June 24th, 2009 - The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) announced today that it has suspended the European Type Certificate for the Eclipse 500 issued to now bankrupt Eclipse Aviation.

The TC was originally granted on just days before the VLJ Manufacturer filed for bankruptcy protection on Nov. 21st, 2008. While the suspension will have little effect on operators and owners of EA 500's, EASA is listed as a creditor in the Eclipse Chapter 7 filings and failure to keep the certification current may have been a factor in the decision to suspend the certificate.

To date the bankruptcy court has not accepted any bids for Eclipse's assets and the suspension of the certificate (EASA.IM.A.171) may further hinder this process as it may be consdered to decrease the value of the listed assets. Assuming that the suspension was based on Eclipse's failure to keep the certificate current it may be possible to reinstate the EA500's European TC.

Eclipse Aviation's initial filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection was converted to Chapter 7 on May 20th.

 

The EASA notification of suspension can be read here

Eclipse bankruptcy information can be found here

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