The customer comes first, according toEmbraer Executive Jets, which is announcing several product enhancements to its midsize Legacy 500 and “mid-light” Legacy 450 business jets at this year’s NBAA convention.
The Brazilian manufacturer said that preferences voiced by potential customers have led it to finesse the cabin interior designs of the sibling jets as they advance toward certification.
Embraer has changed one performance target–it has increased the range specification of the Legacy 450 from 2,300 to 2,500 nm at Mach 0.82 when carrying four passengers, two pilots and NBAA IFR reserves. It has done so by increasing the aircraft’s full fuel capacity, which has also increased its maximum takeoff weight. But the previously specified 4,000-foot takeoff distance remains the same, and there is also no effect on time-to-climb, initial cruise altitude, maximum operating altitude and speed, according to Embraer.
The $16 million Legacy 450 and $18 million Legacy 500 will be the first two business jets under $50 million to employ fly-by-wire flight controls. They will also be the first mid-light and midsize jets equipped as an option with the Rockwell Collins HGS-3500 compact HUD, which eliminates the need for an external projector behind the pilot’s head. The HUD will come as a package with an EVS-3000 enhanced-vision system (EVS), including infrared sensors and a video camera capable of seeing light-emitting diode (LED) runway lights that infrared sensors cannot detect. Still in development, the HGS-3500 will display synthetic vision from the jets’ Rockwell Collins Pro Line Fusion avionics suite as well as EVS.
The package, branded as the Embraer enhanced-vision system (E2VS) for the Legacys, should be available two years after the jets enter service–2016 in the case of the Legacy 500, which is due to enter service next year. According to Embraer, the E2VS system will improve the jets’ operational capability down to Cat II approach minimums.
Embraer’s design goal for the sibling jets is to have 95 percent line-replaceable unit commonality. They share the same Honeywell HTF7500E engines and Rockwell Collins Pro Line Fusion flight deck, offering pilots the possibility of a common type rating. They will also share clever new cabin features that Embraer has introduced since the original concept design through focus groups, sales mockups and a new in-house design capability. These include concealed spaces for storing personal control units for the Honeywell Ovation Select cabin management system, as well as carry-on iPads and magazines; embedded cup holders; and curved wood veneer surfaces applied where only hardwood surfaces could be used previously, saving weight. Embraer is exhibiting a refreshed Legacy 450 cabin mockup with the new interior features here at the NBAA convention.
General characteristics
Crew: 2 pilots
Capacity: 7 to 10 passengers
Length: 19.15 m (62 ft 10 in)
Height: 6.74 m (22 ft 1 in)
Max takeoff weight: 17,690.40 kg (39,001 lb)
Fuel capacity: 7,949.34 l (1,749 imp gal)
Powerplant: 2 × Honeywell HTF7500E
Performance
Maximum speed: Mach 0.83
Range: 4,630 km (2,877 mi; 2,500 nmi)
Service ceiling: 13,716 m (45,000 ft)
Minimum Take Off Distance: 1,219.00 m (3,999 ft)
Minimum Landing Distance: 701 m (2,300 ft)
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