Addressing the question of what happens when a manufacturer goes bankrupt, the FAA has issued Special Airworthiness Information Bulletin CE-09-14 examining support issues for the 259 Eclipse 500 very light jets in the field.
A March 4 hearing was expected to include a decision on the petition filed last week to move the Eclipse bankruptcy from Chapter 11 to Chapter 7 liquidation, but had not been announced by the GeneralAviationNews.com deadline.
“All Eclipse operations (including certification, production, service centers, training centers and dealers) are closed,” the FAA bulletin stated. The agency is asking owners and operators to report any unsafe conditions on their Eclipse 500s to the FAA Fort Worth certification office. In the bulletin, the FAA affirmed that it “has no plans to ground the EA500 airplanes” and that the jet remains flyable as long as it is airworthy. Parts might be difficult to obtain, however, as Eclipse is not shipping anything. While there are Eclipse vendors that might stock some parts, they can’t be shipped to owners or operators unless the vendor holds a PMA or TSO for that part, the bulletin pointed out.
To read the bulletin: http://rgl.faa.gov/Regulatory_and_Guidance_Library/rgSAIB.nsf/dc7bd4f27e5f107486257221005f069d/264e6ea69a9c3bab8625756a0078c51d/$FILE/CE-09-14.pdf
