Major Milestones For New Aircraft

Cessna marked a major milestone for its new Citation CJ2+ as the aircraft made its first flight on Saturday.

Piloted by Cessna Engineering Test Pilots Don Alexander and Jon Cooper, the conformed CJ2+ prototype took to the air from Mid-Continent Airport at 10:03 AM (CST). During the two-hour and six-minute test flight, the pilots flew an aggressive flight profile to test basic stability, flap and landing gear extension and retraction, controllability, trim actuation, engine operating characteristics and basic autopilot operation. 

A crowd of Cessna team members greeted the airplane when it landed at 1209 CST.  Cessna's Chairman, President and CEO Jack J. Pelton congratulated the pilots as they disembarked.
"Compared to the CJ2, the CJ2+ offers customers enhanced performance and the most advanced avionics suite for this class of airplane," said Cessna's Chairman, President and CEO Jack J. Pelton. "Orders for the CJ2+ have been strong, and we're confident they'll continue to increase as we near certification."

"The Citation CJ2+ first flight was a great success," said Norm Baker, Citation CJ1+ and CJ2+ program manager. "The CJ2+ team did an exceptional job building this airplane, and they should be very proud. This is the first major step towards obtaining CJ2+ certification and delivering the first airplane."

The Citation CJ2+ will be manufactured on the production line where Cessna currently manufactures the Citation CJ1, CJ2 and CJ3.  Cessna says this "lean" manufacturing technology allows it to adjust Citation CJ1+, CJ2+ and CJ3 production rates more efficiently, and deliver airplanes to customers with shorter lead times.

Cessna executives said in a statement to ANN they anticipate certification for the Citation CJ2+ in the fourth quarter of this year, and first customer deliveries in the second quarter of 2006.  The next Citation CJ2+ available for sale will be delivered in the second quarter of 2007.

The Citation CJ2+ was announced at the 2004 NBAA conference and is the successor to the Citation CJ2. It is powered by Williams' FJ44-3A-24 dual-channel FADEC engine, which offer the advantage of better thrust specific fuel consumption and FADECS compared to the CJ2's current engine. The Citation CJ2+ is equipped with the Collins Pro Line 21 avionics suite. It is designated as a model 525A, and will serve single pilot operators.

FMI: www.cessna.com