Associated Press
Eclipse Aviation said today its test fleet has completed most of the tests needed for its very light jet plane to win Federal Aviation Administration certification.
The Eclipse 500 — a twin-engine, six-seat jet aircraft that will cost about $1.5 million — is on track for FAA certification by the end of the quarter, Eclipse announced in a news release.
''Our test fleet of five Eclipse 500s continues to burn test points and build hours at a rapid rate,'' said Vern Raburn, president and chief executive officer of Albuquerque-based Eclipse Aviation.
Eclipse said its test fleet has exceeded 2,000 flight hours.
Raburn has said he envisions small businesses using the plane to fly when they used to drive and using smaller airports away from the hubs that commercial airlines frequent.
In addition, the company said six Eclipse 500 aircraft for customers are in various stages of assembly on the production line. Last weekend, the first customer Eclipse 500 forward fuselage was mated to the aft fuselage, Raburn said.
The company this spring announced it has started to fill the first of 2,400 orders for its airplane, more than five years after the fledgling company's initial 20 employees moved operations to New Mexico.
As Eclipse Aviation ramps up production to 130 airplanes this year, it will nearly double its current work force to 1,000 employees by the end of 2007, Raburn said earlier this year.
The FAA has estimated 100 ''very small jets'' — also called VSJs, ultra light jets or microjets — will be produced by the end of the year and that in a decade nearly 5,000 such airplanes will be flying, an estimate the FAA says is ''relatively conservative.''
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