Sao Jose dos Campos – The new light jet offering from Embraer, the Phenom 300, achieved power on for the first time on March the 4th.
The aircraft, serial number 801, is currently undergoing final assembly at the Gaviao Peixoto final assembly facility 200 miles outside of Sao Paolo. The aircraft is on jacks in its current position on the factory floor positioned behind the fourth test aircraft Phenom 100, Embraer’s new Very Light Jet.
Following yesterday’s successful power on, S/N 801 is undergoing further systems integration in preparation for the aircraft’s first flight expected later in the second quarter of this year.
The aircraft is awaiting installation of its winglets, tail assembly, wheels and movable control surfaces. The first wing to body join was completed within the last week.
Embraer assembled the forward, center and aft fuselage sections at its Botucatu facility, then shipped them by truck to Gaviao Peixoto for final assembly.
The Phenom 300 will seat up to seven plus two flight attendants and sport a range of up to 1,800 nm. The avionics package will be identical to the smaller Phenom 100 which sports a Garmin 1000 adapted flight deck marketed under the name Prodigy.
Flight testing and certification is targeted for Summer 2009, with first delivery coming shortly thereafter.
The aircraft was photographed earlier today by FlightBlogger and are the first pictures to show the current state of assembly of the first Phenom 300 aircraft. A walk around photo tour of the aircraft will be available soon.
Jon,
I hope you're enjoying the visit for 2 main reasons:
- Embraer is a very nice company that I, one day, hope to have the opportunity to visit myself.
- Brazil is my home country!
Don't refrain yourself and try to taste an "all-you-can-eat-barbeque".
Sorry for the extreme off-topic
Embraer is really betting on this VLJ and Executive markets. I give you a curiosity: At the moment no E-Jet is flying in Brazil. The company that had them on order, BRA, went bankrupt last year.