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?
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