Aircraft Overview: Embraer Praetor 500 and 600

The Praetor 500 and 600 are, respectively, midsize and super-midsize business jets that are produced by Brazilian manufacturer Embraer. Announced by the company on Oct. 14, 2018, the Praetor 500 is an updated version of the company’s Legacy 450 (EMB-545 type), while the Praetor 600 represents an upgraded Legacy 500 (EMB-550 type). The upgrades incorporated into the Praetor airframes include increased fuel capacity, maximum weights and range, with the first Praetor 600 being delivered in June 2019 to a European customer. In addition to newly built Praetor 500 airframes, existing Legacy 450s can also be converted to the Praetor 500 standard. However, because of changes made to a number of systems, EMB-550 airframes that use the Legacy 500 commercial designation cannot be similarly upgraded to the Praetor 600 standard.
 

Cabin
According to the Brazilian National Civil Aviation Agency [Agencia Nacional de Aviacao Civil (ANAC)] type certificate data sheet (TCDS) that includes both the EMB-545 and EMB-550 types, the EMB-550 type has a maximum passenger capacity of 12, which matches the maximum passenger capacity advertised for the Praetor 600. Comparatively, Embraer promotes the Praetor 500 as having a nine-passenger maximum capacity, one less than the 10-passenger maximum certified capacity of the EMB-545 type. The respective cabin lengths of the Praetor 500 and 600 are 24 ft. and 27 ft. 6 in., with 150 ft.3 of baggage capacity available on the former airplane and 155 ft.3 of capacity on the latter airplane. Other cabin features include a flat-floor cabin that has a height of 6 ft. and a 5,800-ft. cabin altitude at the maximum operating altitude.
 

Avionics
The two required pilots operate both Praetor variants using Collins Aerospace’s Pro Line Fusion integrated avionics system that features four 15.1-in. high-resolution liquid crystal displays (LCD).
 

Mission and Performance

Despite any differences between the Praetor airframes, both the EMB-545 and EMB-550 types share several common operating limitations, including a 45,000-ft. maximum operating altitude and a maximum operating speed (MMO) of 0.83 Mach between 30,000 ft. and 45,000 ft. Performance figures that differ include the ranges of the Praetor 500 and 600, with the latter having 4,018-nm range based on that airframe’s long-range cruise speed, while carrying four passengers and with National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) instrument flight rules (IFR) reserves and a 200-nm alternate airport. Assuming the same criteria, the range of the Praetor 500 is 3,340 nm. In comparison to the Praetor 600, the Praetor 500 needs less distance for takeoff and landing, with a 4,222-ft. takeoff distance possible at the airframe’s maximum takeoff weight (MTOW), sea-level altitude and in standard conditions. The unfactored landing distance of that Praetor variant—which assumes NBAA IFR reserves, a landing weight with four 200-lb. passengers, sea-level altitude and in standard conditions—is 2,086 ft. Based on the same criteria, the takeoff distance and unfactored landing distance of the Praetor 600 are 4,717 ft. and 2,165 ft., respectively.

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Variants

While both the Praetor 500 and 600 are powered by two Honeywell HTF7500E engines (AS907-3-1E), Embraer states that the amount thrust produced by the engines that power those airframes differs by nearly 1,000 lbf. Specifically, the Praetor 600’s HTF7500E engines are able produce 7,528 lbf. of thrust, a figure that the Praetor 500’s engines reduce to 6,540 lbf. Also differentiating these commercial designations of the EMB-545 and EMB-550 types are the total fuel capacities of 13,050 lb. for the Praetor 500 and 16,137 lb. for the Praetor 600, with those figures also representing increases in comparison to the Legacy 450 and 500. In terms of maximum payload, the Praetor 500 retains the 2,921 lb. maximum of the Legacy 450, while the 4,001-lb. maximum payload of the Praetor 600 represents an increase of 1,201 lb. in comparison to the same figure for the Legacy 500. Beyond the increases in maximum weights and fuel capacities that help to distinguish the Praetor 500 and 600 from the Legacy 450 and 500, both Praetor variants also feature new winglets.