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Having flown for 13h, stopping at five airports on a journey spanning 4,500nm (8,320km), the Embraer KC-390 tanker-transport has probably made the longest journey to Farnborough. The company's first prototype – PT-ZNF – which has been flown from the Embraer facility in São José dos Campos, Brazil, is making the aircraft’s international debut, before heading off on a sales drive around Europe, the Middle East and North Africa.
The company's two prototypes have now completed more than 350h of flight testing, during which the twinjet has reached its full flight envelope limits of Mach 0.8 and 36,000ft.
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Paulo Gastao, vice-president KC-390, says: “The last four weeks have seen a very intense test period, flying more than 40h, with paratroopers jumping through side doors and off the cargo ramp, in addition to free and static line jumps. All the module predictions were matched and we have had no big surprises as we head towards certification.”
Embraer's flight testing campaign will take 2,000h to complete certification, which should come in late 2017. Meanwhile, the first production aircraft of 28 ordered by the Brazilian air force will fly in the first half of 2018.
Source: Flight Daily News
