Embraer has made significant improvements to the Phenom 100EV that are aimed at helping it rise above the flood of entry-level light jets in the pre-owned market.
Whoosh! It took a little more than one hour of test flight to convince us that Phenom 100 EV, short for “Evolution,” finally has shed the original Phenom 100’s matronly image.
Six years ago, the $7 million Embraer Phenom 300 entered service, instantly redefining the value proposition in the light-jet segment. Excluding its shorter lavatory, the dimensions of the main passenger seating area compare favorably with the Learjet 70, including maximum height because of Phenom 300’s 4-in. dropped aisle. Its 66-cu.-ft. aft baggage compartment is the largest in the light-jet class and there is another 10 cu. ft. of luggage storage split between the nose compartment and lavatory. Its runway performance is closely matched to Citation CJ4.
The NTSB recently opened its investigation docket on the Dec. 8, 2014, loss of an Embraer Phenom 100 (N100EQ) — an accident that renewed community worries and complaints about operations at Montgomery County Airpark (KGAI) in Gaithersburg, Maryland.
By William Garvey, Jessica A. Salerno, Molly McMillin
U.K. air crash investigators probing the loss of a Saudi Arabian-registered Embraer Phenom 300 have found the aircraft touched down just 400 meters from the end of the runway before crashing into a car-auction business. All three passengers — who were members of the Bin Laden family — and the Jordanian-born pilot were killed in the accident at Blackbushe airfield, west of London, on July 31. In its interim report, published on Aug. 6, the U.K.
Green shoots finally are popping up in the entry-level light jet market, after the segment entered a nosedive six years ago. Now, Textron Aviation, Embraer and HondaJet, the Big Three of the light jet manufacturers, are gearing up to take advantage of better times ahead with three distinctively different models, all priced at close to $4.5 million when comparably equipped.
