Tue, Nov 11, 2008
Eclipse Personnel Cancel Another High-Profile Aviation
Event
On the heels of their no-show at the
recently concluded San Jose, CA, AOPA Expo, ANN has learned that
one of the remaining Senior Eclipse personnel, Mike McConnell,
has canceled his speaking engagement at the VLJ, Latin America and
Caribbean conference -- with little notice.
The cancellation of their booth space and participation at the
AOPA Expo seems to have set tongues wagging in anticipation of what
many consider to be Eclipse's impending demise. Despite the fact
that senior personnel (including McConnell) still insist that
financing is around the corner and that Eclipse is anything but
done. Still; suppliers report that outgoing payments have all but
dried up and that a number of promised payments and agreements are
being delayed or canceled with little or no warning. Others report
having been deliberately misled by Senior Eclipse personnel on
financial issues and state that there is a growing movement (among
potential creditors) to force Eclipse into an involuntary
bankruptcy.
The most recent event cancellation, at a conference hosted by
MIU Events (in which ANN is the Senior Media Partner), reported
that McConnell canceled (with little more than a day's notice) his
appearance at a venue populated by players working in one of the
more aggressive markets populated by VLJ operations. The event
featured a number of Eclipse operators and suppliers... each of
which expressed some cautious, if sparing, optimism for a recovery
from the Eclipse program... though all agree that the airplane
should have a solid future (even if after reorganization or
bankruptcy) since the demand for this aircraft, and/or its mission,
remains high.
Since the forced ouster of Eclipse
founder Vern Raburn, the company's fortunes have have gone from
problematic to uncertain, while news has been increasingly
hard to come by... though bad news continues to leak out from
disappointed customers, operators, and suppliers. Another recent
difficulty occurred late last week when EAC's Double Eagle training
operations were halted, even as surprised clients were showing up
for training and check-rides. Eclipse personnel have blamed FAA
issues for the shutdown that "did not directly involve us, but do
involve our training vendor," while other reports implicate
Eclipse's increasingly precarious financial position for
exacerbating this latest setback.
ANN continues to monitor this story and will file additional
reports as information becomes available.
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