A multi-engine, instrument rated pilot, James Wynbrandt has been an AIN and Business Jet Traveler contributor since 2003. His in-depth reporting and insightful features have won more than a dozen editorial honors, including two National Business Aviation Association Gold Wing Awards (2019; 2021), and his articles have also appeared in the New York Times, Barron’s, Fortune, Forbes, and Smithsonian Air &amp; Space. He has flown his Mooney M20K 252 on assignments throughout North and Central America and the Caribbean. Wynbrandt is also the author of Flying High (Wiley &amp; Sons), a biography of Jet Blue founder David Neeleman, as well as histories, references works, and books on a variety of other topics from major publishers. He lives in New York City.

Contributor - Business Aviation

James Wynbrandt

Embraer Executive Jets’ Phenom Ace enhancement package for the Phenom 100, <a href="https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/business-aviation/2016-08-23/embraer-feels-need-speed-new-phenom-100-refurb">introduced in August</a>, is likely only the first in what could become a fleet-wide refreshment program offered by the Brazilian manufacturer as its models age. Jay Beever, vice president, interior designs, outlined future Embraer refreshment possibilities as he disclosed more details about the Phenom Ace (Aircraft Customization by Embraer) program.

 


Weight reduction in pursuit of greater useful load was the primary goal of the Phenom refresh, Beever said, but he emphasized, “we wanted to prove we could save weight with industrial design.” Rather than simply using lighter materials, the design team rethought their application and undertook a 90-day clandestine studio exercise, analyzing all interior elements except critical certified crash-test items.

 


Beever and his team also analyzed Phenom customers in seeking conceptual expression for the inaugural Ace offering. “We design for the owner lifestyle,” Beever said. “I found that a lot of our owner-operators, gentlemen or women, become very successful, and then learn to fly. To me, that’s a cowboy, that’s an entrepreneur, it’s the right stuff.” Many also own rare warbirds and classic aircraft in addition to classic sports cars.

 


In incorporating this ethos into the design, the team took inspiration from structures such as the Eiffel Tower, the Pacific Coast Highway bridges built in the 1920s, and the Porsche 550 Spyder, whose frames celebrate the marriage of form and function. “The exoskeleton design, in that sense, had the three pillars of what Ace should be: aerospace, automotive and architecture,” Beever said.

 


In the Phenom, that means revealing “peeks” of the polished aluminum seat frames themselves, exposing their strength and functionality. Where swathed in leather, a large selection of customizable patterns and stitching in a range of colors is available. Interior monuments, cabinets and drawers can be replaced with lighter carbon-fiber versions. Traditional Nomex foam cabinet structures have been replaced with a square crate composed of carbon-fiber tubes. Designers retained the Nomex in the veneer of the 3D-printed, non-structural drawer faceplates, accommodating almost any material or design.

 


Owners can choose the level of customization and the basic components: just the chairs in the cabin, the chairs and cabinetry, and cockpit chairs, can be upgraded. The weight saving, as much as 80 pounds, translates into greater useful load, range and/or time to climb. The Ace paint scheme draws on auto racing style livery, replete with customized badging and a prominent, exclusive Ace number, retired once selected. Beever envisions some owners choosing the jersey number of a favorite sports figure.

 


Following the “sporty” Phenom Ace, “a more tailored, his and hers” Ace package could be offered, he said. Prices haven’t been disclosed, but Beever believes a refreshment of this type should top out at about 10 percent of the aircraft’s residual value to make economic sense for an owner. (Older Phenom 100s are valued in the $2-plus million range.) The design and construction of the Embraer fleet, with easily removable and re-installable interiors, makes that feasible, he said. Owners are showing interest, he reported; Embraer declined to discuss orders.

 


The Phenom 100, as the oldest and smallest of Embraer’s business aircraft, was the ideal Ace launch candidate, but Beever sees the concept reaching its apotheosis in its likely next incarnation, in the Legacy 450/500. “Those aircraft are our DNA, the flagships for the future,” said Beever. “The DNA of the construction, the sub-assembly, the hidden technology: that’s the path we’re going for. It allows you to have a timeless interior. You can simply do a retrim, but you’re not going to spend millions on re-engineering the ledge on the side of the cabin.”

 


Beever mentioned the exposed LCD controls in competitors’ cabins. Though ergonomically positioned, “the fundamental issue is, in two or three years, LCD screens are going to be old technology. Let’s prepare now for when controls are gesture based or retina based. We don’t need a ledge control. We’ve put a stake in the ground of being future-proof. Timeless interiors can grow with the customer but never grow old.”

 


BMW DesignworksUSA designed the original Phenom interior. Some 350 Phenom 100s, Embraer’s entry-level jet, are operating worldwide, about half of them in the U.S.

 


Looking ahead, Beever can see Embraer expanding on its “design for lifestyle” approach and forming an Ace club, with an annual fly-in, as well as extending refreshment options to the highest levels of its fleet. “Aircraft customization by Embraer could mean the Lineage,” said Beever, referring to its flagship private airliner. “We’re looking at a lot of different things.”

News and developments about everything that goes into the cabin of an aircraft, from floor coverings to headliners, with a special emphasis on in-flight entertainment, communications and other electronics for passengers. If it is in the cabin of an aircraft, it’s covered here.

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