Vern Raburn, the acknowledged creator of the Very Light Jet movement of the early 2000s, died last Saturday at his home in Albuquerque. He was 75. Raburn founded Eclipse Aircraft in 1998 with an eye to building thousands of small six-seat twin turbine aircraft for about $1 million to supply air taxi operations that would democratize the business jet market. Investors sunk hundreds of millions of dollars into Raburn’s dream. The company won the Collier Trophy in 2006. The key to the success of the plan lay in volume manufacturing, but only about 260 Eclipse 500s were built and the price doubled by the end of production. Many are still flying and they cruise about 370 knots in the high flight levels with a range of about 1,200 miles.
Raburn’s audacious plan sparked an array of copycats from established OEMs and some startups and while about a dozen prototypes and test aircraft got off the ground, only two other VLJs, the Cessna Mustang and Cirrus SF50 Vision Jet, made it into production. Cessna stopped production of the Mustang in 2017 after building 479 over about 10 years. The Vision Jet is still in production and is a brisk seller for Cirrus.
Vern was controversial but I admired him as I admire all aviation-loving dreamers who invest their personal fortunes (and, yes, a lot of OPM) to make their dream come true. Good job AvBrief for pointing out that while his specific dream of small jet air taxis did not materialize, it helped give rise to aircraft like the Cirrus Jet. RIP Vern.
The pitch was the jet would cost equal to the list price of a new Baron when it was announced, which at the time was about $600k. That would have been something.
At one time Vern had a Cessna 421, a North American T-6, and a Jonkers JS-1 sailplane in his hangar at Moriarty Municipal Airport, NM. I recall him telling about flying his Constellation “across the Pond” to England.
RIP, Vern.
I think when the original engine, a small Williams jet that weighed 75 lbs, failed to be reliable, it was the beginning of the end. They almost had to start over in many respects.