Eclipse Personnel Cancel Another High-Profile Aviation Event

On the heels of their no-show at the recently concluded San Jose, CA, AOPA Expo, ANN has learned that one of the remaining Senior Eclipse personnel, Mike McConnell, has canceled his speaking engagement at the VLJ, Latin America and Caribbean conference -- with little notice.

The cancellation of their booth space and participation at the AOPA Expo seems to have set tongues wagging in anticipation of what many consider to be Eclipse's impending demise. Despite the fact that senior personnel (including McConnell) still insist that financing is around the corner and that Eclipse is anything but done. Still; suppliers report that outgoing payments have all but dried up and that a number of promised payments and agreements are being delayed or canceled with little or no warning. Others report having been deliberately misled by Senior Eclipse personnel on financial issues and state that there is a growing movement (among potential creditors) to force Eclipse into an involuntary bankruptcy.

The most recent event cancellation, at a conference hosted by MIU Events (in which ANN is the Senior Media Partner), reported that McConnell canceled (with little more than a day's notice) his appearance at a venue populated by players working in one of the more aggressive markets populated by VLJ operations. The event featured a number of Eclipse operators and suppliers... each of which expressed some cautious, if sparing, optimism for a recovery from the Eclipse program... though all agree that the airplane should have a solid future (even if after reorganization or bankruptcy) since the demand for this aircraft, and/or its mission, remains high.

Since the forced ouster of Eclipse founder Vern Raburn, the company's fortunes have have gone from problematic to uncertain, while news has been increasingly hard to come by... though bad news continues to leak out from disappointed customers, operators, and suppliers. Another recent difficulty occurred late last week when EAC's Double Eagle training operations were halted, even as surprised clients were showing up for training and check-rides. Eclipse personnel have blamed FAA issues for the shutdown that "did not directly involve us, but do involve our training vendor," while other reports implicate Eclipse's increasingly precarious financial position for exacerbating this latest setback. 

ANN continues to monitor this story and will file additional reports as information becomes available.

FMI: www.eclipseaviation.com, www.miuevents.com