Embraer RJ-135
| ERJ145 family ERJ135 / ERJ140 / ERJ145 |
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|---|---|
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| An American Eagle ERJ-145 | |
| Role | Twin-engine Regional airliner |
| National origin | Brazil |
| Manufacturer | Embraer |
| First flight | August 11, 1995 |
| Introduction | April 6, 1997 |
| Status | In service |
| Primary users |
ExpressJet Airlines Envoy Air Trans States Airlines Piedmont Airlines |
| Produced | 1992–present 2003–2016 (China) |
| Number built | 1,213 as of October 17, 2017 |
| Developed from | Embraer EMB 120 Brasilia |
| Variants |
R-99 and P-99 Embraer Legacy 600 |
The Embraer ERJ145 family is a series of twin-engine regional jets produced by Embraer, a Brazilian aerospace company. Aircraft in the series include the ERJ135 (37 passengers), ERJ140 (44 passengers), and ERJ145 (50 passengers), as well as the Legacy business jet and the R-99 family of military aircraft. Each jet in the series is powered by two turbofan engines. The family's primary competition comes from the Bombardier CRJ regional jets.
The ERJ145 was designed for a perceived new market for regional jet aircraft, where the increased speed, comfort and passenger appeal would outweigh the inherent fuel economy of the turboprop aircraft which were in service and in development. In order to reduce development cost, Embraer used the older, turboprop EMB 120 Brasilia as the basis for the aircraft, using the same fuselage cross-section and the same nose.
The ERJ145 was launched at the Paris Airshow in 1989 where it was marketed as a stretched and turbofan-powered modification of the EMB 120 Brasilia. Key components of this design included:
By 1990, Embraer engineers found that results from wind-tunnel testing were less than satisfactory, and began considering a significantly different design from the EMB 120. The proposed modified design included a slightly (22.3°) swept wing with winglets, as well as engines mounted in underwing nacelles. This second design showed markedly better aerodynamic performance, but the combination of swept wings and wing-mounted engines required an unusually high (and therefore heavy) undercarriage.
The design evolved until late 1991, at which time it was frozen. Though the aircraft went through many alterations before it was finalized, it did retain a few of the original influences of the EMB 120 such as the three abreast seating (2+1) configuration which was a similar configuration used for the Embraer/FMA CBA 123 Vector design which never reached production. The key features of the production design included:
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