Eclipse Aviation reports that the first post-production aircraft to receive its promised upgrades - Avio NG integrated avionics, external tip tank modifications and new wing de-ice boots - is now present in the company's Gainesville, Florida service centre for the work.
Aircraft number 28, which was sold on the secondary market to Evgeniy Chervonenko, governor of the Zaporozhiy region state administration in the Ukraine, is scheduled to be completed around 8 February, 28 days after the work started. The aircraft is the validation and verification ship for the service bulletin covering the work, which is to be paid for by Eclipse.
Eclipse plans to decrease the downtime to a little as 18 days for the retrofits as mechanics get experience making the changes, with customer aircraft beginning to arrive mid-February at service centres in Gainesville and Albany, New York and, from early April, Van Nuys, California. Upgrades to as many as 110 delivered aircraft are expected to be complete roughly one year after starting. The company plans to dedicate 50% of its initial capacity to finish 12 non-US aircraft.
Source: Flight International
