Investors in Raburn's 'Technological Transformation' Find Much
To Celebrate
BEEEEEEPPPPP! ...we interrupt this article to
offer you the latest pictures of another new Eclipse coming
together -- and getting ready to fly in a VERY short period of
time.
We'll get back to the story of the recent Eclipse gathering
shortly... but these pictures are just so cool that we had to drop
everything to get them out before anyone thought to do likewise
(Remember, this is ANN... we not only scoop the competition, we try
to rub their noses in it... grin).
Originally scheduled for January 6th of 2005, Flight Test
Aircraft N503EA was set on its main and nose landing gear quite a
bit early... November 28th, to be exact. The wings (including main
landing gear), horizontal stabilizer, and rudder have been joined
to the fuselage and the flaps are being installed. One of the
reasons that N503EA is making such great progress is that Eclipse
swapped the manufacturing order and first flight dates of N502EA
(originally expected to be the first bird back in flight testing)
and N503EA. Both will be conforming aircraft, but N503EA will focus
on systems testing, while N502EA will focus on structures and
aerodynamics testing.
Progress is proceeding swiftly at this point, and the whole
program appears to be well ahead of schedule on most pivotal
deadlines. The Eclipse flight test program is expected to resume
shortly, powered by the new Pratt & Whitney 610F engine. When
it happens, count on ANN to be there...
OK... Back To The Article
While the Eclipse Gathering was but a few hours old (if that),
and major questions about insurability and pricing finally put
behind them, Raburn's folks wasted little time in getting to the
NEXT major issue of the day... training.
Eclipse was aware that training a new generation of bizjet
pilots, especially a group that was largely comprised of folks who
planned to operate (primarily) in single pilot configurations, was
going to be quite the challenge. Even more, they were convinced
that the way that GA was training jet pilots, up to this point, was
wholly inadequate (just look at the accident stats and try to argue
with that supposition -- you can't). It isn't that flying jets is
all that hard... it ISN'T... and as a matter of fact, compared to
their piston equivalent, jet flying tends to be simpler and
SHOULD be safer (especially in terms of the failure rate of turbine
powerplants as compared to piston).
But... jets ARE different.
The new Eclipse training program differs from most of what
preceded it due to the fact that it concentrates on the pilot
instead of the aircraft. By concentrating on "improving pilot
management skills and judgement," Eclipse hopes to change the
paradigm for high-performance aircraft training... hence the reason
they went above and beyond the upper tiers of the corporate
aviation training hierarchy to make a deal with United Airlines and
Boeing's Alteon.
Eclipse's training guru, Don Taylor (shown above--one of the
leaders in real-world flight training), spent some time talking to
the hundreds of pilots awaiting their personal bizjets, emphasizing
a training program that was mission-oriented and designed to "train
the way you fly, and fly the way you train." This real-world flight
training program is also designed to take advantage of normal
flight profiles and is tailorable to a specific pilot's operating
needs. The Eclipse scenario-based training system promises to be
"real in ALL realms," including abnormal procedures, system
failures, realistic emergencies (not the contrived stuff that
doesn't happen outside of disaster movies), and conducted at a rate
that ensures comprehension instead of confusion (charitably
referred to as the "opposite of the 'fire-hose ingestion
method'").
While turning to United Airlines for flight training in VLJs may
seem like asking the Pope to teach Sunday School, the massive
assets that UAL brings to this program as well as their
ground-breaking work in cockpit management, makes sense.
United is credited with developing several training innovations
including Line Oriented Flight Training (LOFT) and Cockpit Resource
Management (CRM) and is pioneering single-pilot cockpit resource
management (SP-CRM) training for the Eclipse 500. United is widely
credited with pioneering the Flight Operations Quality Assurance
(FOQA) program, now a standard for airline operations worldwide.
Throughout its 78 years of commercial aviation leadership, United
has been recognized for its commitment to data-driven curriculum
and courseware standards and for its deep commitment to improving
aircraft human factors and better decision making in the flight
environment. UFTC conducts more than 1,400 pilot training events
per month and is the world's largest training facility at 610,000
square feet. Established in 1968, United's Denver training center
hosts more than seventy-five outside customers, including pilots in
the U.S. Air Force, NASA and the FAA.
For you international types, Eclipse and Alteon also revealed
that they are exploring a relationship using Alteon's International
training centers for Eclipse pilot training outside of North
America. Of some 20 locations worldwide, Alteon has 11 situated in
8 international locations.
How The Program Works
The Eclipse 500 training program is comprised of a multi-phase
curriculum, including an initial flight skills assessment and
supplemental training (if required), self-paced computer-based
study, unexpected situations hands-on training, the type rating
transition course, post-certification mentoring as well as
recurrent training. Under the arrangement, the initial flight
skills assessment has been expanded into a no-cost, day-long
program that will gauge customers' readiness for the Eclipse 500
type transition training program. United expects to be able to
begin training operations by offering the initial flight skills
assessment to Eclipse 500 customers by mid-2005, subject to
regulatory approvals.
Eclipse has priced this
training at a fraction of the cost of comparable full-motion jet
type rating courses. Included in the price of an Eclipse 500
aircraft, each customer will receive one set of self study training
CDs (already under development, and the first three we've seen are
pretty damned good), one flight skills assessment by United and one
week-long type-transition course. The sole cost to the customer
will be the required upset recovery training course in an L-39
priced at a subsidized cost of $995. Eclipse's training program is
structured to accommodate the training needs of the wide variety of
pilots that will fly the Eclipse 500. The training program will
utilize the new FAA Industry Training Standards (FITS), which
closely relates to the highly successful airline Advanced
Qualification Program (AQP). Scenario based training will be used
to enhance aeronautical decision making, risk management, and
single pilot resource management skills for general aviation
pilots.
Pricing for additional pilot type ratings and for recurrent
training was also announced at the gathering...
- $8,449 for the type rating course that includes the pilot
qualification review, flight skills assessment, self-paced study,
L-39 upset recovery training course and
type rating transition course
- $2,995 for recurrent training
Of course, the question of UAL's financial health came up... but
with Alteon in the mix, UAL has partnered itself with a solid
company that can step in even if the UAL situation goes
totally to the dogs. While no one expects UAL to whither away and
die, Eclipse, having learned more than they ever wanted to from the
Williams saga, has once again set itself up with a sizable "Plan
B."
One other interesting note about the flight training
announcements... most all of the Eclipse training program details
are to be made public.,.. even though Eclipse has already seen at
least one competitive entity mimic their aims and goals... why
would they do something like that? According to Vern, the answer is
simple, "We don't want safety to be proprietary." Cool.
Next... Vern talks about the industry and the competition, their
partnership with Pratt & Whitney and EVERYBODY runs amuck in
the Eclipse factory (subtitled "Aviators in Toyland").
To Be Continued