Eclipse 550: Specs, Price, Interior, Pics, & Details

Eclipse 550: Specs, Price, Interior, Pics, & Details. Eclipse 550 is a dua-engine light-weight business jet designed and produced jointly by US aircraft producers Eclipse Aerospace (EA) and Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation (SAC) to operate domestic and international air routes. This comes from the Eclipse 500 business jet. About 50 to 100 aircraft will be produced a year.

SAC bought a minority stake in EA in February 2011. A service level agreement was also reached between SAC and EA in the same month. As part of the PZL factory agreement, a subsidiary of the SAC supplies wings, aircraft and empennage for Eclipse 550

Eclipse Aerospace introduced Eclipse 550 at the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) convention held in Las Vegas, Nevada, in October 2011. Airplane production began at the Albuquerque EA facility in New Mexico in June 2012 and a production certificate from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) was received in March 2013. The first shipment was made in March 2014.

Eclipse 500 Engine

The Eclipse 550 is powered by two PW610F turbofan engines, each of which has a thrust of 950lbf. The machine is designed and manufactured by Pratt & Whitney Canada. The length and diameter of the machines are 1.06 m and 0.35 m respectively.

It is equipped with one-stage stressful turbines, two-stage compressors, backflow burners and Hispano-Suiza FADEC to minimize propeller noise by optimizing output speed. The engine inlet is combined with the protection of the engine’s bleed air ice.

The Eclipse 550 can rise at a speed of 17.4 m/ s. The maximum speed and airplane stalls are 694 km/ hr and 128 km/ hr respectively, while the range is 2,084 km. The service ceiling with a single engine is 10,668 m, while the maximum height is 12,500 m. The distance of takeoff and landing of the aircraft is 742m and 850m.

Eclipse 550 Specs

The Eclipse 550 was designed by changing the Eclipse 500. The Eclipse 500 uses the same integrated fuselage, engine and glass cockpit as the Eclipse 500. A number of new features such as improved avionics, improved cabin interiors, side stick controls, advanced microprocessors, full authority and digital engine control (FADEC), autothrottles, synthetic vision and enhanced vision systems were consisted of in the Eclipse 550.

The Eclipse 550 has a tricycle type landing gear consisting of two main wheels and a controlled nose wheel. The main wheel pulls back to the wing and the nose wheel changes into the front fuselage.

Eclipse 550 Cabin and Interior

The Eclipse 550 cabin is 3.67 m long, 1.42 m wide and 1.27 m high. The spacious cabin of the Eclipse 550 business jet can carry six passengers in a tandem seating configuration. It is equipped with leather seats, Iridium telephones, onboard oxygen generating systems, LED lighting, cabin pressure systems and Wi-Fi based cabin entertainment systems.

Eclipse 550 Cockpit and Avionics

The Eclipse 550 Cockpit accommodates two crew members. The aircraft is equipped with two primary simpatico LCD screens, a multifunction screen and navigation screen to show data relating to navigation, flight instrumentation, fuel and engine to the pilot.

The avionics suite installed in the Eclipse 550 consists of an automated direction finder, radar altimeter, stormscope, attitude reference system and traffic collision avoidance systems.

Innovative Solutions and Support (ISS) was contracted in October 2010 to supply Avio’s dual integrated flight management system (IFMS). Additional type certificates for IFMS were obtained from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in March 2011.

IFMS minimizes pilot workload by acting as a virtual co-pilot. This centrally controls avionics, engine, fuel system, flap, landing gear, cabin pressure and temperature.

The synthetic vision system installed on the aircraft will make pilots have a clear understanding of flight conditions using terrain constraints, geo-politics, hydrology, and other database information.

Other avionics consist of automated surveillance broadcasts (ADS-B), wide area augmentation systems, iPad data entry integration systems, distance measuring equipment, global positioning systems, terrain awareness and onboard color radar and weather radar systems.

Eclipse Aerospace awarded an agreement to Curtiss-Wright Controls in August 2013 for the supply of Aircraft Computer System (ACS) for Eclipse 550 aircraft. ACS enables control and monitoring of advanced aircraft systems. Deliveries are expected to be completed in 2016.