N540M

N540M is an Embraer ERJ 135/140/Legacy, a twin-engine jet operated by MENARD INC. SkyMeter has tracked 1,014 flights totalling 1,147 hours of airtime via ADS-B. The most frequent segment is KEAU to KIND. Service window in our records spans 442 days. Of those flights, 172 (17.0%) carry at least one detected incident: a go-around, unstable approach, stall warning, or runway excursion. The Embraer ERJ 135/140/Legacy has a 66 ft wingspan, a maximum takeoff weight of 44,533 lb.

About the Embraer ERJ 135/140/Legacy

The Embraer ERJ-135 is a shortened derivative of the ERJ-145 family, designed for thin regional routes where 37 passengers is the sweet spot. Introduced in 1999, it shares the same fuselage cross-section and Rolls-Royce AE 3007 turbofans as its longer siblings but trades capacity for better economics on low-density city pairs. The type found its niche with regional carriers feeding major hubs and, more recently, with premium charter operators reconfiguring cabins for all-business-class or semi-private service.

With a range of roughly 1,750 nautical miles at typical loads, the ERJ-135 can comfortably link secondary cities across North America or serve spoke routes in Europe and Latin America. Its 37,000-foot service ceiling and Mach 0.78 cruise speed keep it competitive with larger regional jets, while the compact footprint allows access to shorter runways and congested airports where slot availability favors smaller aircraft. The type's relatively low approach speed of around 125 knots and docile handling made it popular with pilots transitioning from turboprops.

In recent years, the ERJ-135 has carved out a second career in the boutique charter market. Operators strip out the dense regional seating and install luxury configurations with 9 to 30 seats, targeting corporate shuttles and hop-on jet services that blur the line between scheduled airline and private aviation. The airframe's reliability and parts commonality with the larger ERJ family keep operating costs manageable, even as traditional regional carriers retire their fleets in favor of newer, more fuel-efficient designs.

SkyMeter has tracked flights across airframes and operators, with the largest observed operator.