Creating a jet for the rest of us (Eclipse Aviation)

PMSNBC.com ^ | 5 May 2004 | Jon Bonne

[Moose4]

Vern Raburn has this habit of finding the next big thing — way too soon.

In 1976, he opened the third computer store in Los Angeles, years before PCs came to the masses. Struck with the computer bug, he headed to Albuquerque, N.M., where he joined up with some guys who wanted to sell software.

That happened to be Bill Gates and Paul Allen, and Raburn was one of the first employees at Microsoft (a partner in MSNBC). But he bailed when Gates shipped the company north to Redmond, Wash., and moved on.

So what is he doing back in New Mexico, in an airport hangar?

“If in 1996, you’d told me I’d be running an airplane business,” Raburn says, “I’d tell you you're absolutely, completely, totally out of your mind.”

He aims to make small jets affordable enough for the rest of us. Raburn’s vision is to build a large fleet of these jets barely more expensive to fly than the price of an airline ticket. Except they take you exactly where you need to go, exactly when you need to get there.

[Moose4]

Maybe JF'nK can get one of these new Eclipse 500s and take it for a spin over Haifa.

Actually Raburn has a good idea...trying to produce a six-passenger corporate/personal jet for around $1 million a copy. My jaw dropped when I read in the article that a new single-engine Piper Meridian turboprop is $1.6 million. Heck, a brand-new Cessna 172 is around $200,000 or more.

Entrepeneurs...the scourge of socialists like JF'nK. And the hope for the rest of the country.

}:-)4

[Moose4]

Ping.

}:-)4

[Aeronaut]

[avg_freeper]

Its too bad those early engine designs didn't pan out. You could literally carry them around in your hands.

[leadpenny]

Is there a reason for sourcing it as, "PMSNBC.com?

[2banana]

For every great businessman, there are 5000 trail lawyers ready to take part/all of his money...

[Timocrat]

Actually Raburn has a good idea...trying to produce a six-passenger corporate/personal jet for around $1 million a copy

Wait till they add in the Tort liability tax ( AKA the Trial lawyers retirement fund) The price will probably double.

[Moose4]

It's an old Rush Limbaugh joke...he often has referred to MSNBC as "PMS"NBC.

}:-)4

[Bon mots]

Rule #3:
You must post pictures of cool new aircraft along with the post.

[Moose4]

Well, the trial lawyers nearly killed general aviation in this country in the '70s (along with the Arab oil crises). Growing up, I always wanted to become a pilot...not a commercial pilot, just a private pilot with his own airplane, going where I wanted when I wanted. Now I'm pushing 38, and lessons are so incredibly expensive, and airplanes even more so, that it'll probably never happen.

$250,000+ for a new Cessna 182 Skylane? 20- and 30-year-old four-seat airplanes still costing $100,000? That's insanity. And it's largely thanks to the trial lawyers.

}:-)4

[Moose4]

My bad. I would've posted the picture if Ann Coulter or Anna Kournikova was sitting on the wing, really...

}:-)4

[leadpenny]

I know, I see it done all the time here. MSNBC tends to be my default cable news network vs. the other two. I also like to watch events on C-SPAN and FReepers sometimes refer to it as C-SPAM.

I link many threads in e-mails to friends and family and believe it makes FreeRepublic a tougher 'sell' to them when they tell me things like PMSNBC and C-SPAM are petty.

I'm in a foul mood this morning. Don't mind me.

[Bon mots]

Oh,
Rule 4:
If you post Anna Kournikova pictures, all is forgiven.

;-)

[Space Wrangler]

I've been closely following the development of this aircraft as well. A couple of other companies are working along the same track, but Eclispse seems to be the only one making any true progress. This is jet has the potential of being a quantum leap in general aviation. If they can get these things out the door for their target of $850K a copy, it will turn the general aviation market on it's ear, driving down the cost of prop planes to a level closer to that of a luxury SUV. Cost is the most prohibitive factor for people interested in general aviation. A 10 yr old twin engine prop plane is selling for as much, if not more than what Eclipse is shooting for for a brand new jet. I just hope the revolution gets underway while I'm young enough to get in on it!

[bvw]

Pretty. What about a goose in the engine though? Those engines are small. When did the first Eclipse fly?

[Fixit]

Instead, Eclipse uses stir-friction welding, an advanced process that fuses two metal sheets almost seamlessly. The company didn't invent the process, but Raburn believes Eclipse is the first to use it on aircraft.

Eclipse 500 wing production outsourced to Japan.

And no post about Eclipse Aviation would be complete without a mention of how it was grubbing for federal money to get off the ground, shamelessly hoping to capitalize on 9/11.

Sen. Pete Domenici (R., N.M.) erupted in a rage late one night last week when Sen. John McCain (R., Ariz.) blocked consideration of the proposal as an amendment to the emergency spending bill, and Thursday he vowed to bring it up again in future appropriations bills. The dispute illustrates the pressure for such rifle-shot amendments, which are designed to help home-state business interests in an uncertain economy."
...
The loan guarantees would be paid for by tapping into a much larger credit fund approved by Congress last fall to help stabilize passenger airlines after Sept. 11. But under Mr. Domenici's proposal, the $50 million in credits could be made available by the Treasury secretary without review by the three-member Air Transportation Stabilization Board, and the amendment fundamentally broadens the airline-relief law by extending help beyond air carriers to aircraft makers."

[Tijeras_Slim]

The Eclipse hangar is about 2 miles from where I work, and I've had a tour and been in the mockup. Its a very cool plane.