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

Brazil’s Embraer (Booth 5030, Static SD42) was awarded half a dozen speed record certificates by&nbsp;the National Aeronautic Association (NAA) on Tuesday at NBAA 2018 for flights by its Phenom 300, Legacy 450, and Legacy 500 business jets.

 


The Phenom 300 light jet established a record this April for a flight from Embraer Executive Jets' U.S. headquarters in Melbourne, Florida, to Boston in 2 hours and 38 minutes, averaging 421.40 mph over the 964-nm route. And a midsize Legacy 450 set a new transatlantic speed record during a March flight from Portland, Maine, to Farnborough, UK, covering the 2,752-nm leg in six hours and five minutes, for an average speed of 521.89 mph.

 


The 450’s larger sibling, the Legacy 500, claimed four new speed records over the U.S.: a January flight from Melbourne to Seattle, a distance of 2,257 nm, averaging 452.20 mph during the 5-hour-45-minute journey. That same day the Legacy 500 flew from Seattle to Anchorage, Alaska, in 3 hours 3 minutes, for an average speed of 471.03 mph over the 1,252 nm route.

 


In March, a Legacy 500 flight from Aspen, Colorado, to Melbourne averaged 503.74 mph during the 3-hour-16-minute trip, a new record for the 1,423-nm route. And that same month a flight from Melbourne to Youngstown, Ohio, took one hour and 52 minutes to cover the 790-nm distance, averaging a record 488.77 mph.&nbsp;

 


The NAA and Federation Aeronautique Internationale have confirmed each flight as a U.S. and world record.

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