Thomas A. Horne recently paid a visit to an Embraer aircraft factory in Brazil and wrote a detailed article (Turbine Pilot: Thrill from Brazil) for AOPA Online about their latest entrant into the light aircraft / business jet market: the Phenom 100. With an average equipped price of US$3.6 million, the plane’s designers intend the Phenom 100 to compete with Cessna’s Mustang and their stated goal was to give the aircraft a so-called “balanced” performance where no element of the aircraft performs better or worse than that of a competing aircraft.
Thomas was able to take the aircraft up for two test flights and write a very detailed review of its performance where he concludes that they have largely achieved their intended goal:
The Phenom 100 delivers on its promises—as long as temperatures are on the cool side. It’s a sturdy (airframe life limit is 35,000 hours), capable, comfortable airplane that handles well, is a great instrument platform, rides turbulence with aplomb, is long on comfort, and is backed up by 600-hour/12-month service intervals and datalinked fault diagnostics that communicate to service centers in near real time.
For anyone thinking of purchasing or flying a Phenom 100, the article is well worth a read and shows just how far Embraer has come in becoming a force to be reckoned with in business jet market.
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