A year after pulling the wraps off its Legacy 650 development at NBAA 2009, Embraer on Wednesday announced Brazilian ANAC and European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) certification of the extended range, super midsize executive jet.
“We announced the Legacy 650 only one year ago at the previous NBAA,” said Luis Carlos Affonso, executive vice president, Embraer Executive Jets, announcing the certification at DeKalb Peachtree Airport, site of the NBAA 2010 static display. “So, one year later, as predicted, we are certifying the airplane and we will start to do deliveries.”
A longer-range version of Embraer’s Legacy 600, the 650 has a maximum range of 3,900 nautical miles with four passengers, and 3,840 nm with eight. The aircraft combines the fuselage of the EMB-135 regional jet with the wings of the EMB-145. It marks the debut of Honeywell’s Primus Elite avionics suite.
Embraer said coupled VNAV (Vertical Navigation) will be introduced in a follow-on certification, allowing the aircraft to follow FMS vertical paths.
The first flight of a Legacy 650 prototype took place Sept. 23, 2009, at Embraer’s flight-test facility in Gavião Peixoto, Brazil. A second Legacy 650 flew the next day in São José dos Campos.