The close matching of the observed flight characteristics to what we planned in our digital model is a very good sign that we may run into fewer surprises down the road. The second KC-390 prototype is scheduled to fly by mid-2015 – soon after the first returns to flight. They are followed in the production line by two complete airframes to be used for ground-based testing. Another two partial airframe structures will also be used, to speed up the certification process. Immediately after these four test airframes, the first production examples for the Brazilian air force will start rolling off the expanded Gavião Peixoto manufacturing plant. Manufacture of the first production-standard aircraft is under way, with their long-lead items already contracted to Embraer suppliers. Giant-sized genesis "The Brazilian air force (FAB) and Embraer always had a clear notion of the size of the challenges that come … with large technological leaps forward," says Carneiro.