Eclipse Aviation, manufacturer of the world’s first very light jet (VLJ), today announced that it has finalized the team of partners who will train Eclipse 500 pilots. The company revealed new partnerships with two highly-experienced training operations – Flight Simulation Company (FSC) of The Netherlands and Higher Power Aviation, Inc. (HPA) of Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas. These organizations join Eclipse’s established relationship with simulator manufacturer OPINICUS Corporation of Lutz, Florida. Collectively, this team will work closely with Eclipse to deliver the comprehensive and rigorous Eclipse curriculum that was approved by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) earlier this year.

 Click here for more information on the Eclipse 500 training program.

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Eclipse Aviation has received its production certificate from the Federal Aviation Administration.

The company had already received “type certification” for its Eclipse 500 jet last September, but until receiving the production certification, the FAA had to examine each individual aircraft before it could be delivered to customers. That greatly impeded the delivery of its jets since last year, with only seven planes handed over to customers since December.

With the production certificate in hand, Eclipse itself can now issue standard airworthiness certificates for planes as they roll off the production line, allowing the company to ramp up deliveries, says Eclipse spokesman Andrew Broom.

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Cessna announced this week they delivered the first retail Citation Mustang business jet to Dave and Dawn Goode of GOODE Ski Technologies.This is the third production Mustang delivered with the first two being used by Cessna as demonstration aircraft.

“We are proud to be the owners of the first retail Mustang and excited about putting it into service,” said David Goode, president and founder of GOODE Ski Technologies. “We have a great deal of confidence in this aircraft because it represents the best of what Cessna has to offer, including an extensive support network to stand behind it.”

The Cessna Citation is manufacturered by Textron, Cessna’s parent company.  The Citation is Cessna’s entry into the Air Taxi Very - Light Jet marketplace.  

You can read the entire press release here.

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It’s only fitting that a service pitched to traveling salesmen should find itself confronting an especially nasty version of what’s known as the “traveling-salesman problem.”

For the full article please click here: Flight Plan - The Math Wizards at Dayjet Are Building a Smarter Air Taxi

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Eclipse Aviation has taken their Eclipse 500 very light jet on a European tour.

The aircraft flew out of Albuquerque on April 14 en route to the AERO 2007 show in Friedrichshafen, Germany.  It traveled the North Atlantic route via Canada, Greenland, Iceland, and the United Kingdom before landing in Germany. It’s the first time the company has taken the twin-engine jet outside of North America.

In addition to AERO 2007, the plane will be displayed at the EUR-AVIA show in Cannes, France, on April 27, and at the European Business Aviation Conference and Exposition in Geneva, Switzerland, on May 22.

With a range of 1,125 nautical miles, the Eclipse 500 can easily make trans-European flights, whether from London to Warsaw, Oslo to Milan, or Madrid to Moscow, said Spokesman Andrew Broom in a news release.

“Europe is such a great market for the Eclipse 500,” Broom said. “We already have more than 100 orders throughout this market, and we believe that once people in Europe and the UK see it and fly it, we can change the way they travel.

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Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer said today they expect to deliver 300 Phenom jets in 2009 and 2010.

Embraer should deliver between 120 and 150 jets from its Phenom line in 2009 and another similar batch in 2010, Luis Carlos Affonso said.  The Phenom line includes two types of small, luxurious business jets that Embraer is developing.

The Phenom 100 is a Very Light Jet which can accommodate only 4 passengers with a flying range of 1,320 nautical miles. The Phenom 300 is a light jet that seats 8 or 9 occupants and has a flying range of 1,800 nautical miles.The two Phenoms will be ready to go into operation in 2008 and 2009 respectively.

Embraer, short for Empresa Brasileira de Aeronautica, is the world’s fourth-largest commercial jet maker.

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Linear Air announced Monday the launch of service in the Washington DC-Baltimore area, the first of its kind. The company will base its operations in region at Virginia’s Manassas Regional Airport.

For the full article please click here: Linear Air Launches Air-Taxi Service In DC Corridor

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Eclipse Aviation is gearing up to deliver more customer jets, it’s encourtering new snags.

Heaters inside the pitot and angle of attack probe systems on the Eclipse 500 jet don’t heat a wide enough area, allowing moisture in lines to the pitot and angle of attack systems to freeze and block airspeed measurements according to a Eclipse Aviation press release this week.

The defect, expected to be corrected by designing additional heaters for the probes and adding insulation, will
temporarily limit the aircraft to VFR operations and require either a factory pilot or a factory-trained mentor to be on board.

There are now 10 factory pilots who are type rated in the aircraft.  In-flight loss of airspeed indications have occurred on three flights. Airspeed indications were still available on a backup system, and indications dependent on the probes returned after descending to warmer altitudes. The aircraft may still operate on IFR flight plans, but only in visual meteorological conditions.

The good news is that there is already a factory requirement for newly type-rated pilots to fly with a mentor for 25 hours or possibly more hours based on demonstrated skill level. Eclipse plans to announce a new flight training provider now that United Services, a division of United Airlines, has decided to end its services this summer. So far, Eclipse has delivered
five customer airplanes.

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Eclipse Aviation, manufacturer of the world’s first very light jet (VLJ), today announced the delivery of three Eclipse 500 aircraft to DayJet at the Eclipse headquarters in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

For the full article please click here: Eclipse Aviation Delivers Three Eclipse 500 VLJs to DayJet

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