Eclipse Aviation took delivery of its first flight-ready autopilot from Meggitt in September, passing another milestone along the path to certification.
Although the company had not met its goal for test flight hours as of late September, in part due to the gear-up landing of N505EA, CEO Vern Raburn said he remains confident that the Eclipse 500 will be certified, on schedule, by the end of next March. Autopilot flight tests will be conducted using N506EA, and the entire test schedule has been accelerated, Raburn said.