The Eclipse Aviation Corporation was the

Albuquerque, New Mexico Albuquerque ( ; ), ; kee, Arawageeki; tow, Vakêêke; zun, Alo:ke:k'ya; apj, Gołgéeki'yé. abbreviated ABQ, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico. Its nicknames, The Duke City and Burque, both reference its founding i ...

, United States-based manufacturer of the Eclipse 500

very light jet A very light jet (VLJ), entry-level jet or personal jet, previously known as a microjet, is a category of small business jets seating four to eight people. VLJs are considered the lightest business jets and are approved for single-pilot operati ...

(VLJ), and also at one time proposed developing the

Eclipse 400 The Eclipse 400 (formerly Eclipse Concept Jet, or ECJ) is a single-engine very light jet that was designed by Eclipse Aviation of Albuquerque, New Mexico. A development of the Eclipse 500, the Eclipse 400 was cancelled when the company went ...

single-engined jet. The company was founded in 1998 by early

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washi ...

employee and former

Symantec Symantec may refer to: *An American consumer software company now known as Gen Digital Inc. *A brand of enterprise security software purchased by Broadcom Inc. Broadcom Inc. is an American designer, developer, manufacturer and global supplier ...

CEO Vern Raburn. Due to Raburn's relationship with Microsoft,

Bill Gates William Henry Gates III (born October 28, 1955) is an American business magnate and philanthropist. He is a co-founder of Microsoft, along with his late childhood friend Paul Allen. During his career at Microsoft, Gates held the positions ...

was a major stake-holder in the Eclipse project. The company was known for helping usher in a new category of VLJs when the Eclipse 500 was first delivered in late 2006. In October 2008, production of the Eclipse 500 was halted due to lack of funding. The company entered an unsuccessful

Chapter 11 bankruptcy Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code ( Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, whe ...

in November 2008, which was converted into a

Chapter 7 bankruptcy Chapter 7 of Title 11 of the United States Code (Bankruptcy Code) governs the process of liquidation under the bankruptcy laws of the United States, in contrast to Chapters 11 and 13, which govern the process of ''reorganization'' of a debto ...

liquidation procedure in February 2009. In the final Chapter 7 procedure, completed on August 20, 2009, there was only one bidder, a new company formed to acquire the assets,

Eclipse Aerospace Eclipse Aerospace was an American aircraft manufacturer, maintenance and upgrade company. The company provided maintenance and upgrades to the Eclipse 500 fleet and was the manufacturer of the Eclipse 550. The company was formed specifically t ...

. Eclipse operated service centers at Albuquerque International Sunport, Gainesville Regional Airport in

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and ...

, and

Albany International Airport Albany International Airport is six miles (9 km) northwest of Albany, in Albany County, New York, United States. It is owned by the Albany County Airport Authority. ALB covers of land. It is an air port of entry in the town of Coloni ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

History

Startup and growth

Eclipse Aviation was founded by Vern Raburn in 1998 in

Scottsdale, Arizona , settlement_type = City , named_for = Winfield Scott , image_skyline = , image_seal = Seal of Scottsdale (Arizona).svg , image_blank_emblem = City of Scottsdale Script Logo.svg , nic ...

, and the company started to design the twin-engined Eclipse 500 very light jet. Due to investments by the State of New Mexico and incentives and concessions from the City of Albuquerque, the company decided to set up its production facilities there and moved its headquarters in 2000. Construction of the first prototype started in 2001 and it first flew on August 26, 2002. Originally powered by two Williams International EJ22 turbofans, these were found to be unsuitable, and the aircraft was redesigned to accommodate a pair of Pratt & Whitney Canada PW610F-A turbofans. The engine change caused a delay in the programme and the PW610F-equipped prototype first flew in 2004. The aircraft was FAA certified on July 27, 2006 and the first customer aircraft was delivered in January 2007.

European Aviation Safety Agency The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) is an agency of the European Union (EU) with responsibility for civil aviation safety. It carries out certification, regulation and standardisation and also performs investigation and monito ...

certification for private use was achieved on November 21, 2008. In February 2006 the company was named the winner of the

Collier Trophy The Robert J. Collier Trophy is an annual aviation award administered by the U.S. National Aeronautic Association (NAA), presented to those who have made "the greatest achievement in aeronautics or astronautics in America, with respect to ...

for 2005 by the

National Aeronautic Association The National Aeronautic Association of the United States (NAA) is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization and a founding member of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI). Founded in 1905, it is the oldest national aviation club in the Uni ...

for its work with the Eclipse 500. The award was controversial because only the prototype aircraft was flying. On July 23, 2007, at

AirVenture EAA AirVenture Oshkosh (formerly the EAA Annual Convention and Fly-In), or just Oshkosh, is an annual air show and gathering of aviation enthusiasts held each summer at Wittman Regional Airport and adjacent Pioneer Airport in Oshkosh, Wisconsi ...

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, Eclipse unveiled the already flying prototype of a second company design initially called the ''Eclipse Concept Jet''. The four-seat aircraft was powered by a single Pratt & Whitney Canada PW610F turbofan and was built in secrecy at

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeedin ...

Wallops Flight Facility Wallops Flight Facility (WFF) is a rocket launch site on Wallops Island on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, United States, just east of the Delmarva Peninsula and approximately north-northeast of Norfolk. The facility is operated by the Godda ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are ...

by Swift Engineering and BaySys Technologies. The ECJ had first flown on July 2, 2007 and the company said then did not intend to place the aircraft into production but by May 2008 it began to take orders for a production version designated the

. In October 2007 the company laid off between 100 and 150 contract workers and employees, about 10% of its workforce. In November 2007 subcontractor Hampson Aerospace, which built the tail assembly for the Eclipse 500, filed a suit against Eclipse alleging that Eclipse had not paid them for work completed. During 2007 Eclipse had produced 104 aircraft and claimed a record for building its "first 100 airplanes faster than any GA jet aircraft manufacturer in history."

Financial challenges and decline

Founding president and CEO Vern Raburn resigned as a condition of a financing package by European Technology and Investment Research Center (ETIRC) Aviation, which had invested more than US$100 million in Eclipse in 2008. Raburn announced his resignation at

on Monday July 28, 2008. The new CEO,

Roel Pieper Roland "Roel" Pieper (born 1956, Vlaardingen, Netherlands) is a Dutch IT-entrepreneur. Early life and education Pieper was born (April 13, 1956) in Vlaardingen, son of an engineer at a car manufacturer. His father died when Pieper was 20, and on ...

, the chairman of the board of directors and president of ETIRC, said that the company should be profitable by the first quarter of 2009. Despite orders for the aircraft, the company announced in August 2008 that development of the Eclipse 400 was on hold and it had not started the certification process.Over and Out Inc, et al.: ''In the United States Bankruptcy Court in the District of Delaware - Complaint Case 08-13031 (MFW)'', page 5. The company declared it had not spent any of the deposit money for the Eclipse 400 but the deposits were later a subject of legal action. On Wednesday, August 20, 2008, Hampson Aerospace closed their Grand Prairie production plant, leaving Eclipse without a supplier of tail sections. On August 22, 2008, Eclipse announced that it would be laying off 650 of its workforce of 1800 people (38% of its work force)The Canadian Pres
Eclipse Aviation announces layoffs of 650 workersArchived version
from August 26, 2008 and a week later

Pratt & Whitney Canada Pratt & Whitney Canada (PWC or P&WC) is a Canada-based aircraft engine manufacturer. PWC's headquarters are in Longueuil, Quebec, just outside Montreal. It is a division of the larger US-based Pratt & Whitney (P&W), itself a business unit of ...

repossessed 24 engines sold to Eclipse.United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware: ''Case No 08-13031 (MFW) Statement of Financial Affairs Eclipse Aviation Corporation'', page 12. From August 2008 onwards a number of customers filed lawsuits against the company for failure to return deposits for cancelled and delayed orders. The company indicated that due to lack of funding it was not in a position to return deposits. On September 19, 2008, Eclipse's largest customer,

DayJet DayJet was an American commercial aviation operation that provided on-demand jet travel using Eclipse 500 very light jets. Founded by Ed Iacobucci, the former leader of the IBM-Microsoft Joint OS/2 development team IBM executive and the foun ...

, representing 1400 orders for the Eclipse 500, ceased flying operations for financial reasons. Eclipse Aviation announced on September 23, 2008, that it would establish a factory in

Ulyanovsk Ulyanovsk, known until 1924 as Simbirsk, is a city and the administrative center of Ulyanovsk Oblast, Russia, located on the Volga River east of Moscow. Population: The city, founded as Simbirsk (), was the birthplace of Vladimir Lenin (born ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...

to assemble the Eclipse 500, but then halted production of the 500 in October 2008, with the company indicating that it lacked funds to continue production or refund customer deposits.

Bankruptcy and liquidation

On November 21, 2008, the company announced that it had achieved

EASA The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) is an agency of the European Union (EU) with responsibility for civil aviation safety. It carries out certification, regulation and standardisation and also performs investigation and monito ...

certification for the 500 and then just four days later, on November 25, 2008, filed for

protection. The company was "seeking court approval for debtor-in-possession financing and procedures for the sale of substantially all of its assets under Section 363 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code." The company also stated that it had found a buyer for the company's assets, EclipseJet Aviation International, an affiliate of ETIRC Aviation, the company with major investments in Eclipse. Bankruptcy documents indicated that a total of $702.6 million was owed and the court documents filed indicated that the bankruptcy occurred because the company "continued to lose larger than expected sums of money on each aircraft manufactured and has not reached cash flow positive in its operations." Total company liabilities were estimated at over $1 billion. At the time of bankruptcy filing on November 25, 2008 Eclipse had delivered 259 EA500s.Walrath, Mary F.: ''Order (A) Authorizing The Debtors to Sell Substantially All Of Their Assets Free and Clear etc''. United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, January 23, 2009, Case Number 08-13031 (MFW) On January 20, 2009, Federal Bankruptcy Court Judge Mary Walrath verbally approved the sale of the assets of Eclipse Aviation to EclipseJet Aviation International headed by Eclipse Aviation's chairman,

, under Section 363 of the United States Bankruptcy Code. EclipseJet Aviation International was unable to secure the funding they had anticipated and on February 24, 2009 a group of companies to whom Eclipse owed money applied to the court to force the unfinished Chapter 11 proceedings into Chapter 7, a move supported by the company management.The Ad Hoc Committee: ''Motion of the Ad Hoc Committee of Secured Noteholders for an Order Converting the Debtors' Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Cases to cases under Chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy Code'', United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, February 24, 2009, Case Number 08-13031 (MFW)The Ad Hoc Committee: ''Motion to Shorten Notice of the Motion of the Ad Hoc Committee of Secured Noteholders for an Order Converting the Debtors' Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Cases to cases under Chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy Code'', United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, February 24, 2009, Case Number 08-13031 (MFW) After a lengthy Chapter 7 process running from March to August 2009, there was only one bidder for the assets of the company.

, headed by Mike Press and Mason Holland, offered US$20M in cash and US$20M in new promissory notes, stating that they would locate the new company in the existing Eclipse facilities in Albuquerque. Eclipse Aerospace provided upgrades to the current Eclipse fleet and restarted production. Eclipse Aerospace was confirmed as the new owner of the assets of the former Eclipse Aviation on August 20, 2009 and opened for business on September 1, 2009. The company later merged to become

One Aviation The One Aviation Corporation, stylized as ONE Aviation, was a company formed in 2015 to merge the aircraft manufacturers Eclipse Aerospace and Kestrel Aircraft. The company had its headquarters in Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States. On ...

and it subsequently went bankrupt in 2018.

Other products

Eclipse Aviation pioneered the use of friction stir welding in aircraft structures, using it extensively in the primary structure of the Eclipse 500. Eclipse also developed PhostrEx, a fire suppression agent for use in aviation applications to replace halon, a

greenhouse gas A greenhouse gas (GHG or GhG) is a gas that absorbs and emits radiant energy within the thermal infrared range, causing the greenhouse effect. The primary greenhouse gases in Earth's atmosphere are water vapor (), carbon dioxide (), methane ...

(GHG). It was developed by Eclipse Aviation for use aboard their Eclipse 500 jets, and is now being marketed to other aviation manufacturers.

References

External links

Eclipse Aviation homepage
on Archive.org {{Eclipse Aviation Manufacturing companies based in Albuquerque, New Mexico Defunct aircraft manufacturers of the United States Companies established in 1998 1998 establishments in Arizona Companies that have filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2008 Collier Trophy recipients Defunct manufacturing companies based in New Mexico