Embraer’s Phenom 100 very light jet is speeding toward its scheduled mid-year certification. The fourth Phenom 100 took flight on March 26 and will add to the 530 hours the first three jets in the program have logged. Planned testing for number four includes an intense flight schedule to simulate “real operating conditions, including exposure to extreme heat and cold weather,” according to Embraer. The first three Phenom 100s have flown flutter, stall, flight quality, performance, automatic flight control system and other systems tests for certification purposes. Embraer expects to deliver between 10 and 15 of the four-passenger Phenom 100s during the second half of this year. The Phenom 100 will be the third of the modern certified VLJs to enter service and the third powered by Pratt & Whitney Canada’s PW600-series turbofan. Remarkably, the Phenom 100 will have achieved certification a scant three-and-a-half years since its launch in May 2005.