Originally Posted by
GeeWizDriver
Another Phenom went off the runway at Hawthorne in the heavy LA rain last week. Seven aboard but thankfully nobody hurt. Given that it went through a light standard sideways, remarkable it wasn't worse.
There have been numerous other incidents, including a fatal crash, in the past few years involving this model of airplane. Is it the airplane or the experience niche it occupies?
A little of both. I flew the Phenom at NetJets for several years. No thrust reversers. We had a Phenom land in rain at a Texas airport and thought they had a brake malfunction so they applied the Emer Brake which is just the parking brake handle. No anti skid protection with emer braking. They proceeded to steam clean the runway and went off the end. There was no malfunction, just hydroplaning. A procedure was added that no use of the emer brake unless there's a CAS message about brakes.
The Phenom can be flown single pilot which is less safe. Insurance typically charges double for single pilot ops vs. multi crew.
The AA wholly owned Regionals really screwed up the fractional and charter job market when they almost doubled pilot pay last June. Most regional airlines followed to stop a pilot exodus. Even NetJet's has a lower "hard" pay than the regionals now although the "soft" money (mostly flight duty pay) usually bumps it up to $120K or more (1st year) but that varies widely by which jet you fly. Other fractionals and charter operators are having a harder time getting pilots. Everytime I get on Facebook I see ads from WheelsUp for pilots. I think the overall experience level is going down and that can contribute to accidents.