Many of you have asked me about my experience flying the Eclipse 500. You can find some random posts I made in various threads whenever it would come up. I thought I would put up one thread here that detailed my entrance, my operating experiences, and finally (now) my exit.

While I have been familiar with the Eclipse since the first deliveries, I thought that I could not afford to own and operate a jet. When I was presented the opportunity to go on a demo flight, I went thinking it would be a fun thing to do but that nothing would come of it. Well, I instantly fell in love with the aircraft. I knew I couldn't afford a fully upgraded plane, but the original configuration fit the bill for me and could be acquired much cheaper. I found the right deal on one and immediately signed up for the type rating school. I chose to do it in aircraft with Casey Jones (Vietnam A4 pilot and also former Commander of the Blue Angels). I had an absolute blast doing the type rating with him.

I flew this original configuration jet for some time, and although the pilot workload is very high and you need to stay out of icing conditions, I never once had to cancel a trip. This included ski trips and lots of hops to the northeast. There was a lot of handflying and just overall 'real piloting.' You can't sit up front in a 1.0 and push buttons to have the plane fly you to your destination. Owners of the 'upgraded' Eclipse called this 'dangerous.' I consider them 'dangerous' riding around in an airplane that they don't possess the skills to actually fly should the need ever arise.

Still, I lusted after an upgraded plane. Mostly to have the speed and range increases. Sure, FIKI, a real autopilot that doesn't kick off all the time, wx radar, traffic, and gps were also nice. So, when a good opportunity presented itself on a 1.5, I made the move. I believe the 1.5/1.7 (basically the same) are the best version of the Eclipse out there. Their single point iFMS is goofy and idiosyncratic. Give me trusted dual Garmin 400s any day!

Between both aircraft, I have flown over 300 hours. (That's a lot of miles at 330 knots!) That includes several trips back and forth between the USA and Europe (where I currently am.) I have flown with an Eclipse jet to all 4 corners of the USA, Central America, all over Europe, and a couple trips to Northern Africa. In all of these hours in all of these places, I only experienced a handful of minor squawks. Not once was either aircraft ever AOG (although one time I flew it on an 'almost' flat strut when it technically should have been AOG). The Eclipse in any configuration is a very reliable aircraft.

Now, is the jet perfect? Absolutely not. Just like we love the Beechcrafts we fly, we recognize that every aircraft has shortcomings. You will often seen them voiced and discussed here. A similar forum exists for Eclipse Owners, but you are not allowed to post anything negative about the aircraft nor the company, or you will be banned from the club (as I have been!). My warning to anyone interested in an Eclipse and reading that board, everything is EXTREMELY one sided and does not represent a global view of the owners. I stay in regular contact with about two dozen owners who feel the same way I do. (keep in mind there are only ~230 jets flying, that's 10% of the fleet!) Be careful when doing your due diligence.

What's the problem with the company? Eclipse Aerospace is attempting to control everything with the aircraft, in the interest of 'safety.' For instance, our tires are Michelin Aviators which can be purchased from Aircraft Spruce (where do you think I got mine from?), but EAI's position is that even though it is the same Michelin part number, because they did not receive paperwork with an Eclipse part number, they are therefore not legal. The tires are $350 each from Aircraft Spruce but $900 from Eclipse. EAI has signed exclusivity agreements with the companies who produce sub components to not allow them to sell to anyone except EAI. For instance, before EAI stepped in and bought the bankrupt assets for $.05 on the dollar, one could have their brakes exchanged directly through Parker for $4,000. The current price from EAI is $12,000. Parker will not (can not legally) even talk to you. There was another case where I needed a trim servo repaired. Eclipse wanted $15,000 to exchange (only option). The servo is made by a well known company, but they wouldn't talk to me due to the agreements EAI puts in place. I eventually talked the gentleman into overhauling it (off the record, of course). The cost of this repair was $465. Furthermore, their CEO tells people that it is illegal to put a used part on your aircraft, even if it is yellow tagged by a service station. He even went so far as to say that the airplane's software will 'reject' a used part such as a pressurization outflow valve. I can tell you with absolute certainty that this is not true, since my outflow valve came off the 1 out of 3 aircraft which have been parted to date. EAI just does not understand the concept of personal property. It is like they give you a 'license' to operate the jet as they see fit (and in return you give them a license to charge you whatever they want) You never truly own the thing. I believe these business practices will ultimately lead to their failure.

One more word of warning for anyone considering buying one of these is that according to EAI, they all turn into pumpkins on their 10th birthday, which is approaching, unless you comply with their 'Life Extension Program.' This must be accomplished by this July. A couple of the prerequisites for the aircraft to be eligible is that you MUST have had all of your maintenance done by EAI. If you didn't, then you have to do a ($100k) 48 month inspection with them. Also, any (FAA approved and 100% legal) third party STCs which have been installed make your aircraft ineligible.

I flew over 300 hours in less than 18 months and my all in cost was right around $300,000. (This includes fuel, insurance, losses or gains on aircraft, maintenance, eurocontrol fees, landing fees, ramp fees, database updates, pilot training, hangar, etc.) Would I do it all again? Absolutely! There is nothing like flying on top of everything by yourself at FL410.

So, I am currently sitting in the South of France and within the next couple weeks I will fly my Eclipse from here to it's new owner in Nevada. He is a prior Eclipse owner and is very familiar with everything I mentioned above (otherwise I would have have sold it to him). When he sold his last Eclipse, it was due to these problems and overall attitude of the company. I wanted to ask him why he is going back into one, but I know the answer. These are great little planes to fly and almost as addictive as cocaine. For now I am going to have a bunch of fun playing with my L-39. Of course that will mean no hops to Europe, only carrying 1 passenger, staying out of most weather, and burning a ton of gas, but look at the smile on my face!

I have been casually shopping Legacy Citations looking for the right deal on one, though I really have no idea what I will do next. Perhaps there will be another Eclipse in my hangar one day ...

Until then, à bientôt.

It's remarkable that there's a market for them....given the maintenance restrictions and costs, their impending pumpkin status, and their whitewashed online forum. They really must be cocaine!

Bonjour Theo,
My best buddy bought an Eclipse last fall and is enjoying it just as much as you are. I went and met them for dinner during their type rating. ( they had the guy come over here for a week or so; our chief pilot did the rating with him at the same time). Their main complaint was, like you, the goofy electronics. All of us are used to Garmin's: 430, 750, 500, 1000's etc. these are supposedly just goofy..... I have not flown it with him yet, just been too busy....
They've had only one AOG issue, some type of battery or starter relay thingy.....he of course wasn't at home when it happened, but he was in SLC and they had it fixed with a new part (overhauled?) in a couple of days.
It really is a cool jet. It doesn't like cold temperatures on the ground, had to install heat in the hangar to keep it (the batteries?) above a certain temperature.....
Bon retour mom ami,

Thanks for the detailed and balanced PIREP!

Outstanding feedback Theo. Thats certainly a side of Eclipse ownership that you don't often hear about and from the sounds of it, isn't readily available due to their less than forthcoming tactics.

Glad to hear that you got the enjoyment of out it that you did before you moved on. I'm sure the problem now is that now that you've had a taste of it, it going to be very difficult to consider anything else.

Looking forward to your tales of the L39. Lots of pics, lots of GoPro please...

Great insight Theo,

I have considered one but have not made the jump. Still looking around for the next plane after the G58 gets out missioned.

Ted,

Excellent write up and from all i have heard, accurate. There are three Eclipse's in my group hangar flown by an air taxi outfit. It is absurd manipulation of the market and i hate the tattletale recorder that updates corporate headquarters about every minute of every flight. As Jason points out, Cirrus and others may have some real competition in that market segment very soon.

Always good to hear from you!

Theodore,

Thanks for the writeup. I do not have the checkbook to own one alone, but maybe with a partner? Eclipse is doomed. You can not maintain a business by pissing off owners. Let the jet stand for itself. It's performance numbers and efficiency are outstanding. Even Bill gates pulled out of Eclipse. My Beech is looking better all the time.

Could you use the deicing equipment even though it was not FIKI? The boots were still there, correct?

Sound like you need an MU2 Theodore. Almost as fast. One for sale now on BT. Randy is selling it.

Maybe a Citation?

Thank you for the pirep! With these business practices I can see where a small cadre of pilots can tolerate the abuse for the privilege to fly it. Not me.

Wow...

Ted - sounds to me like the Eclipse guys took lessons from Bill Gates. They have confused aircraft manufacturing and support with software....

Wow Theo Thanks for the great write up. I have missed hearing from you on BT but so glad you have been having fun.

I knew Vern, he was on one of my boards - we butted heads pretty hard and I lost but I don't blame him. He had a great dream, was a great sales person and I feel like he batted at least 500. Unfortunately, he needed to bat 1000 for it to work. This wasn't the first story that turned out like this for him, Slate was another one. When he started Eclipse, he looked young. I saw him a few years ago and he looked old - I'm sure Eclpise took some years off of him. I know he got divorced along the way as well. Say what you want about him but he was quite a visionary.

So from owners perspective I'm sure it does seem like the new Eclipse is greedy. Are they making big profits or just getting by like most aircraft manufacturers? Assuming the latter, how do they support a company without pissing everybody off?

Theodore,

You gonna do something like this?

http://www.sijet.com/page25166349

I really do not get why the Sierra upgraded Citations are not more popular. Cessna airframe and thus support, newer tech Williams engine and performance that is pretty darn good.

RAS

Bill Gates?!? I think you mean Steve Jobs..

You don't really own an iDevice, you merely pay for the pleasure of using it as much as Apple will let you. And, they do turn into pumpkins!



I do love the little Jet and the performance, maybe one day.

The total eclipse reman project has wound down as have the upgrade. Apart from the manufacturing pipedream, EA's ONLY revenue stream is extraction from the current owner base of only 250 or so airframes produced. Assuming all are active (questionably) and you manage to extract $10K/year/airframe that's only still $2.5 million in revenue. Hard to see how this plays out longterm with the owners and EA intact.