“The entire normal operating checklist for the new Embraer Phenom 100 light business jet fits on both sides of a laminated card that you can slide into a shirt pocket,” former Flying editor Mac McClellan wrote approvingly in his 2009 report on the airplane. “The Phenom is designed to cut pilot workload to a minimum so there is time to focus on the overall situation while the airplane and its systems take care of themselves.”
Aftermath: Failure to Focus on the Overall Situation
Key Takeaways:
- A Phenom 100 crash was attributed to a premature aerodynamic stall caused by ice accretion on the wings because the pilot failed to activate anti-ice systems during an approach in icing conditions.
- The pilot selected an incorrect, lower approach speed (Vref) suitable for non-icing conditions, despite the need for anti-ice, which would have significantly increased the required Vref and resulted in an uncomfortably short landing distance margin on the available runway.
- The NTSB theorized the pilot's failure to use anti-ice may have been driven by concerns over landing distance, task saturation, or an underestimation of ice's severe impact on the Phenom 100's stall characteristics.
- The article suggests that the Phenom 100's substantial increase in required Vref when anti-ice is active, combined with broad anti-ice usage criteria, creates operational challenges and may incentivize pilots to make unsafe decisions.
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