|
Aviation News Item: 12723
28th Sep 2010
Embraer Legacy 650 Appears at NBAA
Source: aviationweek.com
Embraer officials confirmed yesterday that the 3,800-nm range Legacy 650 will be at the 2010 NBAA Convention in Atlanta.
The 650 made its New York debut Sept. 15 at the joint meeting of the Long Island Business Aviation Association and the Professional Aviation Maintenance Association in Farmingdale, N.Y. Based on the EMB-135BJ Legacy 600 airframe, the 650 has more thrust, more fuel and a greater payload. It is due to be certified later this year.
Compared to Legacy 600, the 650 has 500 nm more range, enabling it to fly eight passengers from London to New York, Le Bourget to Montreal or St. Petersburg, Russia to Gander against 40 kt. headwinds. With four passengers aboard, it can fly 3,900 nm, heating up the competition with Dassault Falcon 2000LX and Challenger 605. Legacy 650 is priced about $2 million less than those two aircraft. It has a smaller fuselage cross section, but considerably greater cabin length, providing room for three seating areas and more overall interior volume.
The cabin is being upgraded with Rockwell Collins' Airshow 4000 entertainment system and the air distribution system is being reworked to reduce interior sound levels in all three seating areas. Inmarsat SwiftBroadband Satcom will be standard. Embraer is evaluating other, faster connectivity systems, but development is in the early stages.
Legacy 650 is a launch platform for Honeywell's Primus Elite avionics upgrade. The modification replaces the Primus 1000 CRT displays with high-resolution LCDs, plus the navigation system will be upgraded with multi-waypoint VNAV and WAAS-enabled GPS receivers. The aircraft will be capable of RNP 0.3 guidance precision.
Embraer believes Legacy 650, derived from its EMB-135/145 regional jet family, offers operators better value than purpose-built business jets having similar trans-Atlantic range. It is also one of the least expensive aircraft in this class to operate because of its relatively low maintenance requirements.
Photo Credit: Embraer
More Aviation News...
|
