Eclipse Aviation News

Press Contact:

Andrew Broom
Eclipse Aviation Corp.
505-724-1369
[email protected]

Eclipse Aviation Advances Certification Test Fleet

Second and third FAA conforming flight test aircraft will fly this quarter

ALBUQUERQUE, NM - February 14, 2005 - Eclipse Aviation Corporation today announced that its next two FAA conforming Eclipse 500 very light jets, N502EA and N504EA, have completed wing-mate and are standing on their own gear as they approach entry into flight test later this quarter. These two aircraft will join N503EA, which has been in flight testing since December 31, to complete the Eclipse 500 FAA certification flight test fleet. A fourth aircraft, N505EA, which will be used in Eclipse's beta test program, will be on its own gear by the end of this month.

“The most recent wing mate was completed in less than 15 minutes on February 10, and we have opportunities to reduce that time even further,” said Rod Holter, VP Operations. “With one test aircraft flying and six more in production, we are making excellent progress down the manufacturing learning curve as we prepare for volume production of the Eclipse 500.”

Flight Test Progress
The first FAA conforming Eclipse 500, N503EA, has now expanded the flight envelope from 72 knots to 230 knots, up to 3 g and altitudes up to 17,500 feet. The pilots have tested systems including flight controls, fuel, electrical, pressurization, Avio, landing gear, flaps and engines. N503EA has cycled the electrically actuated landing gear at speeds from 88 knots to 200 knots and has tested the emergency gear extension through the same speed range. The electrically actuated flap system has also been tested at various settings at speeds ranging from 72 knots to 200 knots. N503EA has conducted flutter testing, longitudinal, lateral and directional stability and control, climb performance and airspeed calibrations. The flight test instrumentation and telemetry system enables engineers in a ground station to monitor aircraft parameters in real time while collecting more than four gigabytes of data per flight hour.

Eclipse 500 Test Aircraft Fleet
The Eclipse 500 comprehensive test aircraft fleet includes seven aircraft. Three aircraft will be used for FAA certification testing, one for static tests and one for fatigue tests. In addition, in a general aviation industry first, Eclipse will build two “beta test” aircraft that will be dedicated to function and reliability testing and will accumulate 1,000 hours each prior to first customer delivery.

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