Legacy - Executive Jet

"Jet set" is a journalistic term that was used to describe an international social group of wealthy people, organizing and participating in social activities all around the world that are unreachable to ordinary people.

UNTIL NOW!

The real world may be unreachable for some but the virtual one is open 24hrs a day and you can go wherever your heart desires. The other thing to note is you can travel in total luxury! Just Flight have given us the latest offering from software publishers feelThere/Wilco the Embraer Legacy. So come on board and lets live the high life for a few minutes at least.

The Embraer Legacy is a business jet descending from the ERJ 145 family. It was based around the ERJ 135, but this particular model includes winglets and extra fuel tanks. It can carry upto 16 passengers a distance of 3,000 nautical miles. Which makes even the longest long haul available with a couple of stops.

Installation of the DVD is straight forward, however if you intend to use this program in FSX you will need to make sure you have FSX Service Pack installed (SP1) Also along with the manual supplied Wilco have produced an online .PDF document.

Some of the features in this aircraft include an accurate autopilot with overspeed and stall recovery systems. APU sequences are fully simulated and linked to fuel consumption, so beware a bad judgement may end in a bad landing! Animations feature highly on the model everything from wipers to flaps, spoilers, even passenger door and stairs. There is even room for your very own stewardess, more on her later!

Liveries chosen on the Legacy include Embraer house colours, Brazilian, Danish and Swiss make up the others.

Finally the advanced glass cockpit with Honeywell-style avionics, colour weather radar, GPWS, TCAS and many more sophisticated features give us a truly unbelievable aircraft.

Now I know at this point your still perusing through the notes above and each and everytime you look at them your eyes wander to the flight attendant, yes it’s ok, I realise in a mans world we have to let women loose into our virtual world at times, and forgive me if any of this sounds sexist! Joking aside when this aircraft was launched it was the first one to have an attendant on board, not only that but she moves around the plane too. I always thought just looking out over wing views was good but now my eyes are turned to the cabin, well most of the time I’m looking at the flight controls, but you get my drift!

It’s time to turn the key and lets go for a flight, now if you’ve just come through duty free on your way out to the aircraft, make sure you got all the really expensive items with you, well come on, if you want to travel like the jet set you have to make the effort. As for me well I’m up front with a nice cup of tea.

SHIFT + E allows me to open the doors for your arrival and on board you will be met by my lovely stewardess (see shes back again) take your seats now I’m ready to spool up the engines.

The start up can be quite involved and a hefty checklist is available in the manual although this is not a full list as would be used in a real world aircraft, so hopefully it won’t cause you too many problems in getting off the ground. If I can do it, I'm sure you can too! One of the main objectives is to carry out the set up of the flight management computer. Embraer have come up with a very clever idea which basically states if it's black its ok, if it's lit up then we have a problem. This sort of technique was used to make life easier for pilots and to simplify the operations. Air crew will know when an alert is triggered by the indication light.

APU (auxiliary power unit) does exactly what it says on the tin, by way of powering up all our electrical and compressed air whilst on the ground. The spring loaded knob switches back after clicking with your mouse. Now to the APU Bleed button, this is a part of the set up which allows compressed air for both your air conditioned environment and also engine start. Stay with me on this, one minor point here is that this particular button is different from the others in that in normal flight and when the engines are running, the APU Bleed is normally set to off but as mentoned earlier when you see something lit then you think problem! This gives the pilot time to react and set the switch back off or to dark as it would show. Don’t worry if that is not clear, it is when you see the whole thing in operation, again sometimes things are sent to test us all.

Another feature we can set our sights on is the FMC (flight management system) this bit can get complicated so you really have to read the manual to help you get going. I’m sorry you wanted luxury flight and everything comes at a price but it’s a small one to pay. Once you have that loaded we’re almost ready for the off. Lights have been placed on and all the other peripheral switches have been activated, ignition , fuel etc.

While you’re sitting comfortably reading the latest Astraboy.com in-flight magazine! I’m ready to start the engines. The procedures are straight forward as we’re really just checking over the switches and dials to make sure everything we set up is now in the correct position. Moving slowly away from the gate, while our flight attendant is busy in the kitchen area preparing your luxurious food for todays flight. We approach the runway by pressing the TO CONFIG on the FMC guarantees a safe take-off configuration. I certainly don’t want it to get too bumpy for you back there.

Powering ahead now we raise this beautiful looking aircraft into the skies, climbing away fom the airport and the stresses of life far below. Gear up and flaps up I’ll stabilise our flight level and pop on the auto pilot. One item pointed out in the manual is that the Legacy does not have auto throttle system. When using the FMC, speed is controlled by the pitch of the aircraft at fixed climb power. Good job I checked that out before leaving this morning! The adjustments made to speed have to be carried out by the pilot, and if you don’t have one close by then you will have to do this yourself!. It all sounds worse then it actually is, fullpower on climb out and nothing is going to overstress you or the aircarft.

I have now reached out cruising altitude and have heard that you are really happy in the back there getting all that attention from the flight attendant, I really want to call her Astragirl, but that’s maybe going a bit too far! She will however be going about her flight duties once we get above 10,000 feet below this altitude you can find her strapped into her seat ready for either the take off or landing. At speeds of 20knots or less then she can be found working in the kitchen (I'm saying nothing)

It’s now time to bring her in for landing, the aircraft I mean! As programmed at the start of our flight the FMC keeps us on the correct track all the way, as the descent begins remember that the auto throttle is not something that can be used here so be aware of your speed at all times. As you make the final approach it’s time to get your hands on this wonder jet, firstly switch off the autopilot and get your flaps set for landing, slow down, and get your landing gear set. We would hate to get this far and slide down the runway!

Upon bringing it down safely and without a bump (tricky) you can apply the speedbrakes and reverse the engines before turning onto the taxi way for a gentle journey back to the terminal. I hope you didn’t manage to spill any champagne or worse still drop any of those luxurious chocolates supplied by us today. The motto of this airline is “Last one leaves the plane, cleans it”

All in all a very enjoyable aircraft to fly, for the novice it maybe over complicated for the veteran it will produce all the bells and whistles to keep you happy for months to come.

Cholly Knickerbocker or Igor Cassini as he was really known has a lot to answer, he was the guy who created the phrase Jet Set. Before that it was known as the Café Society, although whichever category you fall into then don’t worry in this virtual existence the fruits of your labour will give you much more pleasure than you can imagine. The Legacy is more than a gift or bequest, it is a one off luxury aircraft that delivers what it preaches. So be rich in the knowledge that what you have here is one mighty fine executive jet.

A final word from your stewardess

"I'd like to thank you all for flying with us today. And, the next time you get the insane urge to go zipping through the skies in a luxurious pressurised metal tube, I hope you'll think of me here at Astraboy.com."

(she really isn't that bad in real life, honest!)

For further information on this title please visit Just Flight