Eclipse 500 Makes First Flight

Vern Raburn, Eclipse Aviation's founder, president and CEO, was beaming like a new dad in the maternity ward on Monday, August 26. His brand-new baby, the Eclipse 500, just completed a one-hour first flight under the command of test pilot Bill Bubb, during which all test objectives were completed.

"Actually, the test card called for 40 minutes of tasks. Bill finished the whole thing in 25 minutes, and we spent the rest of the time taking air-to-air photos," Raburn told Show News. "We blew through the whole test card without having to redo anything," Raburn said.

Raburn flew chase in his Turbo Commander, while Don Taylor, Eclipse's head of training and safety, flew his Beech Baron 58 as camera plane. The first flight would have ended sooner, but Raburn said all three aircraft had to remain airborne while a medevac flight was given arrival priority at Albuquerque. Raburn lauded the tower controllers at Albuquerque airport, describing their cooperation and assistance as "just phenomenal."

"We're spoiled now," Raburn said.

Raburn chortled at critics who said the aircraft wouldn't fly for months after the July 13 rollout. "Between Oshkosh and NBAA, it's the silly season. Rumor-mongering is like politics in Boston. It's great blood sport," he said.

But Raburn acknowledged that Albuquerque's hot-and-high operating environment this summer created myriad starting and surging problems for the aircraft's Williams EJ22 micro-turbines during development work prior to first flight. Albuquerque's density altitude at 0900 on August 26, for example, was 7,600 feet, Raburn said.

Once Eclipse fine-tuned hardware and software so the engines could be started and stabilized at flight idle, they worked flawlessly, Raburn said. "Getting the engines started and then accelerating them from ground to flight idle was a tap dance."

Bubb left the landing gear extended and flaps up for the entire first flight. After departing ABQ, Bubb flew to a test area southwest of the airport and climbed to 9,000 feet. He then completed some basic stability and control checks, including short period pitch and roll pulses while flying at 137 KIAS. During the flight, engine performance was "rock solid," said Raburn.

Eclipse 500-100, the first flight test article, is about 85% type conforming, according to Raburn. "Is it perfect? Hell no! We've got some oopsies, but there's no Bondo in it," he said. But S/N 100 was built on production tooling, using a "real engineering approach," according to Raburn. It won't be pressurized, though all systems are installed, and it will be used primarily for low-speed flight envelope development, he said.

Two more flight test aircraft will join the program in the next few months. Serial number 101 is slated to fly in November and 102 should fly in December or January, Raburn said.

The Eclipse 500 is an $837,500, six-seat light jet capable of flying 355 knots and 1,300 nmi. Customer deliveries are slated to begin in January 2004.