The engines were replaced by Pratt & Whitney Canada PW610Fs in 2004 and Eclipse Aviation won the Collier Trophy in February 2006 for the design.

The V-Jet II had an all-composite structure with a forward-swept wing, a V-tail, each fin of which was mounted on the nacelle of one of the two engines.

[4] The Eclipse 500 received provisional type certification from the FAA on 27 July 2006, shortly after the aircraft's PW610F engine was certified by Transport Canada.

FAA Administrator Marion Blakey presented Raburn with the provisional certificate in a special ceremony at the 2006 Oshkosh Airshow.

Full certification was not granted at that time because the composite wing tip fuel tanks did not meet FAA lightning strike criteria.

Serial numbers 1 through 11 were produced prior to the production certificate being granted, and these aircraft were subject to individual FAA inspection.

[8] By carrying out additional fatigue testing, in June 2013 Eclipse Aerospace was able to have the FAA raise this limit to 20,000 hours or 20,000 cycles with an unlimited calendar life.

It requires the aircraft to be equipped differently from the FAA certification, including the Avio NG 1.5 avionics system, a third attitude indicator and dual Mode S transponders.

[12] In early December 2006 and in March 2007, Eclipse announced in letters to customers a number of changes to the initial specifications, including new fairings for the landing gear, wheel covers, and tail; control surface hinge covers; extended rudder and elevator, to eliminate Gurney flaps; improved lower engine nacelle panel aerodynamics; extended wingtip fuel tanks (adding 12 U.S. gallons (45 L; 10.0 imp gal) on each side); changes to engine FADEC software to increase cruise thrust above 25000 ft altitude; overall weight increase of 79 lb (36 kg) with no change to full fuel payload or max useful load.

For the Eclipse 500, lessons were taken from composite airframe manufacturing, and the aluminum skin is first laid in a mold, and then the structure is built onto it.

The new avionics package was certified in December 2007 and it was intended at that time that the older Avio-equipped aircraft would be retrofitted to the same standard by the end of 2008.

Air taxi service company DayJet, the Eclipse 500 major customer, conducted surveys that showed that having a toilet is not a concern for most of their passengers.

Eclipse's marketing efforts focused on the aircraft's projected low service costs and comprehensive maintenance and support program for customers.

Being able to land at over 10,000 airports in the United States, Eclipse and other VLJ manufacturers hoped that this would create an air taxi role for their aircraft.

[25] Shortly after the August 2002 first flight, Eclipse decided not to proceed with the Williams EJ22 turbofan, as it was too susceptible to bird strikes and the thrust was insufficient, to replace it with heavier 250 lb (110 kg) engines up from 80 lb (36 kg), cutting range from 1,300 to 1,000 nmi (2,400 to 1,900 km) and inflating operating costs from 56 to 75 cents per mile.

[35] By then, 259 airplanes had been delivered, as creditors claimed $702.6 million and Eclipse estimated total liabilities at over $1 billion.

[42] According to the National Transportation Safety Board investigation, "the airplane was trying to land at Midway when the crew encountered a sudden shift in headwinds, which the pilot sought to counter by increasing power, the standard method.

The pilots overshot, gained altitude and shut down one engine, eventually landing without injury or damage except blown out tires.

[45] The company indicated that the final solution to this problem was a software change to increase the throttle range and prevent an out-of-range condition.

[46] In June 2008 the United States Congress tasked the Office of Inspector General for the Department of Transportation with the investigation of claims by FAA employees who have indicated that the certification process of the Eclipse 500 was flawed.

Members of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, which represents FAA Aircraft Certification Engineers, have filed a grievance alleging that the type certificate was improperly issued by FAA managers over a weekend and that the aircraft had outstanding safety issues at that time.

Then Eclipse CEO, Vern Raburn, stated the 500 was in "complete and total conformity" and that he considered the complaint an internal FAA issue between workers and managers.

[53] The House Aviation Subcommittee heard testimony from the inspector general for the Transportation Department, Calvin Scovel, on 17 September 2008.

[54] US Representative Robin Hayes, (Republican, North Carolina) asked Scovel if the Eclipse jet is a safe airplane to fly.

[54] On 20 November 2008, Eclipse announced a reduction in company hours for maintenance scheduling, technical services and customer care.

Notably, only a few vendors will sell parts directly to customers because of previous exclusive supply contracts with Eclipse.

[citation needed] One group of ex-employees set up a maintenance and support facility to assist the owners of the aircraft already delivered by that point.

[57] In July 2011, the situation was resolved with a new combustion liner design from Pratt & Whitney Canada that, once implemented, will raise the aircraft's ceiling back up to 41,000 ft (12,497 m).

Iacobucci stated that the company proved that the operational concept is sound, but that the DayJet fleet of 28 Eclipse 500s needed to be quickly expanded to 50 aircraft to attain profitability.

Tight and crisp, a sports car of the air... 361 knots, cruising in jet comfort above the weather at 37,000 feet while burning just 209 pounds per hour per side, a total of less than 62 gph.