Sikorsky to Invest in Eclipse

One of those taxied around me yesterday when I was doing run-up. Pretty nifty, but I'm suspect you can't keep one flying without manufacturer's support, like, say, a Luscombe. So this must be good news for owners. Unfortunately, I observe there's no talk about new production.

P.S. Is Eclipse actually fuel-efficient in reality? Those jet engines look awfully small. Do they have good bypass ratio?
 
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zaitcev said:
P.S. Is Eclipse actually fuel-efficient in reality? Those jet engines look awfully small. Do they have good bypass ratio?
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Their efficiency is greatly enhances when they fly high. Down low I'll bet they suck fuel like crazy.
 
I'll look up the fuel consumption figures I have at home, as I don't recall. But they sure are sweet to fly ... when everything is working on them.
 
Did you see the news about the new avionics system that just got certified for the Eclipse line, and finally adds the WAAS approaches and stuff they've been missing? I thought Eclipse went out of business... this surprised me that they're still around.
 
TangoWhiskey said:
Did you see the news about the new avionics system that just got certified for the Eclipse line, and finally adds the WAAS approaches and stuff they've been missing? I thought Eclipse went out of business... this surprised me that they're still around.
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IIRC a consortium of owners acquired the rights with plans for support and improvements.
 
I doesn't entirely surprise me -- this could be a huge growth market for Sikorsky long term, and I bet Sikorsky service centers could overlap nicely with potential Eclipse service centers. The details are quite thin; does anyone know to what level the owners bought the manufacturing facilities and rights to plans/jigs/et al?

Cheers,

-Andrew
 
And I think the Eclipse still occupies its own little niche. If I'm not mistaken the only other extant VLJ is still the Cessna Mustang, and I think they're considerably more.
 
steingar said:
Saw one on the ramp not that long ago. Tiny little things.
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Yup. One day I was working on an FBO ramp and we needed to turn an Eclipse 500. It was us 2 line guys, the pilot and his wife. Turns out he had his wife steer with the rudders, and we just pushed the thing by hand.

steingar said:
And I think the Eclipse still occupies its own little niche. If I'm not mistaken the only other extant VLJ is still the Cessna Mustang, and I think they're considerably more.
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Cessna would tell you that the Mustang isn't a VL, and the Embraer 100 isn't really marketed as one either. The only other ones are still in testing (Diamond, Cirrus, Piper).
 
Indeed everyone in the first wave of VLJ has died off (except Cessna, of course), with Eclipse being the only one company that actually delivered airplanes to cusomers, and a significant number at that. Diamond, Cirrus, and Honda continue to plug along their test programs, but I wonder what they are thinking.
-- Pete
P.S. Forgot anbout Piper. Those people are no stranger to bankrupcy though.
 
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