Eclipse earns FAA production certificate

Approval Eclipse Aviation has received its production certificate for the Eclipse 500 very light jet, seven months after gaining a type certificate for the aircraft. Representatives from the US Federal Aviation Administration marked the milestone by presenting the certificate to Peg Billson, Eclipse Aviation's chief operating officer at the company's Albuquerque headquarters in New Mexico last week. The move will give employees, customers and investors confidence that Eclipse is "gaining momentum in production", says Billson.

NBAA changes venue for 2008 show

Convention The US National Business Aviation Association has switched its October 2008 annual convention to Orlando, Florida from New Orleans, Louisiana because the city is not yet recovered sufficiently from Hurricane Katrina in 2005. "We have been looking forward to hosting our convention in New Orleans in 2008, consistent with our desire to assist the city in recovering from Hurricane Katrina," says NBAA president and chief executive Ed Bolen. While much of New Orleans has been revitalised, "the Lakefront airport that would be the site of NBAA's static aircraft display does not appear to be coming back as fast as other parts of the city", he says.

No EADS UK listing

IPO EADS has abandoned a plan to list its shares on the UK's London Stock Exchange. This was one of a number of proposals including the appointment of a UK national to the EADS board discussed by the group mid-way through last year. UK shareholder BAE Systems finalised the sale of its 20% stake in Airbus in October last year.

US seeks SAR helicopter proposals

Competition The US Air Force expects to release a draft of the revised request for proposals for the CSAR-X combat search-and-rescue helicopter this month after agreeing to reopen the competition won last year by Boeing with the HH-47. The amendment will clarify the USAF's evaluation of operation and support costs and provide bidders with an opportunity to substantiate potential manpower savings for their proposed aircraft. This will give Lockheed Martin another chance with the US101 and Sikorsky with the HH-92.




Source: Flight International