Eclipse Aviation is expecting to achieve two major certification goals–flight-into-known-icing and EASA certification–for the EA-500 very light jet by July, according to Mike McConnell, vice president of sales and marketing. Full avionics functionality should follow by year-end, aided by Eclipse’s choice to install dual Garmin GPS 400W WAAS-certified moving-map GPS navigators to provide missing GPS functionality.
The avionics system capability was bolstered by FAA certification in December of a key piece of the Eclipse Avio NG integrated avionics/airframe electronics system, the glass panel developed by Innovative Solutions & Support. The IS&S panel includes integrated PS Engineering audio panel, Honeywell radios and Garmin transponder. GPS capability was not yet completed when Avio NG was certified last year, however, and Eclipse has decided not to use the GPS sensor supplied by Redmond, Wash.-based Spectralux, which had announced on Sept. 26, 2007, that Eclipse selected its NexNav WAAS Class Beta-3 GPS sensor to provide GPS for Avio NG. The FAA approved the NexNav sensor under TSO-C145b on Nov. 1, 2007, and a Spectralux spokeswoman told AIN at the time that the sensor “is being delivered to Eclipse Aviation for certification in the Eclipse 500.”
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