What does the autopilot do on this particular Eclipse? Everything but coupled approach? Will it hold pitch and wings level in a climb? Does it have NAV / GPS mode?

Good luck on your checkout.

Roll and pitch, heading bug mode, altitude hold, altitude pre-select/capture. It does just about everything that any top of the line autopilot would do, but it is not coupled to any nav source. You can actually fly a non-precision approach with it pretty nicely by turning knobs.

I flew the Eclipse with "version 1" autopilot for almost 2 years before doing an upgrade. I didn't even have a panel GPS, just a handheld, navigating technically by VORs and steering the autopilot with a heading bug.

Sounds barbaric, I guess, to some, but I'd have taken that any day over my piston twin with advanced navigation and autopilot because the jet offers so much more basic functionality. The fact that Eclipse Aviation delivered a number of planes with limited avionics that they never upgraded before going bust created an amazing opportunity in recent years for enterprising buyers to acquire a nearly-new, cost-effective personal jet on the secondary market for the price of a Cirrus. I think it's great that you were able to identify and take advantage of that opportunity.

I'll be looking forward to hearing how the checkride went. Keep in mind it's tougher to pass with the equipment you have. My wife failed it the first time around, but she went back the next day and performed the one unsatisfactory item from the day before and got signed off. It may help to view the checkride as a series of items you have to demonstrate, and it's not the end of the world if you wind up demonstrating a couple of them on a different day.

Ken

Ted, may the Force be with you..

I'm still over how to stay out of icing conditions on the average jet flight. Only on the rarest of flights do you not have to turn the engine AI on at least once.

Me, too. I don't know anything about the Eclipse; curious about what ice protection is provided on it ?
MM

Do those early Eclipses really DON'T HAVE icing protection, or are they simply not certified as FIKI due to some paperwork issue? If it's the latter - who cares?

Do those early Eclipses really DON'T HAVE icing protection, or are they simply not certified as FIKI due to some paperwork issue? If it's the latter - who cares?

Do those early Eclipses really DON'T HAVE icing protection, or are they simply not certified as FIKI due to some paperwork issue? If it's the latter - who cares?

"Icing conditions" are in the eye of the beholder. "Oh, no, Mr. FAA man, I NEVER entered those clouds, I just found a hole and flew around them"

Besides, I've never seen anyone from FAA on the ramp in over 10 years of flying.

I just care to be safe, not necessarily legal.

"Icing conditions" are in the eye of the beholder. "Oh, no, Mr. FAA man, I NEVER entered those clouds, I just found a hole and flew around them"

Besides, I've never seen anyone from FAA on the ramp in over 10 years of flying.

I just care to be safe, not necessarily legal.

Interesting that you rarely use the windshield heat. In the different jets I've flown, it's on the whole flight, regardless of conditions, ice, OAT, etc. The Eclipse must be different.

I fully understand & get what you're saying about jets not being in icing conditions long. If operators are willing to roll the dice with a non-FIKI jet in real world conditions, that's their (your) business. The beauty of pt 91 ops, I guess.

It is different in that replacing the windshield seems to be a major production compared with other jets. At one point, they were cycle-limited and had to be replaced quite often, nobody itching to replace one because the heating layer burned out.

It is different in that replacing the windshield seems to be a major production compared with other jets. At one point, they were cycle-limited and had to be replaced quite often, nobody itching to replace one because the heating layer burned out.

Well, it doesn't actually affect me; my plane *is* FIKI. And I think you're raising a more global argument than just regarding a non-FIKI Eclipse. By the same reasoning you could say that *no* IFR aircraft is any damn good if it isn't equipped for flight into known icing. That may be, but it strikes me as an overly broad stroke as there are plenty of decent IFR platforms that don't actually have full FIKI certification.

The Eclipse, merely by virtue of being a jet, is actually better capable of handling icing than piston non-FIKI IFR aircraft. It is seldom in icing, and it has enormous excess power. Excess power, in any plane, may be the single best thing you can have to survive an icing encounter.

Ken