Aircraft
Eclipse still waits on major ramp up
“This high-rate production stuff is hard.

“This high-rate production stuff is hard. It’s not impossible, but it’s hard, and aerospace folks don’t understand it,” said Eclipse Aviation president and CEO Vern Raburn here yesterday, in sharp contrast to the boundless optimism that has thus far characterized his 10-year quest to darken the skies with VLJs. The anniversary of the Eclipse 500 type certification is approaching, and it is five months since the Albuquerque-based company achieved its production certificate on April 26.

As of yesterday, the fleet statistics stood thus: