On the 21st of July 2024 we had the opportunity to fly with the Embraer KC-390 on Invitation of Embraer itself. Our colleague Kurt got the invitation last week after getting accredited to the Farnborough Airshow 2024 as our Media representative.
As he was already in England for The Royal International Air Tattoo, it was no question to accept the invitation.
So he skipped the RIAT Sunday and made his way to Farnborough, where he got picked up by Embraer employees at the gate and was brought to the Embraer Chalet.
At the chalet, the few selected guests and the Embraer representatives had a small breakfast and the people from Embraer answered all the questions which were raised by the media guests.
Before it was time for the flight the CEO of Eve Air Mobility hold a press conference about the latest news of the company. Eve is a supplier for electric vertical take-off and landing vehicles (eVTOL) and Urban Air Traffic Management software. And it is a partner of Embraer.
After that the people which were participating the flight were brought to the other side of the airport for a quick passport check. Everything was well organized and took not much time, so that it was soon time to board the plane.
On board of the plane the passengers found a typically seating arrangement for a military transporter with seats cross to the flight direction. In the middle there was an additional wall which allowed to install two additional seating rows, back-to-back. So, in total there were four rows to sit. Kurt decided to sit on one of the middle rows, but at the last place at the end of the aircraft to have a good view on the cargo ramp.
Before the engines were started there was the chance to walk around, have a look at the airplane, talk to the very nice crew and to take pictures. Then the passengers were asked to sit down and after the cargo door got closed, the engines were started and the taxi to the runway began. The engines were stunningly silent during the taxi. Kurt expected much more noise at a military transporter.
The take-off was very powerful and felt completely different than usual because of the sitting cross to the flight direction. The aircraft climbed up very steep and fast, so that the passengers soon were able to get up from the seats and had the chance to walk around and look out of the 4 windows, which the military transporter had. Still the noise level was surprisingly low. Some commercial turboprop airliners are louder.
There was of course also the possibility to visit the ultra-modern cockpit with massive digital instruments and head up displays, which give the pilots the best possible view. Additionally to the pilots, there was also a Flight Test Engineer in the cockpit as the aircraft is the company own test aircraft.
The flight itself was very calm and with not many turbulences, so it was possible for the whole flight to walk free in the plane. As it is a military transporter, there is of course a lot of space to walk around.
The crew was also available for questions, during the flight and explained all details of the plane, like the fuel valves, the possibility to install water tanks to use the aircraft as water bomber, and much more.
As the CEO of Embraer and a lot of managers were also on board, we also arranged a group picture of them during the flight.
After approximately one hour flight time, the passengers were again asked to sit down for landing. After some minutes descent the KC-390 touched down very gently on runway 06 at Farnborough airport. As last highlight the cargo door was opened still on the runway, what allowed the passenger a view which normally only military personal has.
The aircraft stopped directly in front of the Embraer static display where the E2 Profit Hunter and the new E-Freighter were parked. After a short group pictures of all passengers, they were brought back to the Embraer chalet where small presents were prepared for everyone.
All passengers looked as happy as they could be after this absolute fabulous flight experience. Pretty sure none of them will ever forget this.
It is already in service in Brazil, Portugal and Hungary. And soon in some more countries.
During the Farnborough Airshow it was also announced that the Netherlands and Austria will be future operators of the C-390.
The C-390 is one of the most modern Multi-Mission Transport Aircraft on the market. It combines rapid reconfiguration, the latest technology, operational efficiency, low life-cycle costs, speed in the air and faster turnarounds.
The safety level of the aircraft is on the same level as for most modern commercial jet aircrafts. Another benefit is a higher personnel readiness upon deployment point or arrival because of a high cabin comfort. The design was also focused on low crew workload. This was reached by implementing state of the art technics everywhere.
Important for future deployments is that it can operate with minimal ground support and in austere environments, including operations from unpaved or damaged runways.
The C-390 is capable to execute a very wide range of operations. Below the different capabilities:
Aerial Resupply
Combat Offload
Aerial Assault
Air-To-Air Refueling (Designation KC-390)
Aerial Firefighting
Search And Rescue
Humanitarian Aid
Medical Evacuation
Special Operations
Cargo
If you want to go more into the details of the aircraft, we can highly recommend the very comprehensive brochure on the Embraer website.
You can find it
HERE