Hello aviators, welcome to this episode of Dwaynes Aviation. The aviation industry has gotten to
the point where anything that can be done has already been done, and airplane makers are simply
optimizing their products to maximize income. The Eclipse 500; the cheapest jet ever made,
conquered the belief that the quality of a product is a reflection of the price you paid for it,
because at a starting price of $500,000 at the time of introduction, this jet was great,
but this conquest took the company out of business before it could even enjoy the niche it created.
The Eclipse Aviation Corporation did not come to play the game the traditional way; they came to
disrupt the flow and dominate, but they failed. But how great was their product? the Eclipse 500,
also known as the EA500, was the most unique light jets in the world, it was and still one of a kind,
so unique that it was relieved of one of the most crucial features imposed on jets;
to be able stop on the remaining runway if an engine fails before decision speed,
or continue the take-off and still the meet minimum climb gradients on the remaining
engine. The take-off weight was kept below 6,000 lbs just like piston twins and was let
through because planes in that weight class don’t have to meet the take-off requirement.
The EA500 was inspired by the 1997 Williams V-Jet II by adapting and redesigning the
fuselage into an allmetal structure with a T-shaped tail and straight wings,
refining and modernizing its appearance to make it more marketable. The base color was white,
The interior is a combination class and minimalism, it’s is quite sober, luxurious, but
simple. Despite it is not a large aircraft, its interior cabin is modern and pleasant, allowing it
to incorporate up to 6 seats distributed in 3 rows of 2 seats placed side by side. This arrangement
allows having either a pilot and copilot with 4 passengers or only the pilot with 5 passengers.
Synthetic materials were used for the carpets and the roof of the aircraft, and ultra-light leather
was used for the ergonomic seats, headrests, and armrests, and the color chosen for the interior
was beige. The interior space features fairly trim dimensions of space, being 4 feet 2 inches tall,
5 feet 2 inches long, and 4 feet 8 inches wide. One of the features that provoked the
most negative criticism when the Eclipse 500 was introduced to the market was the absence of
a lavatory since at that time it was the only general aviation aircraft in the market that
didn't have one. Although today it is standard practice for small aircraft not to have this
option in their configuration, at that time it was scandalous. The company justified this decision by
commenting that it was one of the compromises that people had to be willing to make if they wanted to
fly in a small aircraft. Another argument was that the Eclipse 500 had been designed so that
most of its flights would last between 40 and 80 minutes, which translates to between 300 and 500
nautical miles, time in which most people should be able to avoid having to go to the bathroom.
The power plant came from the full FADEC controlled Pratt & Whitney Canada PW610F-A engine.
An engine specifically designed for the jet but also used in the Citation Mustang and the Embraer
Phenom 100. While designing this engine, Pratt and Whitney placed emphasis on reducing pilots' work
load. The PW610F-A has an automatic power reserve that is activated in case one of the two engines
presents a problem, thus allowing the user to increase the power of the functional engine.
The two Pratt & Whitney Canada PW610F-A turbofan engines that the EA500 incorporates are located
at the rear of the aircraft and are capable of generating up to 950 pounds of thrust.
Thanks to this, the aircraft can reach up to 41,000 feet of altitude in its flights,
and up to 370 knots with an average consumption of 68 gallons per hour. With these powerful engines,
its short-field performance is impressive, and its take-off distance is 2,345 feet,
with a minimum landing distance of 2,250 feet. Regarding the maximum range of the aircraft,
there were significant discrepancies between the figures provided by Eclipse Aviation and
the actual data presented by some users who owned this aircraft. The company claimed that
the Eclipse 500 achieved a maximum range of 1,125 nautical miles. However, in practice,
this did not turn out to be the case, with variations ranging from 570 nautical miles
to 964 nautical miles, major differences from the official numbers. At least this
Step into the cockpit, you will find the Avio Avionics Suite, specifically Avio NG,
a highly integrated avionics system that interfaces with nearly all
aircraft functions. The Avio NG features an integrated flight management system,
Class 3 electronic graphics, and XM satellite weather. Dual WAAS/SBAS Beta-3 GPS receivers
are used for precision navigation. Flight management data is presented
on a 15" high-resolution multifunction LCD display in detailed text and graphically on
the moving map. The user interface is intuitive, providing the pilot with simplified data entry
via bezel-integrated buttons and encoders, as well as the externally attached keypad.
Because the Eclipse 500 was only marketed between 2006 and 2008 due to the numerous economic
problems and the bankruptcy of the Eclipse Aviation company, its variant, the Eclipse 550,
another light jet, was initially built by Eclipse Aerospace and then by One Aviation,
companies that took over the rights and patents of the defunct Eclipse Aviation. The Eclipse 550
employed the same engines as its predecessor and was broadly similar. It was produced and marketed
between 2014 and 2017, managing to sell 33 units in 4 years, definitely not outstanding numbers.
At the time of its introduction, the Eclipse 500 was a very popular and desired aircraft among
consumers. Its original base price was $500,000; however, since its marketing window was so short,
used units in good condition can be found today at affordable prices. Today, used Eclipse 500s
are for sale in the 700,000-to1-million-dollar price range, more than the MSRP. In its 3 years
on the market, the EA500 managed to sell 260 units in total, an impressive number considering
its short time on sale, selling one unit in 2006, 98 in 2007, and 161 in its final year.
How did a company with a product this great go out of business? The EA500 is not particularly
outstanding by today's standards, especially with the presence of the Phenom 500, Honda Jet,
and the Vision Jet, but it beats these in the area of purchase price and operating
costs. From the onset, Eclipse wasn’t destined for success. It wasn’t founded by your average
aviation enthusiasts who loved the industry and wanted to contribute to it, but it was founded
by Silicon Valley gurus who thought they could perform magic in the aviation industry like they
did in tech and electronics. They placed emphasis on the economics of scale, where the average cost
per unit of a product decreases with the increase in the scale of the output being produced. They
made the EA500 dirt cheap at a $500,000 base price, or $800,000 with mostly every option,
and wanted to make up for it by building and selling the airplane in unprecedented volumes of
thousands per year. The problem with this logic is that airplanes are hand built, so production costs
do not go down by increasing production, because to produce more, you need much more of everything;
workers, factories, basically everything. So even if an unrealistic rate of 4000 units were
sold each year, it would not deliver economics of scale, and Eclipse Aviation learned this the hard
way. It was costing the company twice as much to produce aircraft as they were selling them for.
The Eclipse 500 presented a significant number of administrative failures with Eclipse Aviation,
which stopped production of the aircraft in November 2008 due to a lack of funds and was
forced to file for bankruptcy protection under the U.S. Bankruptcy Law. The company did not manage
to recover and went into liquidation in February 2009, and after that, Eclipse Aerospace emerged,
acquiring the assets of the former company and announcing the creation of a new version of the
aircraft, called the Eclipse 550, which was not as well received as expected. The other
major drawback for the future of the Eclipse 500 was the numerous problems it presented in terms
of features, specifications, and software, in particular with the configuration of its avionics
system. The first EA500 had the Avio system installed, a system that had to be redesigned
for the aircraft manufactured at the end of 2007, which incorporated the new Avio-NG system,
resulting in the coexistence of Eclipse 500s with different systems, some with better optimization
and performance than others. Of the certifications granted by the aviation authorities, the aircraft
had to undergo a redesign of the tanks located at the ends of the wings, which were made of
composite materials and did not guarantee safety in case they were struck by lightning.
As a result, the aircraft did not pass the full certification, and the company had to manufacture
new aluminum tanks and incorporate them into their planes. The aircraft was faulty and there
were discrepancies as to how it had managed to obtain certain permits. Between December 2006
and March 2007, Eclipse announced several changes to the initial EA500 specifications, including:
New landing gear fairings, wheels, and tail covers.
Control surface hinge covers. Extended rudder and elevator,
to eliminate Gurney fins. Improved aerodynamics of
the engine nacelle lower panel. Extended wingtip fuel tanks.
Changes to the engine FADEC software, to increase cruise thrust above 25,000 feet altitude.
Total weight increase of 79 pounds with no change in total fuel payload or maximum payload.
These features had to be included in all their units, both in the new ones,
as well as in the already delivered ones that had to be updated to the new standards.
The EA500 was a pioneer in the small business jet market as it was a very
light aircraft and was ideal for customers looking to make short flights with 1 or
2 additional passengers and a small amount of luggage. Eclipse Aviation,
the aircraft's parent company, introduced friction stir welding on aircraft structures,
and it was precisely this type of welding that was widely used on the primary structure of
the Eclipse 500. In addition, this aircraft has a great advantage compared to others and
that is that it is very affordable to fly, which is very much appreciated these days.
In the entire history of general aviation, there has never been a financial collapse of this
magnitude. Investors in Eclipse have lost hundreds of millions of dollars, but people have also
suffered greatly. Anyone that made a deposit lost their money. And anyone who got possession of one
of the roughly 260 aircraft that left the factory has forfeited all warranties and pledges to modify
the aircraft to a complete and functional state. There is no doubt that the company's management,
its poor economic and administrative policies, and the lack of transparency with some specifications
and characteristics of the Eclipse 500, which significantly decreased the promised overall
performance, were problems that negatively impacted the aircraft. It will remain in the
history of private aviation as the aircraft that "could have been, but didn't make it",
but we cannot forget that it brought important contributions to aviation in general, such as
the welding system used in its structure, widely replicated later by other manufacturers, and the
creation of a new, although brief and specific, type of aircraft. Fortunately, although this small
American aircraft did not manage to stick around for long, the owners of the EA500 still keep it
alive as a tribute to the early days of very light jets and continue to fly it through the skies
without much difficulty. So, what do you think of the Eclipse 500? Please let us know in the comment
section below. Thanks for watching, don't forget to like this video, and subscribe to our channel.