Eclipse Jet TV News Story

[rfresh]

I saw a news story about Day Jet's new Eclipse 500 VLJ's now flying 'taxi' service for them. They followed a business man who had to fly 300 miles north (in Florida) to a client site - he paid 600.00 for the trip. The camera crew flew along with him and the reporter sat in the co-pilot seat since it was empty.

Two things I noticed about the trip:

1. The cockpit seemed a lot roomier with no control wheels in front of you since they have side sticks. The glass panels looked really cool in that small cockpit.

2. The plane seemed to jump around alot - I don't know if this was due to turb or if the VLJ just gets bounced around because of its size. In any event it was not a smooth ride this time.

I guess time will tell if they can suceed in this new (VLJ) market.

Day Jet said they need *a lot* more customers like this one business man who decided it was better to fly 300 miles in a little over an hour vs driving 4 hours each way.

 

[johnsonrod]

I saw a news story about Day Jet's new Eclipse 500 VLJ's now flying 'taxi' service for them. They followed a business man who had to fly 300 miles north (in Florida) to a client site - he paid 600.00 for the trip. The camera crew flew along with him and the reporter sat in the co-pilot seat since it was empty.

Two things I noticed about the trip:

1. The cockpit seemed a lot roomier with no control wheels in front of you since they have side sticks. The glass panels looked really cool in that small cockpit.

2. The plane seemed to jump around alot - I don't know if this was due to turb or if the VLJ just gets bounced around because of its size. In any event it was not a smooth ride this time.

I guess time will tell if they can suceed in this new (VLJ) market.

Day Jet said they need *a lot* more customers like this one business man who decided it was better to fly 300 miles in a little over an hour vs driving 4 hours each way.

Look at the 135 forum - you'll find a link to that same Dayjet story on the Today Show. Pretty interesting.

 

[nomore]

Miami Center

We had a lovely evening imbibing and dining with two married controllers from Miami Center last rotation. They were on vacation. The lovely bride works traffic north and was telling us the vlj goes up to 360 and slow everything down. They have to go up so high to make any money and I don't remember exactly but they do about .52 or something. I don't see this thing lasting very long.

 

[rfresh]

.52??? I didn't realize they were *that* slow!!

 

[nomore]

Maybe

I heard her wrong, we were IMBIBING but that's what I remember. The two of 'em didn't think that thing was gonna last.

 

[johnsonrod]

Here's the Dayjet video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B150uxW7CRk&NR=1

Man, that airplane looks really small. Check it out...

 

[say again]

So flights under 2 hrs dont face airport delays??? Ahh the brilliance of some!!!!!

 

[johnsonrod]

So flights under 2 hrs dont face airport delays??? Ahh the brilliance of some!!!!!

Yeah, and it's blatantly wrong to compare an Eclipse to an "$11 million" Lear Jet with respect to price alone. Sure, some of the newer models are $11 million or more but you can easily pick up L25s and L35s for a lot less... And those older Lears would be a lot more comfortable than an Eclipse.

Can you imagine 100-200 Eclipses flying around the Southeast in the next year or two? Just imagine the delays if this thing actually succeeds... I am sure others will be deployed to new regions (maybe Midwest or Texas) for a total of 300 or so over the next couple of years. Still, 100-200 of those VLJs flying around the Southeast during busy weekdays will really add to the congestion... And more Air Taxi operations are on the way.......

 

[sweptwingz]

I sincerely wish them well. Anything that creates more pilot jobs can't be ALL bad. I hope the economics work out....I'll admit that I have some doubts.

 

[johnsonrod]

The ramp-up to 300 airplanes in 2-3 years seems a bit quick to me.

 

[Geronimo4497]

Eclipse has to actually make them to get those numbers to 200-300 aircraft. I have severe doubts about their ability to build the numbers they gloat about.

 

[CA1900]

1. The cockpit seemed a lot roomier with no control wheels in front of you since they have side sticks.

I've sat in that cockpit -- I damn near needed a shoehorn to get in, even with the sidesticks. A Citation seems downright spacious by comparison.

 

[On Your Six]

I've sat in that cockpit -- I damn near needed a shoehorn to get in, even with the sidesticks. A Citation seems downright spacious by comparison.

Good thing those Dayjet pilots won't be flying them for more than an hour or two at a time in most cases... I've heard that the interior of the Eclipse resembles the interior of a Baron in terms of space/width.

 

[C680]

Good thing those Dayjet pilots won't be flying them for more than an hour or two at a time in most cases... I've heard that the interior of the Eclipse resembles the interior of a Baron in terms of space/width.

Whatever you do, do NOT eat or drink anything. Bodily functions strictly prohibited. Wee wee bag anyone?

 

[RemoveB4Flght]

All i can think of is the never ending comments as passengers board my 50 seat EMB-145, with a galley and a crapper, and lament about being stuck on "one of the small ones" and "oh i hate these kind" and my personal favorite "is this thing safe?"

People already accustomed to GA flying may not scoff too much, but this rest of the traveling public would have a fit in an eclipse.

 

[On Your Six]

All i can think of is the never ending comments as passengers board my 50 seat EMB-145, with a galley and a crapper, and lament about being stuck on "one of the small ones" and "oh i hate these kind" and my personal favorite "is this thing safe?"

People already accustomed to GA flying may not scoff too much, but this rest of the traveling public would have a fit in an eclipse.

That's true, but the public seems to expect bigger airliners in most cases - they are used to 737s and A320s. If you offer a ride in a Lear 60 or Citation X, most people would be impressed despite its obvious smaller size than an E145. It's a mindset. Most people who will sign up for Dayjet (and pay the $200 initiation fee) will have already seen photos of the Eclipse - they may be mentally prepared. There still may be some initial shock when they see the size of the actual airplane, but the act of flying on a "private jet" may override their intial concerns.

Who knows? This is one big experiment and a lot of other potential air taxis are watching...

 

[RNObased]

.52??? I didn't realize they were *that* slow!!

Was "stuck" behind one over Colorado a month ago. The pilot was all proud of his shiny new airplane, BSing with the controller about it while at 340. This lastest about 10 mins until myself and a united 777 were coming west at 360 and 340 started to close in on him. He was soon on his way down to 280.

The thing is a road block, makes a ultra look fast also about the size of a Baron inside...

 

[Tgaug6300]

Was "stuck" behind one over Colorado a month ago. The pilot was all proud of his shiny new airplane, BSing with the controller about it while at 340. This lastest about 10 mins until myself and a united 777 were coming west at 360 and 340 started to close in on him. He was soon on his way down to 280.

The thing is a road block, makes a ultra look fast also about the size of a Baron inside...

Was that an Eclipse? it is my understanding that it is not RVSM yet?

 

[On Your Six]

Funny that nobody on this forum admits to being a Dayjet pilot. That's surprising since you generally hear from a wide variety of pilots in most operations. Do you think they have a no-talk policy?

That would be too bad because I think most of us would like to hear about this "exciting" new opertor...

 

[RNObased]

Was that an Eclipse? it is my understanding that it is not RVSM yet?

Yep, Eclipse. I thought so also, he was BSing with the controller got to hear all about the VLJ. He did get slammed down to 280 so maybe he was just up there because no one else was around.