Business & GA

On the heels of its split with avionics integrator Avidyne, Eclipse Aviation has parted ways with yet another key vendor in its bid to get the Eclipse 500 very light jet (VLJ) up and away to more than 2,500 waiting customers.

This time the split is with United Airlines' flight training division, the organisation that was to provide required flight skills assessments for potential Eclipse pilots. Tests and training were to include Myers-Briggs evaluations reviewed by United Airlines staff psychologists, single-pilot resource management training, simulator evaluations and ultimately, type ratings in simulators.

Eclipse president and chief executive Vern Raburn, in a 7 March letter to owners, confirmed the split, but said the company was currently in negotiations with "an exceptional new training partner" that would resume work on the programme co-developed by Eclipse and United since 2004. In the meantime United would continue to provide assessments, he said. United Airlines was unavailable for comment.