Embraer faces a new delay on the Legacy 500 programme as the airframer continues to grapple with problems on the type's fly-by-wire system supplied by Parker Aerospace.
First flight of the midsize business jet is now expected to slip into the fourth quarter and entry-into-service could slide into early 2014, although the official schedule for first delivery remains late 2013, says Ernest Edwards, president of Embraer Executive Jets.
"I don't think [the new delay] is going to affect entry-into-service," Edwards says.
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| Embraer The Legacy 500 release has been pushed back again |
Parker has delivered the components of the fly-by-wire system that were responsible for the original delay to Embraer, Edwards says.
Delivery of the remote electronic units (REUs), which operate the flight control surface actuators, had given Embraer confidence only three weeks ago to reaffirm plans to complete first flight before 1 October.
But the schedule has slipped again because of delays with the software linking the REUs to the flight control computer.
The company has continued to conduct ground tests on the first prototype and to build the second and third flight test prototypes. The company also has cut the first metal on the Legacy 450 super-light business jet.
Embraer designed the fly-by-wire system for the Legacy 500 and follow-on 450 jets as a key selling point. Never before had an airframer applied fly-by-wire to the primary flight control surfaces of an aircraft priced below $40 million.
Source: Flight International
