Embraer has announced that the first metal cut for the prototype Legacy 500 executive jet was made on April 19 at the company’s Sao Jose dos Campos headquarters.
This first component is part of the forward fuselage, to which the radome, radar, and glide slope antenna will be attached, and was milled from a plate of aluminium alloy by a five-axis high-speed machine.
The midsize Legacy 500 was launched by Embraer at the NBAA convention in September 2007 alongside the smaller, mid-light Legacy 450, and is scheduled to make its first flight in 2011. The two aircraft will be powered by Honeywell HTF7500E engines, and will also feature fly-by-wire controls and a Rockwell Collins Pro Line Fusion avionics suite, with interiors designed by BMW Group Designworks USA.
