Air Transport

United Airlines is gearing up to begin customer training for Eclipse Aviation at its simulator centre in Denver, Colorado. A fixed-base simulator for the Eclipse 500 very light jet is due to arrive late this year, followed early next year by the first full-flight simulator, says Patrick Heck, general manager, flight training, for United Services.

Training will initially be performed by Eclipse in the aircraft itself, Heck says, because flight tests to gather aircraft data for the Level D simulators have been delayed until after certification, now expected at the end of June. The simulators are being built by Florida-based Opinicus, which says it will deliver the first three between October this year and February 2007. Another seven devices are planned, the company says.

Heck says the Eclipse simulators will be installed in empty bays at United Services’ Denver facility. While the company does not plan to create a separate area for Eclipse training, it may be able to group several of the devices in one bay, he says, as they will be more compact than the centre’s airliner simulators, with electric motion bases and smaller displays.