Embraer and the Brazilian Air Force Celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Bandeirante’s First Flight
São José dos Campos, Brazil, October 26, 2018 – Embraer and the Brazilian Air Force (FAB) held a ceremony today to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first flight of the Bandeirante, a twin-engine aircraft that represents a milestone in the history of the Brazilian aeronautical industry. The Bandeirante led to the creation of Embraer in 1969 for the serial production and commercialization of the product.
The event recreated the official ceremony which took place on October 26, 1968, when hundreds of guests witnessed the flight of the aircraft that departed from the—then unpaved—runway in São José dos Campos, in the countryside of the state of São Paulo. The celebration was attended by Defense Minister Joaquim Silva e Luna, Brazilian Air Force Commander Lieutenant-Brigadier Nivaldo Luiz Rossato, the first superintendent director of Embraer, Ozires Silva, the company’s board of directors, officers and employees.
"The Bandeirante represented much more than an aircraft, it marked a new cycle of transformation for Brazilian industry. It represents a Brazil that is bold, capable of uniting competence, talent and innovation," said Paulo Cesar de Souza e Silva, President & CEO of Embraer. "This commemorative date offers us an opportunity to be grateful and to celebrate the pioneers of Embraer and of the Brazilian aeronautical industry, our own “bandeirantes,” who have pioneered the frontiers of aeronautical technology. Embraer today is a company that competes on equal technological conditions with the world's largest because 50 years ago a group of engineers, designers and pilots dared to bring to life an aircraft that became a legend."
“The 50 years of the Bandeirante must be celebrated from several viewpoints. First of all as the continuity of the geniality and ingenuity of Brazilians in the field of aviation. Furthermore, the first flight of the Bandeirante also represents the beginning of the introduction of Brazil into a context of prominence in the global aerospace industry through the creation of Embraer and of the establishment of a series of successful partnerships in several projects, which over 50 years have projected the company to a level of indisputable excellence and recognition on the global scene,” said Brazilian Air Force Commander, Lieutenant-Brigadier Nivaldo Luiz Rossato.
The first prototype of the Bandeirante, identified as IPD-6504, completed its inaugural test flight on October 22 in 1968, in the presence of the project’s technical team. The plane, painted in FAB colors, left the X10 hangar at the Aerospace Technical Center (CTA) to take off at 7:07 am and returned for landing 50 minutes later, under the command of Major José Mariotto Ferreira and flight engineer Michel Cury. But it was only four days later that the aircraft was officially presented to authorities and reporters, and its maiden flight repeated.
Worthy of its name, the Bandeirante aircraft led the development of global regional aviation and boosted the Brazilian aeronautical industry, with the beginning of a success story that allowed the transformation of science and technology into engineering and industrial capacity, now recognized on all continents where aircraft manufactured by Embraer fly.
For the construction of the first prototype, three years and four months elapsed between the first preliminary studies and the inaugural flight. This achievement required 110,000 project hours, 12,000 manufacturing drawings, 22,000 hours of structural and aerodynamic calculations and 282,000 hours of aircraft manufacturing and tooling.
For more than two decades, Embraer produced and delivered 498 Bandeirante aircraft in various civil and military configurations. Currently, about 150 aircraft are operating in airlines, air taxis, government entities and Air Forces in the Americas, Asia, Africa, Europe and the Middle East.
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About Embraer
Embraer is a global company headquartered in Brazil with businesses in commercial and executive aviation, defense & security. The company designs, develops, manufactures and markets aircraft and systems, providing customer support and services.
Since it was founded in 1969, Embraer has delivered more than 8,000 aircraft. About every 10 seconds an aircraft manufactured by Embraer takes off somewhere in the world, transporting over 145 million passengers a year.
Embraer is the leading manufacturer of commercial jets up to 150 seats. The company maintains industrial units, offices, service and parts distribution centers, among other activities, across the Americas, Africa, Asia and Europe.