It took it's first flight today....www.eclipseaviation.comIt'd be a great project--complete with virtual cabin, passenger wing & control surface views, etc.... Abacus has a FSDS Eclipse, but it'd be great to see something in GMAX that's freeware, with reflective textures.-John

If you have FS2002 to support your gMax planes, you probably have a pro version which has a gMax included with it. So, why don't you try to do it by yourself? It's easier said than done to put hundreds and hundreds of hours for a quality add-on plane these days, when people want more and more. So, go ahead and open gMax and start learning. Everyone will learn it if they just have the needed patience...ps. I don't want to sound rude with this post. It is just the way that people think that making a plane is just a few hour job. Well, I can assure you that it isn't...pps. I hope you will find someone to make that plane. It is a cool plane but unfortunately "out of my league" as I don't fly such planes...

You make a lot of assumptions. Perhaps not rude, but certainly a bit out of line with my question.I don't have 2k2 Pro, thus no GMAX... GMAX aircraft do work on 2k2 standard.I'm not a model developer, but I certainly have contributed to this community (Landclass Assistant and Autoland 2002, as well as a few FDE updates). I understand what it takes to work long hours to support our hobby. My contributions came from a question like the one I've asked here--someone asked me "Is there any free tool to update landclass scenery?" So I created one. Check the file library for the results of my work, as well as the creations others have made from it. Sorry if my question bothered you, but hopefully someone who knows and respects my work and contributions to the community will consider this a project worth taking on...

WHOA!!! :-eek Ain't that some CRAZY aircraft dudes!!! Never seen such damn lil' engines... And that PANEL :-eek just two keyboards, two joysticks, two thrust levers, just watch the 'overhead panel'! :-lol And three ultra big CRTs... Oh dear, hopefully no M$ software... *:-*

It's been an interesting aviation project, and I think it's gone farther than the other light civil jet projects I've seen. Funny you mention the engines and the avionics--those are the two key factors which are supposed to keep the cost of the jet under $1M...It's anyone's guess as to whether their predictions of Eclipse based, Air Taxi services will come true. A Cessna 421c can't be chartered for the same price as a full fare airline coach ticket--if it could, that's how I would travel to my wife's hometown in MX, which only services three commercial destinations in the States. Even a 421C at 230 KTAS and a flighttime of 3:45 would beat the best of the airline schedules to my wife's hometown, which is over 8 hours with connections.Just imagine if an Eclipse fleet could be used to service the smaller airports. I once was sent on a project in the middle of nowhere, in Utah. Had to rent a car for a couple of weeks, plus the R/T airfare from PHX to SLC... Once I was at my destination in Utah, there was nowhere to go....I paid for the privilege of parking a rental car for two weeks. Yet the town I was in had an airport which had light jet civil traffic. It would have been just 90 minutes from PHX, vs. a 2 hr. flight followed by a 4 hr. drive....Abacus has a good, inexpensive version of the Eclipse. But it's an FSDS model I think, so such goodies as reflections aren't possible. Still, for a niche aircraft in FS2002, I think the Abacus Eclipse has a lot going for it. Compared to the recent GMAX freeware offerings though, I believe the freeware products are a bit better than the older FSDS products.I also disagree with the "100's of hours" comment in my thread's first response. While that may be true for payware projects like Dreamfleet's, and sophisticated freeware projects like Simubuild's, some other designers I've worked with have created some pretty solid aircraft in just a day or so, sans sophisticated V/C's or custom gauges. When it comes to perfection, I can certainly see someone getting absorbed in something like A/C design for thousands of hours. When it comes to a simple proof of concept model which may be a bit off here or there, if it takes 100's of hours to produce that in GMAX, then I understand why idiots like myself can't draw a straight line with a CAD tool.... :)