Embraer EMB-120 Brasilia: The Worst Turboprop Airliner Ever Made?

Today, Embraer is famous for its regional jets, primarily its ERJ, E-Jet and E-Jet E2 families. Before producing regional jets, Embraer produced regional turboprops, with their most famous being the Embraer EMB-120 Brasilia.

Despite selling 354 times and being loved and used by airlines all across the world, many of the Brasilia’s passengers absolutely hate the jet…

Pre-Embraer EMB-120

Over the course of the late 1960’s and 1970’s, whilst the jet craze of the 1950’s was still in full swing, the concept of regional and feeder airlines became quite popular, with hundreds being set up during this time.

Whilst regional jets did existed, they were quite expensive and almost impossible for these newer airlines to acquire without the financial backing of an extremely wealthy financier or an extremely generous loan.

Seeing this, then-relatively unknown Brazilian aircraft manufacturer, Embraer, designed and built a cheap, 15-21 passenger turboprop airliner variant of their Embraer EMB 110 Bandeirante military transport, with it entering service in 1973.

Although small in today’s terms for a regional airliner, the EMB 110 was exactly what many of these airlines were looking for. It was small, easy maintain, cheap to acquire and operate, relatively fast and passengers loved it.

Thanks to this, the EMB 110 sold well over 500 times!

By the late 1970’s, many operators of the EMB 110 began demanding a larger turboprop, one that was both wider and longer than the EMB 110 they loved so much.

Hearing this, and wanting to expand into the North American and European markets, Embraer began to play around with designs, before officially starting development many months later…

Development

For several months prior, Embraer would begin development of what they called the EMB-120 Araguaia (named after the famous Brazilian river). In mid 1979, Embraer would announce the develop of this aircraft to the world.

However, believing that “Araguaia” would be too hard for non-Portuguese speakers to say, Embraer held a naming contest with its engineers for a new name. The name that won would be Brasilia, after the Brazilian capital.

As such, when the aircraft was revealed to the public, it would be revealed as the Embraer EMB-120 Brasilia.

Initially, Embraer had hoped to keep a large amount of part commonality between the EMB 110 and EMB-120. After realizing this would be impossible, Embraer scrapped the idea, giving the EMB-120 a 100% fresh design.

In order to be more appealing for North American and European airlines, Embraer had to increase the speed, service ceiling and range of the Brasilia, as this increased the number of routes North American and European airlines could use the aircraft on.

To do this, Embraer invested heavily in the more fuel-efficient Pratt & Whitney Canada PW118 line of turboprop engines. On top of this, they would also completely redesign the fuselage in order to make it more aerodynamic (and thus fuel-efficient!)

The Embraer EMB-120 Brasilia would first fly on July 27 1983. From here, it would receive its type certifications from most of the world’s major aviation regulators over the course of the rest of 1983 and the start of 1984.

Since the EMB-120’s introduction, Embraer has released a number of other variants of the Brasilia, mostly extended range and cargo variants of the standard EMB-120.

Operational History

Following the Embraer EMB-120 Brasilia’s first flight on July 27 1983, the prototype would be put on display at Embraer’s main headquarters, with the Brasilia itself entering service with Atlantic Southeast Airlines, in October 1985.

From here, the Brasilia would go on to have quite an interesting operational history…

Airline

Whilst Atlantic Southeast Airlines would be the EMB-120’s first operator, it was by no means the only operator. In fact, at its height, the EMB-120 was operated under the names of almost all major airlines in Europe and North America!

For the most part, these EMB-120s were operated by feeder or commuter airlines on behalf of major airlines. Here, the EMB-120s were owned and operated by small, independent airlines, but flew under the name of a more established airline such as United.

This was mostly the case in North America. In Europe, however, the Brasilia was operated by the regional subsidiaries of major European airlines on their regional routes, such as Air France’s Régional or Lufthansa’s CityLine.

In more recent times, a number of these feeder airlines have began to operate the Brasilia under their own name on their own routes, whilst operating newer and larger regional jets on the routes that the Brasilia used to serve.

Over the past twenty years, commercial airlines have slowly been retiring their Brasilias in favor of newer regional jets such as the ERJ, E-Jet and E-Jet E2 families, which are cheaper to operate per seat and carry more people.

As a result, many air taxi companies have acquired the Brasilia. Here, its low operating costs, as well as its low capacity make it the perfect aircraft for many of these companies, many of whom operate fleets of the aircraft!

Cargo

Seeing the Brasilia’s success as a commercial airliner, a number of cargo airlines began to acquire EMB-120s from defunct commercial airlines and modifying them for cargo flights.

Embraer caught on, offering a number of cargo-related variants of the EMB-120 to cargo airlines. Prior to 2001 (when Embraer ceased production) there were standard cargo, as well as combi variants of the Brasilia.

In recent years, a number of cargo airlines have started to use the Brasilia on airmail routes, transporting medium amounts of mail from main distribution centers to smaller, regional ones.

Over the past twenty years or so, more and more airlines have begun to retire and store their Embraer EMB-120 Brasilias in the aircraft graveyards dotted throughout the world, as a result, many have been acquired by regional cargo airlines.

To start with, these aircraft have their airline interior ripped out, being replaced with a standard cargo one. From here, the Brasilia operates regularly scheduled flights over short distances, often traveling repeatedly between the same few airports.

If you needed to (for whatever reason) you could actually charter a EMB-120 cargo aircraft for around $2,250 per flying hour. Usually this is done when you need to transport something of high-value, or a lot of medium-value cargo.

Military

However, it isn’t just passenger and cargo airlines that have seen the many uses of the EMB-120. So have a number of militaries, the operator of which is the Brazilian Air Force, who operate 19 EMB-120s as of the time of writing.

In Brazilian Air Force service, these aircraft are used in a utility role. As utility aircraft, the EMB-120s can perform several different roles, with the role that they do varying from day-to-day and week-to-week, depending on what the air force needs.

Although not their only roles, these aircraft most often act as troop transports, transporting 30 mid-ranking officers between air bases, or as cargo aircraft, transport small amounts of high-value cargo on short-haul routes.

If the need arises, many of these EMB-120 Brasilias can also act as combi-style aircraft, transporting both freight and passengers, although this is extremely rare.

Whilst Brazil may be the most famous military operator of the Embraer EMB-120, they are by no means the only operator. The only other major operator of the EMB-120 is the South American country of Uruguay.

Officially, the Embraer EMB-120 Brasilia is used by the Uruguayan Air Force as a VIP transport aircraft for the air force’s high-ranking officers.

In reality, however, it is most often used as the Uruguayan Air Force One (as unlike other nations, Uruguay doesn’t have a designated presidential jet!)

Corporate Aircraft

After seeing the EMB-120’s success as a VIP transport for the Uruguayan Air Force, many were inspired to buy former airline EMB-120s and convert them into short-haul private aircraft, mostly for corporate transport.

Initially, these “luxury” EMB-120s (instead of 30 seats, they had eight and new lighting) were used to transport a few high net worth individuals. Here, the Brasilia’s low operating costs made it highly sought-after by medium-to-large enterprises.

Since then, however, newer, cheaper and specifically designed turboprop corporate aircraft (like the Pilatus PC-12) have been introduced. With this, many of these Brasilias were retired in favor of turboprops like the PC-12.

At the same time, a number of executive charter airlines have acquired former airline EMB-120s, giving the cabin a makeover, before offering it for charter.

Here, these executive charter airlines market the EMB-120 as the aircraft you charter if you’re looking to transport a modest number of people over a short distance, in an affordable manner.

Although cost depends on a number of factors, such as time of year, executive charter airline and route, most executive charter airlines charge roughly $2,500 per hour for you to charter the Brasilia (assuming you wanted/needed to!)

Specifications

Due to the EMB-120’s success, Embraer designed and produced several variants of the Brasilia. By far the most common was the standard Embraer EMB-120, which sold well over 300 times.

As the EMB-120 was later modified extensively to become the ERJ-145 (the first of the ERJ family of regional jets) many of the Brasilia’s specs are quite close to the ERJ-145’s…

Specifications	Embraer EMB-120 Brasilia
Length	20 m (65 ft 7 in)
Wingspan	19.78 m (64 ft 11 in)
Height	6.35 m (20 ft 10 in)
Crew	3 (2 pilots, 1 flight attendant)
Passengers	30
Cruise Speed	552 km/h (343 mph; 298 kn)
Range	1,750 km (1,090 mi; 940 nmi)
Service Ceiling	9,085 m (29,800 ft)
MTOW	11,500 kg (25,353 lb)

How Safe is The Embraer EMB-120 Brasilia?

Today, Embraer is renowned for making some of the safest regional airliners you could fly on. Of its three regional jet families to date (ERJ, E-Jet and E-Jet E2) they have all had few or no crashes to date.

Yet, looking at the EMB 110’s safety record, you’d find that it was one of the more dangerous aircraft you could fly on. Of over 500 EMB 110s built, 98 of them have been involved in an aviation-related incident of some kind, a third of which resulted in fatalities.

So this begs the question, which is the Embraer EMB-120 Brasilia more like?

Unfortunately, the Brasilia takes after the EMB 110 more than the jets that followed it. Of 354 EMB-120s ever built, 37 have been involved in an aviation-related incident of some kind, 25 of which have been hull-loss events, resulting in 211 fatalities.

In other words, more than 10% of the EMB-120s ever built have been in an aviation-related incident of some kind and 7% of them have been damaged beyond repair…

Looking at the reasons for these many crashes, you’ll find a plethora of reasons why that particular aircraft crashed. With that being said, almost all of them can trace their root issue back to Embraer, usually missing screws or faulty manufacturing by Embraer employees.

Not surprisingly, many of these crashes have been high-profile, resulting in the deaths of celebrities (such as astronaut Sonny Carter and US Senator John Tower) or have made the news for the sheer destruction they’ve caused.

Looking at some of the worst domestic air disasters, you’ll find that Continental Express Flight 2574 was an Embraer EMB-120 Brasilia, as was Comair Flight 3272, both of which were devastating.

Why is The Embraer EMB-120 Brasilia so Bad?

For airlines, the Brasilia was a great aircraft. It was cheaper to operate than its competitors and pilots loved it, which allowed airlines to increase profits on their short-haul routes (which traditionally are the least profitable).

Yet, those who flew on the Brasilia often come away with a passionate hatred for the Brasilia, claiming that the Brasilia is one of, if not the, worst aircraft to have ever flown…

For starters, many dislike the Brasilia’s aforementioned safety record. Whilst a plane crash is always a possibility when you fly (regardless of aircraft), people don’t like flying on airliners that are extremely old and have poor safety records, like the Brasilia’s.

However, this hatred isn’t purely statistical.

Flying on the Brasilia, you find that the engines are obnoxiously loud, with the Brasilia having no sound-damping technology on board to speak of. This makes it nigh-on impossible to work during the flight, and even harder to relax!

To make matters worse, the Brasilia is slow, even for its time.

As such, if you regularly fly a route on other airliners, and then choose to fly that same route on the Brasilia, it can seem like it takes forever, or as though the pilots are doing it deliberately (which they probably aren’t).

On top of all this, the newest Embraer EMB-120 Brasilias in service today are over 20 years old, with them never having had an interior overhaul. As such, the jets look like they belong in the eighties, whilst smelling like a public swimming pool.

Legacy

Despite being arguably the world’s worst aircraft, the Embraer EMB-120 Brasilia has left a surprisingly large impact on the industry, one that’s more positive than negative…

Embraer

Prior to the EMB-120, Embraer was pretty much unknown. Whilst they had produced the highly successful EMB 110, it was mainly used by South American airlines, which were often seen as a joke in North American and European aviation circles.

Although, a few EMB 110s were used by airlines in North America and Europe, these were often small airlines that had very small fleets, and flew to only a few locations, with many similarly viewing these airlines as jokes.

With the introduction of the EMB-120, however, many large North American and European airlines began using them (or at least, their feeder airlines did) with these airlines realizing that Embraer aircraft weren’t as bad as they’d previously thought!

Alas, the poor safety record of the Brasilia caused many to still view Embraer as a joke, rather than a serious contender to the likes of Airbus and Boeing. This latter belief would be shattered following the success of the ERJ family…

Embraer EMB-120 Brasilia

Today, seeing an airworthy EMB-120 still flying is truly a rare sight! As of the time of writing, there are a little less than 100 EMB-120s still in service, most of which are in service with small airlines in Asia, Africa and South America.

Despite still being in (somewhat) widespread airline service, one EMB-120 is currently on display. This is the Embraer EMB-120 prototype, which Embraer manufactured, modified extensively and ultimately flew the first test flight in 1983.

This aircraft is on display at their main manufacturing plant in São José dos Campos, as a reminder to both Embraer and their engineers, of how far they’ve come in last 40 years, going from a nobody to a major player in the industry!

Future Aircraft

Owing to the success of the Embraer EMB-120, Embraer would use it as the base aircraft for several of its future regional airliners, primarily the ERJ line of regional jets (and the Brasilia’s successors!)

In the mid-1990’s, Embraer decided to take the EMB-120’s design and heavily modify it. Here, the made it longer, whilst also making it jet-powered, producing what Embraer called the ERJ-145.

Seeing the success of the ERJ-145, Embraer produced two smaller variants of the jet: the smaller ERJ-140 and the even smaller ERJ-135 (which in turn went on to become the Legacy 600 business jet!)

Prior to the ERJ family, Embraer had looked at replacing the EMB-120 once before. This time, they partnered with Argentina’s FMA to produce a 19-seat regional jet called the CBA 123 Vector.

Whilst initially promising, the jet was soon canceled due to financial and political reasons, which led Embraer to keeping the EMB-120 for many more years, before designing the aforementioned ERJ-145.

What do you think of the Embraer EMB-120 Brasilia? Have you ever flown on it? Tell me in the comments!

Featured image courtesy of Bill Word via Flickr.