I can't speak for the other VLJ's out there, but the phenoms are built like airliners. Honda isn't really doing anything out of the ordinary besides slapping the engines ontop. It does have 30kts on the phenom 100, but i'm not sure if that's the cruise speed for economy or not. The phenoms econ cruise is it's top speed at max cruise power. The Honda just looks plain ugly IMO. The bubble type cockpit looking thing and the misplaced engines are goofy. I'd still fly it
Airliners! Are you Srious! A freakin G1000 is an airliner now?! From what I know of the systems of a Phenom100, it's no airliner, more like a toy airplane. I heard a Phenom100 climbing out of LAS today, and it sounded something like this.
"Phenom 123, 280kts or better"
"Phenom123, uhhh, center, at 280kts, we won't be able to climb real fast......."
"Phenom123, whats the best you can give me in climb?"
"Phenom123, we can give you 250kts center."
"Alright then, Phenom123, 260kts or better please."
"Phenom123, 260 or better."
They were jamming everyone else up on the airway back into LA. Hardly an "airliner." Yeah, it's a jet, but only because it's missing props. A Avanti will outrun it for goodness sake. It does 390K
TAS. A P180 does 402 true. wiht props. And from what I hear, Phenomshave a problem getting stopped on the runway.
In all seriousness, the 100 is a toy airplane. It lacks a lot. It has a small cabin, short range, and comparitvley speaking IMO, is expensive. Why spend nearly $3M for a Phenom when you could get a Citation or a Lear31/35 that will outfly it for nearly half? Heck, a CJ1 will cost a lot less, and have better performance, for nearly the same operating cost per hour(within a dollar per mile).