AvWeb recently wrote that Eclipse Aerospace has been busy and is making some significant progress in their recovery efforts. This is confirmed by a communique from Eclipse and an article in the New Mexico Business Weekly.

It appears that Eclipse is currently upgrading 28 aircraft with de-icing systems and an improved Avio avionics suite. They hope to be able to re-sell these aircraft soon. They are also up to 60 employees at two locations, they have approval for a pilot training program, they have a current inventory of parts and approval to sell them and they renewed their type certification with the FAA and EASA.

These are some great steps and with a current market of about 250 aircraft to support, I expect this little company is going to be able to stay afloat. The Business Weekly article mentioned that they hope to begin production of new aircraft sometime in 2011. That would be really great to see. I hope they can be successful in the meantime and grow enough to get to that point.

It seems like this new iteration of Eclipse has the vision, patience and focus to get things right with this aircraft. Congratulations Eclipse, on your progress so far. We're looking forward to hearing more good things about you!