ANN Is There For The Next Major Step Towards Delivering Eclipse 500 In Volume

On Wednesday, Eclipse Aviation hosted city and state leaders at the dedication of its new Friction Stir Weld Center. Guests, including ANN Editor-In-Chief Jim Campbell, toured the new 50,000 square foot facility, and witnessed a demonstration of Eclipse's friction stir welding process. Construction of the new facility, which is leased to Eclipse by Waterman, Inc. of Albuquerque, New Mexico, began in November of 2002. The operation is located in the Broadway Industrial Center on Albuquerque's Southwest side and is now fully operational. Friction stir welding is an advanced manufacturing process, which the company is the first to use in the assembly of thin-gauge aluminum aircraft.

The new center houses Eclipse's friction stir welding equipment and gantries, which are used to assemble most parts of the Eclipse 500 fuselage. It will also house the production assembly of the fuselage pressure vessel for the Eclipse 500 jet. This newest facility expands Eclipse's significant presence in Albuquerque, joining the company's 90,000 square foot headquarters and 45,000 square foot Sunport 2 manufacturing facility. Eclipse's Friction Stir Weld Center will be staffed by up to 150 employees and will support manufacturing of up to four aircraft per day through 2008. In 2009, Eclipse will move to Double Eagle II airport, where the facilities will support assembly of 1,500 aircraft per year.

ANN's Campbell noted, "This is for real... over the course of an extensive private briefing by Eclipse's President Vern Raburn, we're more convinced than ever that the Eclipse 500 project comprises the true leading edge in GA manufacturing and development efforts." Raburn showed ANN the strengths and weaknesses of friction stir welding technology, which Eclipse uses selectively to build this next generation bizjet. "In those applications where FSW is applicable, we get a stronger product in far less time and at far less cost. " says Raburn. A number of demonstrations revealed the "beyond-the-par" efforts conducted by Eclipse to build an aircraft that meets or beats conventional industry tolerances and precision standards... including laser tracking technology that produces measurements and indices that are well beyond anything we've seen in the GA business. The only other places we've seen this level of manufacturing sophistication has been at plants occupied by Boeing, Lockheed, and the like....

Community support for Eclipse reveals a pretty dedicated local fan club. "The opening of this facility marks another significant milestone for Eclipse and the City of Albuquerque," said Albuquerque Mayor Martin Chavez. "The city has always supported the Eclipse vision and is excited to watch the company mature into an aviation leader. We look forward to continuing to help drive Eclipse's growth, which will result in more high-wage jobs in our community."

"Our pioneering work in friction stir welding dramatically accelerates traditional aircraft manufacturing cycle times, enabling us to produce the Eclipse 500 more quickly and cost effectively than any small jet in history," said Vern Raburn, president and CEO of Eclipse Aviation. "The opening of our Friction Stir Weld facility is a critical milestone as we progress rapidly towards our goal of manufacturing this innovative aircraft in high volumes, and at a groundbreaking level of price/performance."

Friction stir welding is highly automated and significantly faster than other structural joining processes. It enables a drastic reduction in aircraft assembly time and eliminates the need for thousands of rivets, resulting in reduced assembly costs, better quality joining and stronger, lighter joints. Eclipse Aviation claims its friction stir welding specification is attracting the attention and commitment of respected aviation industry leaders like Fuji Heavy Industries (FHI), which recently announced its intention to license Eclipse's friction stir welding process for use in the Eclipse 500 wing assemblies as well as other potential applications within FHI's manufacturing operations.

FMI: www.eclipseaviation.com