The Embraer Phenom 300 is approaching the final stages of its certification campaign. The light business jet has amassed more than 850h of testing since its maiden flight in April 2008, and approval and first deliveries are earmarked for the fourth quarter.
The milestones should coincide with the inauguration of a new service centre at Embraer's São José dos Campos headquarters dedicated to maintaining and supporting Embraer business jets based throughout Latin America.
The fifth Phenom 300 made its first flight at the Brazilian airframer's Gavião Peixoto facility in early August. The 10-seat aircraft - registration PP-XVM - will be used for function and reliability testing and will form part of the programme's maturity campaign.
"The fleet of four prototypes has accumulated over 850 test flight hours to date," says Embraer's vice-president for executive jet programmes Maurício Almeida. "With this fifth aircraft, we will validate the robustness of the Phenom 300 under normal operating conditions."
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Embraer says the aircraft is on target to achieve its design and performance goals. "Equipped with swept wings and high performance winglets, the Phenom 300 will cruise at 450kt [833km/h] and fly 3,330km with six occupants," says Embraer
Embraer is tight-lipped on the order tally for the $6.85 million, Pratt & Whitney Canada PW535E-powered twinjet, but says the total sales of the Phenom family - which includes the more popular Phenom 100 very light jet sibling - exceeds 800.
Meanwhile, Embraer has clinched Australian certification for the Phenom 100, giving the airframer a firm foothold in this potentially lucrative region. The approval comes seven months after the six-seat aircraft received Brazilian and US certification and three months after European validation was granted.
Source: Flight International
