EMBRAER PHENOM 300E

A 50TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATED IN BOSSA NOVA STYLE

- JULIE BOATMAN

On the outside, Embraer may look like just another bottom-line-driven international aircraft manufacturer—and the recent headlines covering its courtship breakup with Boeing regarding the joint venture involving its commercial aircraft division only seem to add to this image.

But when you pull back the layers, at the heart of the company stands a person who worked hard to build it from his dreams of designing aircraft. In the Portuguese-speaking world, the title “Engenheiro,” or engineer, is one of respect conferred in a similar manner to that of a doctor—and from the very beginning, Engenheiro Ozires Silva wanted more than anything to be an aeronautical engineer.

Silva fed his dream as a young boy by crafting airplane models in the suburbs of São Paulo, Brazil, where he grew up in the 1930s. He had to translate his desire to build a wholly Brazilian aircraft into piloting for the military for a decade because there was no way to pursue an aeronautical engineering degree in the country until the 1950s. Once he found a way, his path led to the foundation of Embraer, 50 years ago, in 1970.

These dreams—and the transformation of them into action—show up in many facets of the current company and its aircraft. I had a taste during my visit to Embraer Executive Jets in Melbourne, Florida, in early March, to fly the company’s latest waking dream, the updated Phenom 300E.