoff I did not know that. Well be careful, looks like an awesome ship

[@agp7073]

Bad music and humor, could have been a great video

[@kujawat]

what a sexy aircraft... i got some stick time in a Turbine Glasair III.. it was a fucking rocket powered, airplane shaped viagra.. a great x-country machine... I have a lot of time in a Glasair II RG too... no kerosene, but 200 knots on 9gph .. INVERTED.. she was a go-somewhere airplane.. I miss her..

[@j.muckafignotti4226]

Apparently Falcon Field?

[@natepate6117]

This plane is much faster than a Cirrus jet!,, by far man

[@ClearedForTakeoff]

Oh yeah, and the curves on it are sooooo sexy!!!

[@damonpetty7741]

Did RDD make this aircraft?

[@ClearedForTakeoff]

I don't know if they did or not, I did this video a while ago and I don't keep in touch with the previous pilot anymore.

[@davidleg]

I just saw another one in Mexico City

[@ClearedForTakeoff]

Sweet looking planes right?

[@davidleg]

@@ClearedForTakeoff they really are

[@laserbera19]

I worked on that Evo!

[@ClearedForTakeoff]

That’s awesome, such a cool plane right?

[@laserbera19]

@@ClearedForTakeoff definitely! It had a landing gear malfunction and needed several carbon fiber body repairs. Beautiful planes though!

[@tinmisuun]

Record in landscape not portrait.

[@ClearedForTakeoff]

Yeah I made some super big first time errors with this video but my newer videos have improved greatly compared to this one. Thanks for the suggestion though, always appreciate it!

[@tinmisuun]

@@ClearedForTakeoff I figured. I still liked the video.

[@ClearedForTakeoff]

Thank you 😊

[@xpeterson]

I would like you to count every penny and explain why its worth particular said penny

[@ClearedForTakeoff]

Lol sure, hang tight........

[@xpeterson]

Cleared For Takeoff I remember an old saying that went something along the lines of: If someone says its worth every penny, it better be worth it for them to count every penny - like you would get it for free or have “earned it” if you were willing to spend the time to count. Sounds easy if the reward is this plane, but from what I remember it was like 11 straight days (no stops) to count to a million, which would put you at around 1,500 sleepless days to count 1.4 mil in pennies :)

[@freenational]

This has got to be the most expensive home built kit in the world.

[@ClearedForTakeoff]

Yeah.......and definitely not for the beginner.

[@user-zh7zj8cw2i]

A total revamp of how you review needs to be done! Trying to be constructive here.

[@tropicthndr]

Garbage airplane never ment to have a turbine. Of coarse no insurance company with their right mind would cover a plane susceptible to blowing out its front windshield in flight, yes it has happened and no fixes or upgrades were ever implemented only dumb ass excuses, stupid fking door latches pop open in flight, sounds like a shot gun going off. By the way why would anyone buy a single engine airplane that cost a 1000$ AN HOUR to operate with so many problems, you would expect world class reliability at that expense rate. Check out the guy who invented Xplane, he owns one of these stupid planes and you'll get a sense of the frustration and operating expenses.

[@codmott286]

what the hell do you mean "never meant to have a turbine"? This plane was designed from scratch for a turbine. The real problem is that it's too advanced to be a kit build. I know I know people are paying professionals to build basically 99% of the plane and pass it off as less than 50%, but the fact of the matter is this plane is too complex for anything but a serious assembly line to engineer. Pressurized, fast, electric, etc. I wouldnt trust some random shop putting this together. I only know of 2 cases of explosive decompression, but I have to agree Lancair did a poor job addressing it. My guess is they have no idea why it happened and would have to redesign the fuselage to solve it which would drive them bankrupt.

[@Evancho08]

joke of style!

[@jimwhitaker8751]

Sorry man . . . I was not amused. I paused the vid, made this comment then left. It was so dumb.

[@ClearedForTakeoff]

Lol I know it’s bad, it was when I was first starting my channel, thank you so much for trying lol but take a look at a few of my newer videos, I’ve gotten better since then and each time I make a little bit of money I put it back into my equipment, thank you again for watching 😊

[@Jimmythekid007]

I would buy the vision jet for 1.3 million new.

[@gbigsangle3044]

A. there is a 6 year wait backlog at 200 planes made per year B. they cost $2m C. if you want one sooner ya gotta pay $2.5m

[@codmott286]

aint no vision jets for 1.3 million, not even close

[@Jimmythekid007]

Your right , they raised it to 2 million. It's the very reason GA is almost gone.

[@gbigsangle3044]

GA is almost gone due to a dwindling interest in aviation by the young and the aging of the guys that were into it back in the 50s, 60s, and 70s. If the price of this jet were the cause then the Honda Jet at $5m, the Cessna Mustang at $5m and the Gulf Streams at $20m plus would be more the culprits...but they are not.

[@davido1953]

until the electrical trim throws the plane into a nosedive on final

[@troyboy4645]

Where is the fight dummy?

[@ClearedForTakeoff]

Lol not in this video clip, I tried but it wasn't in the cards unfortunately.

[@ecb30189]

Pretty lame video indeed for obvious reasons. Hoping the learning curve will be short.

[@ClearedForTakeoff]

Thanks for the comment Pepper, very first video here so learning curve will be sharply reduced, plus I got some new equipment so stay tuned for bigger and better things to come!

[@slapshot1343]

Awful camera work

[@bobbyflyer1967]

Puuh...camera work sucks. Noisy video. Chaka chaka shaky filming. Awesome plane.

[@ClearedForTakeoff]

Yeah, that was my very first review, learning curve, you should definitely stick around though, reviews are getting better and so are the planes :)

[@bobbyflyer1967]

Everybody deserve a second chance.

[@Evancho08]

barf...

[@bruisermd81]

Audio sucks

[@ClearedForTakeoff]

Just the audio? Lol this was my first ever video jeez, since then I’ve used my own money to update my equipment you should really check out the latest video

[@ackack612]

Great subject, inexcusably poor vid. A waste of time.

[@ClearedForTakeoff]

Thanks for the criticism David, while it’s always good to get feedback you could’ve also checked other comments on this video where I apologize over and over again for the quality. I also explain that it was my first video and how excited I was to show off such a gorgeous plane and how my videos since then have gotten so much better. But sure go ahead and rip me a new one, I don’t have feelings at all.

[@ackack612]

@@ClearedForTakeoff 1. If I know I'm going to comment, I don't read comments until I've done so. 2. If you're feeling ganged up on, put your big boy pants on and buck up. 3. If you're going to put content out there, you own it, good, bad or indifferent.

[@ClearedForTakeoff]

Lol big boy pants are on, and that’s the reason why I won’t take the video down. It may be horrible and cringy but i own it and I like seeing how far my videos have come along since then. Thanks for watching btw, check out one of my more recent videos, each time I get a little money I invest in better equipment and I definitely think the newer videos are better. Blue Skies and Tailwinds my friend :)

[@richardvigneault4249]

Man your video was just painful. Please do better if you are thinking of ever doing another one

[@alexrcastillo1977]

Audio sucks

[@ClearedForTakeoff]

Yeah first video I’ve ever done, check out my new stuff, definitely gotten better!

[@alexrcastillo1977]

Ok cool I’ll check it out.

[@jamessherrill3454]

Audio sucks.

[@ClearedForTakeoff]

I don’t make any money off of these videos so whenever I have a little bit saved up I try and buy new equipment, since this video though I have bought a new mic and windscreen so go and check out those and give me your thoughts, always love feedback positive or negative