Ramp Appeal: Embraer Legacy 450

Embraer’s Legacy 450 looks like a small airliner, and for good reason. A lot of its style and technology comes from Embraer’s line of airliners. Its cockpit has four giant screens, and the sidesticks are the clue that tells you the airplane is equipped with fly-by-wire (FBW) flight controls. In other words, computers sending digital signals to the ailerons, elevator, and rudder control the airplane’s movements—not conventional cables and pushrods. The 450 is a mid-size jet, so there’s comfortable seating for six, with a flat floor and maximum seating for nine. It stands tall on the ramp, has a forward airstair door, and on a walkaround you can identify it by the flap and aileron hinge fairings and aft port for externally servicing the airline-style vacuum toilet. Hear an engine running while it’s parked on the ramp? That would be the 450’s auxiliary power unit (APU), which is an independent source of power for starting, air conditioning, pressurization, and electrical power. Few other mid-size jets have APUs.