Eclipse Aviation has received US Federal Aviation Administration approval for a flight operations quality assurance (FOQA) programme based on flight-data monitoring capabilities, a hurdle the company says makes it the only aircraft manufacturer to have gained such an approval to date.
The positive news, however, comes amid an ongoing economic struggle as the Eclipse 500 manufacturer attempts to boost production output to one aircraft a day, a number the company had expected to meet by September to meet revenue projections.
By all indications, Eclipse will deliver aircraft at the rate of about one every other day until early 2008, forcing the company to seek an additional round of financing to span the gap, according to industry sources.
The lagging production increase was also the reason Eclipse laid off more than 100 workers in October. Deliveries in November will include Avio NG, the aircraft's new integrated avionics systems.
Innovative Solutions and Support (IS&S), the exclusive flat panel display supplier on the contract, is in the final stages of certificating its software and says it has a supply contract good "for a number of years".
Delivery volume is tied to a two-month rolling window, a typical arrangement for production aircraft, says IS&S chief executive Ray Wilson. "We'll match [Eclipse's] requirements one-for-one during the period," he says.
Wilson says the as-delivered display software system will support Eclipse's FOQA programme, which is designed to identify, assess and analyse flight-related hazards within the Eclipse 500 fleet using data recorded during a flight and post-processed by software developed by FOQA analysis company Austin Digital.
Source: FlightGlobal.com
