Eclipse Aviation News

Eclipse Aviation, manufacturer of the world’s first very light jet (VLJ), today shared mid-year highlights of the Eclipse 500 program. Eclipse Aviation President and CEO, Vern Raburn, offered in-depth updates on topics including Eclipse 500 manufacturing, delivery and performance enhancements. Raburn also revealed that if buyers place an order for an Eclipse 500 by August 31st, they will receive their plane at the current price of $1.52 million. Effective September 1st, all new Eclipse 500 will be sold at $1.595 million (June 2006 economics).

The production update noted that between delivering its first aircraft on December 31, 2006 and the end of the June 2007, Eclipse had certified a total of 31 Eclipse 500s and delivered 22 to customers by the end of the second quarter. Raburn also underscored the company’s progress in ramping production and increasing deliveries by quarter. In the first quarter of 2007, Eclipse delivered four Eclipse 500s. After receiving its production certificate in late April, the VLJ leader successfully delivered 17 airplanes in the second quarter.

“I am happy to report that we have met our delivery targets for May and June, and are consistently breaking our own records for quality and cycle times,” commented Raburn. Raburn in part attributed the company’s production flow improvements to the leadership of Eclipse’s new vice president of manufacturing, Todd Fierro, but also attributed a team approach from all parties involved in production. A plan was devised from the bottom up, using input from plant managers, industrial engineers, and responsible people from quality, human resources, supply chain and engineering that was agreed upon by upper management. “We went straight to the source and asked the people involved in the day to day business of building aircraft what numbers were achievable. They came up with a new set of production numbers that met our business objectives and we are executing against the new flow,” said Raburn.

Certification of its planned enhancements to the Eclipse 500 and the company’s implementation of specific performance improvements were highlighted including:

• Pitot/AOA system: Eclipse completed a new design for its pitot/AOA system, and received certification from the FAA. Compliance with AD 2007-13-11 can be accomplished via an Alternate Means of Compliance (AMOC). The existing fleet will be retrofitted via service bulletin by the end of August. Production aircraft will have the new system installed starting with aircraft 65.
• Performance improvements: The performance improvement plan that includes the extended tip tank, tail bullet refinement, engine nacelle refinements, and main landing gear fairings, will be certified by the FAA shortly and the amendment to the Type Certificate Data Sheet (TCDS) will be updated at that time. A service bulletin will be issued shortly after certification and aircraft retrofitting will begin soon thereafter. Eclipse started including these modifications on the production line at aircraft 39 and it is in final assembly now.
• Cockpit windshield and side windows: The windows have been redesigned and certified with an increased number of fasteners. As a result, the inspection and replacement intervals on the new designs are as follows: