Tue, Aug 07, 2007
Jets Just Keep Coming Out Of Wichita
Cessna Aircraft Company tells ANN last week the planemaker
reached another milestone in the development program for the latest
version of the evergreen Citation family. The Citation XLS+
completed its first flight.
The flight, which lasted one hour and 30 minutes, was conducted
at Rockwell Collins’ facility in Cedar Rapids, IA.
"With the flight progressing as planned and the aircraft
performing as expected, this first flight was a great success,"
said Cessna Citation XLS+ Program Manager Kevin Steinert. "The
integration of the new Collins Pro Line 21 and Pratt &
Whitney’s FADEC (full authority digital engine control)
equipped engines went smoothly and we look forward to continuing
this program on schedule."
The aircraft has since returned to Cessna’s primary design
and manufacturing facilities in Wichita for further evaluation and
testing. Type certification of the XLS+ is expected in the first
quarter of 2008 and first deliveries are scheduled in mid 2008.
Priced at USD $11.595 million, the XLS+ is an evolution of the
Excel and XLS stand-up cabin business jets. The family of Excel/XLS
aircraft comprise of 575 planes having accumulated nearly 1.2
million flight hours.
The original Citation Excel was delivered in May 1998 followed
by the Citation XLS in July 2004. The 500th Excel/XLS was delivered
in June 2006 (shown below), making the Excel/XLS the best-selling
aircraft of all business jet models since its introduction.
The Citation XLS+ is designed to travel at 440 KTAS, have a
range of more than 1,800 nm, climb direct to 45,000 ft in 29
minutes, and land on runways as short as 2,700 ft at its typical
landing weight.
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