Eclipse Aviation has applied for European certification for the Eclipse 500 personal jet. JAR 23 approval is expected in 2006, following US certification. Reduced vertical separation minima (RVSM) capability and 8.33kHz radios, both required in Europe, are standard in the aircraft, says Eclipse.
RVSM capability and autothrottle have been added to the guaranteed standard equipment on the $950,000 Eclipse 500. Equipment for RVSM includes two independent altimeters, automatic altitude control and altitude alert and reporting systems. Eclipse says the autothrottle will improve safety by reducing pilot workload, automatically managing power to maintain the pilot-selected speed.
The Albuquerque, New Mexico-based company, meanwhile, has resumed flight testing of the Eclipse 500 with surrogate engines following the decision late last year to switch from the original Williams InternationalEJ22s to Pratt &Whitney Canada PW610Fs, which will not be available until late next year. The first aircraft has been re-engined with two Teledyne CAE 382-10E turbojet drone engines to allow aerodynamic and systems testing to resume and continue into early next year.
Source: Flight International
