Company Hopes To Have Four Full-Motion Sims In Place By End Of '08

Eclipse Aviation held a grand opening ceremony Thursday morning for its Customer Training Center, the company's first facility at Double Eagle II Airport (KAEG) in Albuquerque, NM. 

Eclipse tells ANN it has committed to an extensive pilot training curriculum that will prepare customers for real world operations of their Eclipse 500s and says the new facility will help the company to deliver its training program.

Eclipse 500 customers will receive all of their classroom and simulator training in this building including the type rating course and recurrent training. The 41,500 square foot two-story facility will accommodate four simulators, four classrooms and eight briefing rooms.

The first Flight Training Device (FTD) has already been installed in the Center, and Eclipse says it will be used to train Eclipse 500 pilots shortly. An additional full motion simulator is expected to be certified and operational in the coming months, with the goal of four full motion simulators operational by the end of 2008.

Once the full complement of full motion sims is operational, Eclipse 500 pilot training will transition from the current in-aircraft training to full motion simulator training.

"Since arriving in Albuquerque seven years ago, we have always planned to grow at the Double Eagle II airport. This Customer Training Center is the first step in our commitment to create an Eclipse Aviation campus and help grow the city’s planned Aerospace Technology Park at this airport," said Vern Raburn, president and CEO of Eclipse Aviation. "This new facility also shows our dedication to providing our customers with the ultimate training experience. We have an excellent flight training program, and we are extremely excited to start training our customers using the flight training device and the full motion simulators in this new state-of-the-art facility."

The Center is located on 3.5 acres of Eclipse Aviation’s 150-acre tract, which borders the northern boundary of Albuquerque’s Aerospace Technology Park at Double Eagle II airport. In the coming weeks, training personnel will start moving their offices to the facility. The company plans to employ approximately 100 people at the Center when it is in full operation.

Local politicians present at Thursday's groundbreaking ceremony included Congresswoman Heather Wilson, and Bruce Perlman, City of Albuquerque Chief Administrative Officer.

FMI: www.eclipseaviation.com