Eclipse Completes 2 Successful Flights of First Eclipse 500
Certification Flight Test Aircraft
It's PARTY time at Eclipse Aviation!
At 10:16 a.m. (MST)
Friday, 12/31/04, aircraft N503EA, powered by two Pratt &
Whitney Canada (P&WC) PW610F turbofan engines, took off from
the Albuquerque International Sunport for its maiden flight, which
lasted one hour and 29 minutes. After a thorough inspection by
flight test engineers, N503EA was cleared and departed again at
3:59 p.m. for its second flight of the day. The second flight
lasted 54 minutes. The aircraft successfully completed all
maneuvers in the test area during the flights. The Eclipse 500 is
the first very light jet (VLJ) to fly with an FAA conforming
configuration.
Eclipse Aviation president and CEO Vern Raburn congratulated the
test pilots, and thanked the Eclipse employees and partners that
worked tirelessly to achieve this important milestone. "This is a
very important day for aviation and the VLJ market we pioneered. We
are the first manufacturer to fly an FAA conforming VLJ and we are
destined to be the first to certify and deliver this new breed of
jet into customers' hands."
Raburn continued. "As we promised on January 31, 2003, we have
resumed flight testing by December 31, 2004, with the PW610F
engines. This is a credit to our team, and also to our engine
partner Pratt & Whitney Canada, which has created an excellent
powerplant for the VLJ market."
N503EA was piloted by tests pilots Bill Bubb and Brian Mathy.
The pilots climbed the aircraft to 16,800 feet and reached 200
knots during the first day of flight tests, while completing all
scheduled test points to test basic maneuverability and various
aircraft systems.
N503EA is fully equipped with mechanical systems including
pressurization, climate control and ice protection as well as with
the Avio Total Aircraft Integration system. The flights were
conducted in a designated test zone located south of Albuquerque,
New Mexico.
Eclipse's unprecedented state-of-the-art telemetry and data
acquisition system was used to monitor today's flights, allowing
the collection of more than four gigabytes of data per flight hour.
Engineers in a ground station will have the ability to monitor more
than 2,000 aircraft parameters in real time, analyzing rich
information about systems, structures, aircraft handling and
performance. It was this advanced analytics system, combined with
N503EA's exceptional performance in its first flight, that enabled
Eclipse to clear the jet for today's second flight. This
accomplishment is notable, as most general aviation programs do not
have access to real-time data and require days between flights for
performance analysis.
The maiden flight of N503EA occurred on schedule, initiating a
15-month testing program that involves seven test airframes, more
than 3,000 flight hours and several hundred hours of ground
testing. Eclipse estimates that the Eclipse 500 flight test program
will accumulate two to three times more total hours than
traditional general aviation aircraft programs, allowing the
aircraft to achieve a higher level of reliability prior to first
customer deliveries. The flight test program will culminate with
FAA certification in March 2006, with first customer deliveries
shortly thereafter.
"Our customers are really going to enjoy this aircraft,
especially because of the power and reliability of the Pratt &
Whitney Canada engines and the docile handling characteristics.
N503EA flew exactly as predicted and simulated in the company
engineering simulator," said Dr. Oliver Masefield, Eclipse Aviation
senior fellow. "It continues to be a privilege to be part of this
progressive and history-making aviation program."
Eclipse 500 Certification Program Takes Off
These initial flights of N503EA mark the start of the Eclipse
500 FAA certification flight test program. In preparation for a
comprehensive and efficient certification process, Eclipse has been
working closely with the FAA since the inception of the Eclipse 500
program. Prior to the resumption of Eclipse 500 flight testing,
Eclipse devoted significant resources to test systems at the
component levels.
This proactive approach has enabled Eclipse to finalize more
than of one quarter of all required FAA certification work
including:
- FAA agreement on approximately three quarters of the compliance
methods for the Eclipse 500 certification program
- FAA approval of systems safety methodologies, including
aircraft and systems functional hazard assessments and systems
criticality assessment
- The completion of FAA component level compliance testing on
many of the systems, including the oxygen system, throttle quadrant
and brakes
- The completion of a significant portion of the required FAA
testing of the Eclipse 500 fuel system, landing gear, electrical
power distribution system and climate control system
Eclipse 500 Test Aircraft Fleet
Eclipse flew its first aircraft, N500EA, for the first time in
August 2002 that was subsequently retired in October 2003 after
completing a highly successful flight test program. Since then,
Eclipse has been manufacturing an additional seven preproduction
aircraft: one static test airframe, one fatigue test airframe and
five additional flight testing aircraft.
Below is a breakdown:
- N500EA - (retired) completed aerodynamic and systems validation
flight testing
- N502EA - FAA certification flight test, focus on aerodynamics
and structures
- N503EA - FAA certification flight test, focus on mechanical
systems and powerplant
- N504EA - FAA certification flight test, focus on avionics
and electronics
- N505EA and N506EA - beta test aircraft, accelerated usage
testing
Earlier this year, Eclipse announced a change in the
manufacturing order for two aircraft, where N503EA would be
manufactured and flown prior to N502EA.