Brigadoon Aircraft Maintenance First 'Platinum' Center

The battle to service the orphaned fleet of Eclipse 500 very light jets ramped up significantly Tuesday. On the same day Hawker Beechcraft announced a letter-of-intent to discuss a servicing partnership with Eclipse owners, a bidder for the defunct planemaker's assets also announced plans for a nationwide -- and, possibly, worldwide -- network of service centers to support the inaugural VLJ.

Eclipse Jet LP announced Tuesday it has entered into an agreement with logistics and management organization Eclipse Service Network, LLC (ESN) to form a network of third-party Service Centers across the United States. Eclipse Jet also says it is in discussions with third-party service providers in Europe to start an ESN-Europe as soon as possible.

Brigadoon Aircraft Maintenance, LLC, is the first Platinum Level Service Center under the Eclipse Service Network. Located near Chicago, IL, Brigadoon is staffed with a team of Eclipse trained mechanics and recently started FIKI modifications for the Eclipse 500 Jet.

"With the help of Mike Press and Mason Holland and the entire Eclipse Jet team we have been able to identify and source all of the parts necessary to begin FIKI modifications, we will begin taking orders for service shortly," said Ken Ross, founder of ESN and CEO of North American Jet Charter Group, an early adopter of the Eclipse air taxi model. "We have Eclipse trained mechanics and are now ready to accelerate our Eclipse services.

"We have sourced all of the parts needed for the FIKI upgrade so we are ready to start scheduling these, however, we are waiting for Eclipse Jet to secure the assets of Old Eclipse so we can finish the work needed to deliver ETT, Avio NG, and Garmin 1.5 upgrades at reasonable production levels," Ross added.

"When we looked at the body of work Brigadoon had already accomplished to expedite the delivery of the modifications, we quickly realized the level of expertise and dedication to the Eclipse community was unparalleled. We looked at many options, but we quickly came to the conclusion that the ESN model was the only one with the ability to deliver FIKI to the fleet in the few remaining months before icing season," said Press.

Organizers state further the number of ESN service facilities will be determined by aircraft population and location. Qualified independent repair facilities or fleet operators may be eligible to join the Eclipse Service Network after completing an application process and passing an audit to verify it can meet the service level standards set forth by ESN.

The levels of ESN certified service facilities are Platinum, Gold, Silver and Fleet Manager.

Incidentally, if the word "Brigadoon" sounds familiar... perhaps that's because, in addition to being a suburb of Perth, Australia... Brigadoon is also the name of a Broadway musical based around the Scottish legend of a mythical village.

A village that appears for one day in our realm, every 100 years. Reassuring?

FMI: www.eclipseaviation.com, www.spjets.com, www.eclipse500club.org, www.najets.com