U.S. Certification Expected Shortly, Followed By First
Deliveries
Embraer received the type and production certificates for its
Phenom 300 executive jet on Thursday from Brazil’s National
Civil Aviation Authority (Agência Nacional de
Aviação Civil – ANAC) in a ceremony held at
Company headquarters, in São José dos Campos, Brazil.
An FAA type certificate is expected to be issued in the coming
weeks.
“When we launched the Phenom 300 program, we wanted to
bring an unparalleled product into the light jet category,”
said Luís Carlos Affonso, Embraer Executive Vice President,
Executive Jets. “Besides delivering a product with unique and
innovative features for this class, we are very happy to announce
that the Phenom 300 has not only met all original specification
targets, but has also surpassed many performance goals.” The
Phenom 300’s maximum range, originally designed to be 1,800
nautical miles (3,334 kilometers), has been extended to 1,971
nautical miles with six occupants and NBAA IFR reserves. Runway
performance also significantly improved over the initial targets.
Takeoff field length, at maximum takeoff weight (MTOW), is now
3,138 feet, considerably better than the original 3,700 feet, while
landing distance at maximum landing weight (MLW) improved to 2,621
feet, or 329 feet shorter than the targeted 2,950 feet.
For flights into and out of airports with restrictions due to
high temperatures or high elevations, the Phenom 300 exceeded the
range targets, resulting, for example, on a range of more than 2000
nm from Aspen, Colorado, U.S. Climb performance also surpassed
expectations, allowing the aircraft to depart from sea level at
MTOW and reach its operational ceiling of 45,000 feet in only 26
minutes. Powered by two Pratt & Whitney Canada PW535-E engines,
the Phenom 300’s fuel consumption is as much as 6% better
than originally estimated.
The jet’s top speed of 453 knots TAS was validated during
the flight test campaign. Certified without restrictions, the
Phenom 300 is able to fly according to Visual and Instrument Flight
Rules, day or night, and into known or forecast icing conditions.
The aircraft also operates well within Stage IV external noise
requirements. “After working hard to meet design criteria and
certification requirements, we are finally approaching the first
Phenom 300 delivery. The aircraft’s performance demonstrates
the top quality of our engineering,” said Humberto Pereira,
Embraer Vice President, Engineering, Executive Jets. “I would
also like to congratulate NAC for their professionalism and
competence demonstrated during the Phenom 300 certification
campaign.”
The highly intuitive Prodigy flight deck, based on the acclaimed
Garmin G1000 avionics suite, was developed from Embraer’s
accumulated experience in human factors design. It offers full
situational awareness and automation for a low workload, enabling
single-pilot operation.
At the same time that Embraer received the type certificate for
the Phenom 300, ANAC also issued the production certificate, which
is an approval to manufacture the jet in series. The process began
in June 2007, and Embraer had to demonstrate that the Phenom 300
Organization Production System Sistema de
Organização da Produção – SOP)
complies with the Brazilian aeronautical rules. The main
characteristics analyzed by ANAC were project and material
controls, manufacturing process, final dispatch and continuous
airworthiness, which are part of the Production Organization
Manual.