"This Is A Great Day For Cessna"
The Federal Aviation Administration
granted type certification to Cessna's model 680 Citation
Sovereign. The FAA Central Region Aircraft
Certification Manager presented the type certificate to Cessna
officials at 1:50 p.m. Wednesday.
"This is a great day for Cessna," said Jack J. Pelton, Cessna's
President and CEO. "We have been working with the FAA on the
Sovereign's certification for the past few months. As with any
brand new airplane with state-of-the-art features, there were a few
technical challenges along the way. In the Cessna tradition, the
Sovereign exceeds the performance numbers we originally announced.
The Sovereign is the most innovative, best performing midsize
business jet on the market. It has been designed to have
unparalleled reliability and superb ease of maintenance.
Everyone at Cessna who helped make this new airplane a reality
should be extremely proud."
The Citation Sovereign's integrated design team developed many
new engineering and manufacturing efficiencies that will be used on
future aircraft programs. David Brant, Cessna's Senior Vice
President of Engineering, stated, "The Citation Sovereign
incorporates many new technological advancements. The fully
integrated EPIC avionics, new highly efficient wing design, and new
production line tooling are just a few advancements that we've
achieved by adapting and improving existing technology. These
designs have been rigorously tested through the flight test
program, which has surpassed 3,000 hours."
The Citation Sovereign marks the first time Cessna has offered
customers a fully certified level D flight simulator prior to first
customer delivery. FlightSafety International has already
received FAA approval for the Citation Sovereign simulator and will
begin training Citation Sovereign customers at their Wichita
facility upon Sovereign certification. This milestone was achieved
by relying heavily on Citation Sovereign serial number 002 to
collect the necessary data for the FlightSafety simulator.
The Sovereign also debuts Cessna's
first utilization of the Maintenance Steering Group inspection
program (MSG 3). The MSG 3 program develops an aircraft maintenance
program for the Sovereign through fault analysis that result in
significant savings in scheduled maintenance costs.
The Sovereign's new performance numbers include a 459 knots
cruise speed, 2,730 nautical mile range, 3,694 feet takeoff
distance, 2,650 feet landing distance, and 47,000 ft ceiling. Its
fuselage provides the largest cabin and external baggage
compartment of any Citation. It will accommodate up to 12
passengers and a crew of two, and 100 cubic feet, or 1,000 pounds,
of external baggage.
Cessna has received over 100 firm Sovereign orders in backlog,
worth $1.5 billion. The first Citation Sovereign delivery is
expected in the second half of 2004.