Phenom 100 Delivery: Sao Jose Dos Campos to Leeds
I have been fortunate in my career to get to travel to interesting places that don’t show up in the top ten tourist destinations. Our company sells regional airliners all over the world and often times those aircraft sales result in deliveries and follow up visits to customers who end up becoming friends. In the past five years, we have sold and delivered aircraft to operators in Europe, South America, Asia, the Middle East, Australia, Caribbean Islands and Africa. This particular delivery started at the factory in Brazil will end up at the aircraft’s new base in England.
The journey started with an airline flight out of Nashville, a seven-hour layover in Atlanta and a nine-hour connecting flight to Sao Paulo where we were met by a driver who took us to Embraer’s headquarters and airline manufacturing facilities at Sao Jose Dos Campos. We had 20 hours there before turning right back around and heading to the United States in the new Phenom. In Sao Jose Dos Campos, Bill Minkoff and I met up with Rob Posselt who works and lives in England. Rob assists European clients with deliveries of Embraer business jet aircraft. Bill, Rob and I were to be the crew for the first stage of the delivery.
On my last visit to Sao Jose Dos Campos two years ago, I was able to see the first three Phenom 100s going through the flight tests that ultimately led to aircraft certification one year ago. I also saw the fuselage and engines for what would be the first Phenom 300 to be used in certification testing. That aircraft was certified last week. This visit, I was impressed to see a hangar full of Phenom 100s and Legacy 600s going through their final, detailed inspections before delivery.
The Phenom 100 has a range of 1,250 nautical miles; so, delivering outside of Brazil includes multiple fuel stops. Our route from Brazil to Tennessee followed this route: San Jose Dos Campos, BR – Brasilia, BR – Belim, BR – Georgetown, Guyana – St. Maarten – Fort Lauderdale – Nashville.
Getting through Brazil requires careful planning and a degree of patience as things don’t happen as quickly as they do in the United States with flight plans and handlers. As you fly north out of Sao Paulo state, you get into less populated areas of the country including the Amazon forest. There are not a lot of airports in this region of the country; so, we planned stops every 800 miles for fuel, leaving enough fuel on board for alternates in the event of weather or maintenance issues.
All of our stops were uneventful with the exception of minor delays. The handlers were friendly, and weather cooperated along the route of flight and stops. In the case of this trip, flying the Phenom ended up being the highlight of the trip. We were never in any one location long enough to see the sights. But we still have a few good ones.
As we were flying over the equator, something I have done a few times now, we were able to capture the position on the display showing the latitude of 00.00.01.
The terminal in Georgetown, Guyana, gets the award for the most colorful as they were decorated up for Christmas.
This was my first time to fly a new jet out of the factory and the experience did not let me down. The aircraft performed flawlessly, as have the other Phenom 100s we have delivered. It is stable in all flight regimes and the technology up front is fantastic. Everything the pilot could possibly want to know is available.
Although tiring, flying for me isn’t work. But, after two hard days of flying, I did have to get back to work. Another CFM pilot, Will Rowell, gets on board with Bill and Rob to complete the next legs of the journey from Tennessee to England. Out of Nashville the route continues to Bangor, Maine – Goose Bay, Newfoundland – Sondre Stromfjord, Greenland – Reykjavik, Iceland - Wick, Scotland and then to the aircraft’s new home in Leeds, England. The most challenging part of the journey remains as the crew flies over the North Atlantic, dealing with harsh weather and little daylight.
By journey’s end, the new bird will have flown over 10,000 miles from the Southern Hemisphere through South America into the Northern Hemisphere through the Caribbean Islands, the United States and Canada, and over the North Atlantic before arriving at its new home in England. The journey started in tropical Brazil, almost touched the Arctic Circle in Greenland where there are only three hours of daylight per day this week, before turning back south to England. Hey, it’s all in a days work (or, is that fun?)
Looks like your whole trip was quite the adventure and that truly IS what makes flying fun.
There is little doubt that the Phenom 100 and 300 are “game changers”. They have the perfect combination of comfort, efficency and size for the world market. I think if you can think of an analogous situation would be the first Japenese cars in the U.S. in the 1970s. These aircraft are the right plane at the right time. Having sat in both, I immediately could see how each one was designed with passenger AND pilots in mind. My wife, who has zero aviation experience fell in love with the 100 and 300 immediately after having a chance to sit in each at NBAA.
I think the only problems that these aircraft will encounter is how fast they can be delivered and the crews that are typed and ready to fly them.