Before the Embraer 175 and its E-Jet siblings, there was a time when the Boeing 737 had no definite rival for feeder routes. The competition came from an awkward mix of Douglas jets and turboprops. Many carriers found it more cost-effective to run a 737 fleet for all domestic routes. Things changed radically around the …
Intro The Beechcraft King Air 200 and 350 are versions of the Super King Air series. These are evolutions of a design that can trace its origins back to the venerable Beechcraft Twin Bonanza, introduced after the Second World War had ended. The Super King Air family is the pinnacle of the Beechcraft twin turboprop …
The Beechcraft Starship was a failed 1980s business turboprop designed with Scaled Composites as the successor of the King Air. Aviation is one of the most technologically dynamic fields in the world, and failure happens as often as success. The collaborative design by Beechcraft and Scaled Composites was a work of art. It was the …
Many airlines became icons of global aviation, but only Pan Am can claim to have created the scene as we know it. I was born after the demise of the original Pan Am but grew up hearing loud praises of the company. Pan Am came to be in 1927 as Pan American Airways. The company …
After the Legacy and Phenom families broke into the market, Brazilian aviation manufacturer Embraer pushed further with the Praetor 500. This revision of the Legacy 450 midsize business jet quickly became the best-selling jet in its segment due to its blend of range, high speed, and sensible operating costs. My first contact with the Praetor …
The Embraer 170 and 175 are the two smallest members of the E-Jet family. Since their introduction in 2004, the E-Jets have dominated the regional market, displacing the equally popular Embraer RJ series that preceded them. Most pilots I have spoken to with E-Jet experience fall into two categories: those who love flying E-Jets, and …
The Embraer Phenom 300 is one of the four business jets leading the Brazilian company’s executive portfolio. With a standard seating capacity of 6 passengers and a maximum of 10, the Phenom 300 has become a bestseller in the light jet segment. This aircraft offers performance and comfort typically associated with larger aircraft but with …
Embraer describes the ERJ 135 and its siblings as “The Runway Legend”, and it is easy to see why the company feels so confident about this aircraft. The Embraer 135 is the smallest jetliner in the Embraer portfolio, with only 37 seats. Very little changed between the ERJ 135 and the original ERJ 145, a …
When the Embraer 175 entered the scene, the aviation industry expected a complementary model to the E170. The new variant eclipsed the original model in sales and quickly became the most popular E-Jet. Embraer has sold 848 units of the E175, and it is the only member of the original family to not have been …
The Airbus A321 has decades of successful engineering behind it. The stretched member of the A320 family leveraged modern systems and configuration from older variants and mated them to a longer fuselage with better engines. Today, the A321neo outsells the A320neo by a considerable margin. This fact is a testament to how airlines love the …
