Pratt & Whitney Canada (P&WC) says it has successfully completed the first run of its PW610F turbine engine selected by Eclipse Aviation Corporation to power the twin-engine Eclipse 500 very light jet.

The engine achieved its rated takeoff thrust of 900 pounds after five hours during the test run.

The development engine also completed performance and characteristic testing.

Alain Bellemare, president of P&WC, said: “The PW610F is on track to undergo flight trials on our flying test bed in August and deliveries of the first prototype engines to Eclipse are expected to begin in early December.”

Vern Raburn, president and ceo of Eclipse Aviation, said first flight of the production conforming Eclipse

500 with the P&WC engines is scheduled to take place in the fourth quarter of 2004. Certification of the engine is expected in the first quarter of 2006 and customer deliveries of the Eclipse aircraft are expected to begin shortly after.