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SafetyScorer

Embraer · Business jet

Embraer Legacy 450/500, Praetor 500/600

Is the Embraer Legacy 450/500, Praetor 500/600 safe? It is not ranked yet: with no fatal accidents counted in about 550,000 flights since 2008, its record is too short to place it among the others: its score could be anywhere from 41 to 100.

Low confidenceIn serviceUpdated 5 November 2026
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Embraer Legacy 450/500, Praetor 500/600 safety score: 78 out of 100, grade B (Good)

Likely range 41 to 100

1 in 3.1 millionchance of dying on a flight0.33 deaths per million boardings

How the score is built

Fatal accidents
0 in 0.55 million flights

No fatal accident in the data (ASN database to 3 November 2026).

Full-loss equivalents
0

Each counted accident adds the share of people on board who died (1 = no survivors). This is what the score is based on.

Flights flown
0.55 million

Estimated flights of all kinds. Flights of all kinds (private, charter, corporate, cargo, training and other civil use) 2014 to 3 November 2026: OpenSky 2022 flights of the type under any call sign (US military aircraft left out), re-weighted to World Bank departures country by country, carried to other years by the type's flights counted each year by FAA traffic flow management (TFMSC). Flights before 2008 are not used, like the accidents. About 256 flights per aircraft per year (fleet with a median service life of about 27 years). Uncertainty roughly ±30%.

Technology generation
Modern business jet (type first flew from 1990)

Small fleets are pulled toward the record of the other types of their generation: 0.84 full-loss equivalents per million flights over 30.1 million flights. Weight of this family's own record: 61%.

Likely range
41 to 100

The score is 90% likely to lie in this range, given how few accidents a type has and the error in the estimate of its flights.

Last fatal accident
None

No counted fatal accident.

Hull losses
0

Civil aircraft destroyed or written off from all causes, including non-fatal accidents, cargo flights and attacks; airframes flown by air forces on military operations are left out. ASN gives no fate for some damaged aircraft, so this can be a little low (context only, not in the score).

Compared with everyday risks

One flight on the Embraer Legacy 450/500, Praetor 500/600 carries about the same risk of death as the activities near it below.

  • An hour's walk1 in 14 million
  • Driving 100 miles (160 km)1 in 5.9 million
  • One flight on the Embraer Legacy 450/500, Praetor 500/600This aircraft1 in 3.1 million
  • An ordinary day: accidents and violence1 in 1 million
  • A day of skiing1 in 830,000
  • A scuba dive1 in 500,000
  • Cycling 100 miles (160 km)1 in 430,000
  • Running a marathon1 in 290,000
  • A skydive1 in 250,000
  • A general anaesthetic1 in 100,000
  • Riding a motorbike 100 miles (160 km)1 in 83,000
Chance of dying from each activity, on a log scale (longer bar = riskier). Activity figures are approximate and come from our activity pages; the ordinary day and the anaesthetic come from The Norm Chronicles (Blastland and Spiegelhalter, 2013).

Accident history

No fatal accident counts toward this score.

No fatal event is recorded for the Embraer Legacy 450/500 and Praetor 500/600 up to 3 November 2026. The family has flown about 0.5 million flights since 2014, so confidence is low, the record of modern business jets as a class still weighs on the score, and the type is not ranked yet. A clean sheet is good, but it is not proof.

What does "no fatal event" mean here?

It means no counted deaths in the flights we can measure. It does not mean the type cannot crash. At the average rate of modern business jets, a fleet with this many flights would come through with no fatal event more often than not. So we look for other evidence: non-fatal accidents with official findings.

What are the Legacy 450/500 and Praetor 500/600?

They are midsize business jets made by Embraer. The Legacy 500 first flew in 2012 and entered service in 2014, and the slightly smaller Legacy 450 followed in 2015. The Praetor 500 and 600 are later updates with more range. About 410 have been built and about 300 fly. They seat about nine. You will meet them in fractional fleets such as Flexjet, in charter, and with owners.

What do the non-fatal records show?

Three ASN records involve this family. Two examine the Fly-by-wireA flight control system in which the pilot's inputs go to computers, which then move the control surfaces. Many such systems also stop unsafe manoeuvres.More in the glossary system, which has sidesticks and an angle of attack (AOA) limiter that keeps the wing from stalling, instead of a traditional stall warning system.

  • 27 November 2017, L39 Engineering, Paris-Le Bourget: a Legacy 500 landed hard on a private flight from Moscow. Nobody was hurt; 3 were on board. The crew had left with an ice-protection fault message showing, and a stall protection message appeared in the climb. On approach the AOA limiter activated twice and limited the nose-up pitch in the flare. The BEA said the procedure for the fault, as written then, did not let the crew reset the system, that the pre-take-off checks and minimum equipment list should have led the crew to postpone the flight, and that the stall protection message called for an approach 30 knots faster.
  • 3 October 2022, Partee Aviation, Houston: a Legacy 450's cabin door opened after take-off and damaged the door and fuselage. The crew landed safely.
  • 21 September 2023, Flexjet, Brunswick, Georgia: a Praetor 500 landed hard in gusting wind with 8 on board and no injuries. The NTSB probable cause was the control laws of the AOA limiter, which could not disengage during the approach and limited the crew's ability to control pitch.

At Le Bourget the BEA tied the outcome to the fault, its procedure and the decision to fly. At Brunswick the NTSB put the cause on the limiter's control laws. Neither landing hurt anyone, but together they show why crews need to know how the limiter behaves near the ground.

Who crews the aircraft?

The type is flown with two pilots. Check that both are trained on this jet's limiter logic: ask the operator about type-specific training.

How do I check a charter on one?

  1. Ask who holds the air operator certificate for your flight.
  2. Ask for a recent audit by ARGUS, Wyvern or IS-BAO.
  3. Ask if both pilots hold a type rating.

Compare with the Phenom 300, which Embraer also builds, and read our method. Flight trackers show E545 for the Legacy 450 and Praetor 500, and E550 for the Legacy 500 and Praetor 600.

Questions people ask

Is the Embraer Praetor 500 safe?

Our data lists no fatal Legacy 450/500 or Praetor 500/600 event up to 3 November 2026, in about 0.5 million flights. That is a short exposure, so the confidence is low and the type is not ranked yet. A clean record is good news but does not prove the type is safer than its peers.

Is the Embraer Legacy 500 fly-by-wire?

Yes. The Legacy 450/500 and the Praetor 500/600 have a Fly-by-wireA flight control system in which the pilot's inputs go to computers, which then move the control surfaces. Many such systems also stop unsafe manoeuvres.More in the glossary flight control system with sidesticks and an angle of attack limiter. Two investigations, by the BEA in France and the NTSB in the US, looked at landings where the limiter reduced pitch authority in the flare.

What is the difference between the Legacy 500 and the Praetor 500?

The Praetor 500 and 600 are updates of the Legacy 450 and 500, with more range. The ICAO code is E545 for the Legacy 450 and Praetor 500, and E550 for the Legacy 500 and Praetor 600.

What caused the Praetor 500 hard landing at Brunswick?

On 21 September 2023 a Flexjet Praetor 500 landed hard at Brunswick, Georgia, with no injuries among 8 on board. The NTSB probable cause was the control laws of the angle of attack limiter, which limited the crew's ability to control pitch in gusting wind.

Sources

  1. 1.ASN record: Flexjet Embraer Praetor 500, Brunswick, Georgia, 21 September 2023 (opens in a new tab) · Aviation Safety Network
  2. 2.ASN record: L39 Engineering Embraer Legacy 500, Paris-Le Bourget, 27 November 2017 (opens in a new tab) · Aviation Safety Network
  3. 3.ASN record: Partee Aviation Embraer Legacy 450, Houston, Texas, 3 October 2022 (opens in a new tab) · Aviation Safety Network
  4. 4.SafetyScorer exposure model: OpenSky Network flights 2022 (all operators), World Bank departures, FAA TFMSC (opens in a new tab)Flights of all kinds (private, charter, corporate, cargo, training and other civil use) 2014 to 3 November 2026: OpenSky 2022 flights of the type under any call sign (US military aircraft left out), re-weighted to World Bank departures country by country, carried to other years by the type's flights counted each year by FAA traffic flow management (TFMSC). Flights before 2008 are not used, like the accidents. About 256 flights per aircraft per year (fleet with a median service life of about 27 years). Uncertainty roughly ±30%.
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