Eclipse · 2013–2017

Eclipse 550

personal_jetowner_flownfiki

Specifications

Performance

Cruise

375KTAS

Range

1,125nm

Climb

3456fpm

Ceiling

41,000ft

Fuel Burn

59.0gph

Fuel Cap.

251gal

MPG

7.3mpg

Stall (Vs0)

—KIAS

T/O roll

—ft

Ldg roll

—ft

Size & weight

Seats

Useful Load

2,283lbs

Full-fuel payload

602lbs

Max gross

6,000lbs

Wingspan

37.9ft

Length

33.5ft

Engine

Pratt & Whitney Canada PW610F-A

Power

0hp

TBO

3,000hrs

Overhaul

—each

Engines

Owning it

Hull insurance

$20k/yr

Parts

fair

Mechanics

specialist

Gear

Retractable

IFR

Yes

V-speeds

Vne285 KIAS

Vno285 KIAS

Va180 KIAS

Airframe

Empty weight: 3,717 lbs
Max fuel weight: 1,681 lbs
Height: 11 ft
Wing position: low

Obstacle performance

Takeoff over 50 ft: 2,394 ft
Landing over 50 ft: 2,342 ft

Paperwork

Type certificate: A00002AC
Certification basis: 14 CFR Part 23 through Amendment 55 (except 23.1303 Amdt 23-62), Part 34 Amdt 34-3, Part 36 Amdt 36-28 -- one basis for the whole type, no separate '550' basis

These figures are typical for the model, not a specification for any individual aircraft. Real-world numbers vary with year, installed equipment, weight, modifications and engine condition — often by more than you would expect. Use them to compare types, and confirm anything you would act on against the Pilot's Operating Handbook for that specific airframe and a prebuy inspection.

Pricing

Typical

$2.0M

Range

$1.8M – $2.4M

Annual all-in

~$157k/yr

All-in at ~100 flying hours a year, using the midpoint of each range — the same figures broken out under “Cost to own” below. Your number will differ, and mostly for two reasons. Experience sets your insurance: a 2,000-hour pilot with recent training pays 30–40% less than a 200-hour owner, and student owners pay 20–40% more — on the same aircraft that is often a doubling. Location sets your hangar: a T-hangar runs $200–400 a month in the Midwest against $400–1,500 in a coastal metro, and an outside tie-down is less again. Engine reserves move too — a local shop reusing your serviceable cylinders can come in 30–50% under the national specialty-shop pricing we quote, though you trade the warranty and turnaround that comes with it. Reserves are money set aside toward a future overhaul, not a bill this year, and the annual inspection figure is the shop’s labor to look — whatever they find is separate.

Cost to own — estimate

Set your yearly hours and local fuel price. Fixed costs (insurance, hangar, annual inspection) don't change with hours; fuel, maintenance and the engine program do.

Hours per year100

201000

Jet-A price ($/gal)$6.00

3.0010.00

Owners sharing the aircraftFixed costs split; fuel, reserves and wear stay yours.

Fuel (59 gph): $35,400
Engine program: $43,000
Maintenance, parts & wear items ($130/hr): $13,000
Insurance: $16,300–$32,650
Hangar: $10,284–$25,710
Annual inspection (labor only): $18,000
Databases & subscriptions: $2,500
Total per year: $154,372
Per flight hour: $1,544
Miles flown / year (at cruise): 43,154 mi
Cost per mile: $3.58/mi

What a trip costs300 nm

100 nm2,000 nm

Time in the air: 48 min
Fuel burned: 47 gal
Out of pocket: $731

Fuel, engine reserve and wear only. Insurance, hangar and the annual are already paid whether you make the trip or not, so they are not charged here.

Estimate, not a quote. Where a line shows a range, the total, per-hour and per-mile figures use its midpoint— insurance moves most with your experience and time in type, hangar with where you base the aircraft, so your own number could sit at either end. Annual inspection is the shop's labor to open and inspect — what they find is the maintenance line, which covers oil changes, plugs, tires, brakes, hoses, lights, a battery and vacuum pump amortised over their life, and the unscheduled squawks that are the largest and least predictable part of it. The engine line is an hourly maintenance program (JSSI, P&W ESP, Williams TAP or similar), not a reserve you control — it is a contract paid per flight hour, and enrolment transfers with the aircraft, so confirm it at prebuy.

Title & Escrow partnerExample placement

Strengths

375 KTAS cruise speed (per 2013 manufacturer data)
6-seat configuration
Pratt & Whitney Canada PW610F-A reliability

Weaknesses

Single-engine ceiling of 35,000 ft unverified and unusually high for class
Single-engine rate of climb (826 fpm) significantly lower than 500 variant
Takeoff/landing distances lack ground-roll data and obstacle-clearance clarity
Performance specs conflict with earlier 500-series publications

Performance

Cruise speed corrected this session, and it disagrees with the 500's own figure. Eclipse Aerospace's own 2013 comparison table for the 550 states 375 KTAS maximum cruise — 5 kt above the 370 KTAS the eclipse-500 page carries from a different manufacturer era's own publication (Eclipse Aviation, 2008). Both are the manufacturer's own numbers for the same airframe at different points in its production life; the disagreement is recorded rather than averaged away.

Two performance figures disagree with the 500 by far more than 5 knots, and neither is resolved. One-engine-inoperative rate of climb is 826 fpm here against the 500's 989 fpm (16% apart), and one-engine-inoperative service ceiling is 35,000 ft here against the 500's 25,000 ft — a 40% gap. Both numbers on both pages are the manufacturer's own published figures. This page's single weakest figure is the 35,000 ft single-engine ceiling — it is a striking number for a light twinjet and cannot be independently checked against a second source this session.

Takeoff and landing distances are a judgment call, not a certainty. The manufacturer's comparison table gives one unlabelled "Takeoff Distance" (2,394 ft) and one "Landing Distance" (2,342 ft), with no ground-roll figure and no explicit "to 50 ft" qualifier on either. Both are stored as the obstacle-inclusive ("over 50 ft") figures on the reasoning that this is how the table's own cited methodology (Conklin & de Decker) normally reports Part 23 distances — but neither is unambiguous, and no ground-roll number is published anywhere found this session.

Payload & Range

Useful load is 2,283 lb and full fuel is 1,681 lb (250.9 gal) — so full fuel leaves 602 lb of payload. Both weights are corrected this session (previously 2,445 / 1,683 lb, uncited): neither empty weight nor useful load is directly published anywhere found this session, so both are DERIVED by solving the manufacturer's own "Available Payload w/ Max Fuel" figure (602 lb) against the certificate's own max takeoff weight (6,000 lb) and fuel weight — see the manufacturer passage for the full arithmetic. The 602 lb result is not a coincidence: it is the same 602 lb the manufacturer published directly, which is what makes this derivation a genuine check rather than a guess. 602 lb is the number to plan against, not the seat count.

The 6 seats include the right-hand cockpit seat, which manufacturers count as a passenger position. A single-pilot owner can genuinely fill it; a two-crew operator cannot.

Loading	People + bags	Fuel	Still-air range
Pilot + 2 adults (602 lb — the manufacturer's own max payload at full fuel)	602 lb	250.9 gal	~1,314 nm
All 6 seats filled, bags	1,300 lb	147 gal	~650 nm

Adults counted at 200 lb, 45-minute IFR reserve held back at cruise burn. Still-air and optimistic — the climb burns well above the cruise rate, and wind is not modelled. Plan shorter. Note how little margin the lower useful load leaves versus the 500: filling all 6 seats on the 550 leaves noticeably less fuel for the same payload than the earlier-block 500 this session re-sourced.