21 November 2008
Eclipse Aviation has announced that it has received EASA (European Aviation Safety Agency) certification for the Eclipse 500 VLJ (Very Light Jet). The certification permits registration of the Eclipse 500 in any of the 37 countries covered by EASA.
The EASA certification requires Eclipse 500 aircraft to be equipped with Avio NG 1.5 (an upgraded configuration of the Eclipse 500’s state-of-the-art avionics suite), plus optional equipment specific to European operations, such as a third attitude indicator and dual Mode S diversity transponders.
“The EASA certification,” says Eclipse, “requires Eclipse 500 aircraft to be equipped with Avio NG 1.5, plus optional equipment specific to European operations, such as a third attitude indicator and dual Mode S diversity transponders.”
“Obtaining EASA certification is one of Eclipse Aviation’s greatest accomplishments,” said Roel Pieper, Eclipse Aviation CEO. “EASA certification enhances Eclipse’s capacity to spread the global reach and impact of the Eclipse 500, and we expect many new orders from all over Europe, Russia and Turkey to follow.”
Eclipse is continuing to work toward receiving EU-OPS 1 approval, which will allow for commercial operation of the Eclipse 500 in Europe. The company expects to receive
EU-OPS 1 in time to allow many air-taxi services using the Eclipse 500 to be operational in Europe in 2009.
The picture shows (left to right) Patrick Goudou-Executive Director of EASA, Roel Pieper-CEO of Eclipse Aviation, Daniel Bolotin-President of ETIRC Aviation.
Eclipse has been rumoured to be in financial difficulties for some time, and last week apparently <a href=’http://www.flyer.co.uk/news/nib.php?artnum=821′ target=’_blank’>had trouble finding the money to pay its employees</a>.
