page_title: Eclipse Aviation
section_title: Startup and growth
hierarchical_section_title: Eclipse Aviation / History / Startup and growth
caption_attribution_description: Eclipse 500 flight test aircraft, Mojave Airport
context_page_description: The Eclipse Aviation Corporation was the Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States-based manufacturer of the Eclipse 500 very light jet, and also at one time proposed developing the Eclipse 400 single-engined jet.
  The company was founded in 1998 by early Microsoft employee and former Symantec CEO Vern Raburn. Due to Raburn's relationship with Microsoft, Bill Gates was a major stake-holder in the Eclipse project. The company was important for helping usher in a new category of small jets when the Eclipse 500 was first delivered in 2006.
  In October 2008, production of the Eclipse 500 was halted due to lack of funding. The company entered an unsuccessful Chapter 11 bankruptcy in November 2008, which was converted into a Chapter 7 bankruptcy 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 operated service centers at Albuquerque International Sunport, Gainesville Regional Airport in Florida, and Albany International Airport in New York.
context_section_description: Eclipse Aviation was founded by Vern Raburn in 1998 in Scottsdale, Arizona, 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 certification for private use was achieved on November 21, 2008.
  In February 2006 the company was named the winner of the Collier Trophy for 2005 by the National Aeronautic Association for its work with the Eclipse 500.  The award was controversial because only the prototype aircraft was flying.
  On July 23, 2007, at AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, 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's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia 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 Eclipse 400.
  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."
caption: Eclipse 500 flight test aircraft at Mojave
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