Embraer - ERJ-145
The ERJ 145 family was designed from the beginning with the regional airline market in mind.
The concept of the ERJ-145 was initially announced at the Paris Air show of 1989. Embraer intended to develop a turbofan powered regional airliner based on the turbo-prop powered EMB-120 Brasilia. The first version was called the EMB-145 Amazon, and was a stretched version of the Brasilia with two Alison AE 3007 turbofans in nacelles located above the wing roots. In 1990, wind-tunnel tests revealed that the design of the EMB-145 Amazon was not viable. The design was developed for almost another two years, and there were changes to the wings, power plant installation, and landing gear. In July 1992, the design was finalised.
The first flight was conducted on 11th August 1995, and the certification was completed by December 1996. At this time, the EMB-145 entered service with Continental Express as the launch customer.
In 1997 the EMB-145 was re-designated as the ERJ-145, and already had 267 orders and options from Continental Express and American Eagle.
The ERJ-145 has three civilian variants and two military variants.
The civil variants are the ERJ-145ER with AE3007-A1 power plants, the ERJ-145LR with greater fuel capacity and the AE3007-A3 engines, and the ERJ-145XR extra long range, which is the heaviest variant with the longest range.
The military variants are the EMB-145SA designed to provide surveillance for the Brazilian Air force, and then also ordered by the Greek military, and the EMB-145RS designed for remote sensing.
