Raburn Sees Expanding Markets For Eclipse 500 As VLJ Nears Certification

Eight months before Eclipse Aviation expects to win FAA type certification for its Eclipse 500 Very Light Jet (VLJ), President Vern Raburn believes most of the technical risk in the program has been overcome and he remains passionately confident that there is a market for thousands of such aircraft in a variety of roles.

During an hour-long interview with BA during last month's EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wis., Raburn said the program's "technical risk, for all intents and purposes, is done." The twin-engine turbofan will be able to meet its performance targets, he said, having been tested to maximum altitude and maximum air speed, with no significant redesign left to accomplish. Any changes now will be "truly tweaking" the basic design, he said, listing a couple of items like installing a new flapper valve to keep the fuel sumps from porting fuel and adjusting gear ratios in the flight control system.

The challenge now, Raburn said, is execution - doing the data reduction and writing the necessary certification reports for FAA in time to achieve the March 31 certification. While he remains confident the Eclipse team can meet its milestones, he acknowledges he still has some concerns about vendors being able to deliver components as promised.