Capt. José Cláudio Torresan: Waving the Embraer Flag Over his Heart

Capt. José Torresan isn't one to "wear his heart on his sleeve" as the old saying goes. That is, he doesn't readily show his emotions in a given situation, but he is passionate about flying and he is a very loyal and experienced Embraer Legacy customer and he notices when Embraer Customer Support personnel wear the "Embraer flag on their heart" as he will explain.

Capt. Torresan made his first flight in the Legacy in 2001 and has logged more than 4000 hours and 250 international flights in it since. It's safe to say he has a pretty wellestablished opinion of Embraer Executive Jet Customer Support, too and he summarizes it this way: "Included in those 4000 hours and 250 trips are over 60 hours in the South Pacific, flights from Santiago, Chile, Palau, the Solomon Islands, Fiji, back to Rangiroa and back to São Paulo with a tech stop in Easter Island. We also flew from São Paulo to Sal Cape Verde, Budapest, Novosibirsk, Beijing, Shanghai and from São Paulo to Curacao, Teterboro, Anchorage, Tokyo and back. The most recent was a trip to the FIFA World Cup in South Africa. We flew from Recife to San Tome and Principe, Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, East London and Johannesburg.

"The reason for telling about this flight is to highlight the great plane and the great support Embraer provides everywhere. We can go anywhere and we are very comfortable about the support. The Legacy is very reliable and we have 100% dispatchability."

Capt. Torresan was the actually the first pilot interviewed for the inaugural edition of The Embraer Advantage in 2006. He recalls now that, "I remember the great challenge Embraer had nine years ago regarding the Legacy entry into service and I flew the first one. Some competitors criticized our product because it was coming from the commercial aviation heritage but I disagreed; the product maturity based on almost a thousand aircraft of that type flying in the world and the worldwide customer support meant we had a differentiated product with a high level of dispatch and availability. Another important factor was our support staff. They were proactive and willing to solve problems, go above and beyond and do the work out of a sense of 'heart,' no matter if it is a holiday or weekend. That is the same today. An obvious example that comes to my mind is Lilian Regina Barbosa Pereira from the EEC contracts administration. She is outstanding. She helps the customer—regardless of what it's about: accounting, operations, the service center. She has the Embraer flag on her heart!"

Capt. Torresan sites other examples from his years of experience including making in flight calls to Embraer Customer Support when he faced challenges on extended trips where spare parts were issues. "On one occasion, when I landed, I was surprised to learn that the customer support technical representative was already flying from Brazil to New York with the parts in hand and the airplane was fixed and we flew on schedule to Seattle. On another flight, I called enroute and told Embraer about a FADEC (Full Authorithy Digital Electronic Control) problem and the mechanics were waiting for me when I landed after four hours with the parts in London."

He is a firm believer in the Embraer Executive Care (EEC) program. "I believe it helps Embraer and the customer focus on what quality and service center changes because you're not worried about price—it's already paid. It makes it easier to establish true operating costs and there are no surprises when it comes to extra expenditures during inspections. That's a major consideration during times of world financial crises like this past year," he pointed out.

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