Eclipse 400 Single-Engine Light Jet Never Certified or Delivered After Eclipse Aviation's 2008 Collapse
Why It MattersThe Eclipse 400's fate shows how a very light jet programme can fail on funding before certification, leaving the small-jet segment served only by certified types.
The Eclipse 400 was a planned four-seat, single-engine very light jet from Eclipse Aviation of Albuquerque, New Mexico, based on the Eclipse Concept Jet (ECJ) prototype. The company unveiled the ECJ on July 23, 2007, at the EAA AirVenture show in Oshkosh, Wisconsin; it had already been flying for three weeks. The prototype was built in secrecy at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia by Swift Engineering and BaySys Technologies, and was powered by a single Pratt & Whitney Canada PW610F turbofan, the engine family used in pairs on the twin-engine Eclipse 500.
Eclipse initially said it did not plan to produce the ECJ, but by May 2008 it began taking orders for a production version named the Eclipse 400. In August 2008 the company announced that development was on hold and that certification had not begun. Eclipse 500 production stopped in October 2008 for lack of funding, and Eclipse Aviation filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on November 25, 2008. The case was converted to a Chapter 7 liquidation in February 2009. In August 2009, Eclipse Aerospace took over the assets and later restarted support and production for the Eclipse 500.
Because the aircraft never went through certification, no final specifications exist; speed, range and weight figures found online describe design targets or the prototype and disagree with each other. For comparison, the certified Eclipse 500 has two PW610F engines, a maximum cruise speed of about 370 knots, a range of about 1,125 nautical miles and a service ceiling of 41,000 feet. The Eclipse 400 was never certified, has no production aircraft, service history or resale market, and cannot be bought or chartered.
