Embraer expects the first two Pratt & Whitney PW617F engines for its Phenom 100 prototype to be delivered this month, keeping the six-seat very light jet (VLJ) on schedule for its first flight by mid-year and entry into service next year.
P&W has logged over 600h of testing on the engine, including 60h flight time on the firm's Boeing 720 test aircraft.
Embraer executive vice-president for executive aviation Luis Carlos Affonso says fuselage sections, being built at Embraer's Botucatu plant, are nearing completion with "proven full conformity" to the virtual design created using Dassault Catia V5 software.
The prototype will be built at the company's main plant in São José dos Campos, although final assembly of Phenom jets will ultimately take place at Gavião Peixoto, in São Paulo state, where a 12,000m2 (130,000ft2) facility is under construction. Embraer plans to produce between 120 and 150 Phenom 100s and larger Phenom 300 light jets a year by 2009.
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Fuselage sections near completion |
Source: Flight International
