Embraer announced the maiden flight of its first Legacy 500 midsize business jet assembled at its industrial facilities in Melbourne, Florida, just eight months after the first Legacy 450 mid-light jet assembled in Melbourne took flight. The aircraft performed as expected and all flight test procedures were successfully completed.
“We are very pleased with yet another milestone for the Legacy 500 and we look forward to delivering the aircraft in the third quarter,” said Michael Amalfitano, President & CEO, Embraer Executive Jets. “This flight also marks a key milestone for our Melbourne operations, where we expanded our production facility and doubled our footprint.”
The Legacy 500 is the fourth business jet model to be assembled at the Company’s Melbourne facility, where the Legacy 450 is also produced, alongside the Phenom 100 and Phenom 300. The Legacy 450 and Legacy 500 are also manufactured at Embraer’s production facilities in São José dos Campos, Brazil.
Embraer began its Melbourne aircraft assembly operations in early 2011 with the entry-level Phenom 100, followed by the Phenom 300 in August 2012, the Legacy 450 in June 2016, and the Legacy 500 in January 2017. Over the last seven years, the Company has delivered close to 250 Phenom and Legacy jets, valued at about US$ 2 billion, from its Melbourne facility to customers across the U.S. and to countries as close as Mexico and Canada, and as far as China and Australia.
The Legacy 500 and Legacy 450, which entered service in 2014 and 2015, respectively, are the first midsize and mid-light business jets with digital flight controls, based on full fly-by-wire technology, featuring side-stick controls. The state-of-the-art Rockwell Collins Pro Line Fusion avionics suite on four 15.1-inch high-resolution LCD displays allows graphical flight planning and offers operators the advantages of paperless operations and autobrakes. The optional E2VS (Embraer Enhanced Vision System), which includes a Head-Up Display, provides a technological advantage typically only seen in much larger aircraft.
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