  Motivated by recent experiments, we calculate both the average current and
the current fluctuations for a metallic island which oscillates between two
symmetric electrodes. Electrons can only tunnel on or off the island when it is
close to one of the electrodes. Using a Master equation we investigate the
accuracy of such an electron shuttle both analytically and numerically. It is
shown that optimum operation is reached when the contact time is much larger
than the RC-time.
