De nieuwe Cessna Citation X business jet is officiëel het snelste passagiersvliegtuig ter wereld. De Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) heeft de testresultaten bekend gemaakt. De maximale operating speed is vastgesteld op mach 0,935 (536 knots). Het vorige record stond op naam van de Gulstream 650 met mach 0,925. De meeste grotere vliegtuigen vliegen iets onder de mach 0,9.
In de Citation gaan 9 passagiers. Het bereik is met 3.242 nm een stuk minder dan de Gulfstream 650, die ruim het dubbele haalt. De Citation haalt net een transatlantische vlucht. In de Gulfstream gaan ook 2x zoveel mensen.
In a statement on the New Citation X speed record, Cessna’s Engineering vice president (senior), Michael Thacker described the tests as a “success.” He continued: “All responses from the high-speed certification testing were well within the expected performance envelope. While these are the results our engineers fully anticipated, this final round of testing went so smoothly the conditions were completed in fewer flights and hours than planned.”
To date, the New Citation X test programme has encompassed some 1,300 hours of flying and, at this stage, it’s envisaged the aircraft will receive its certification during Q1 2014.
New Citation X Business Jet
Able to accommodate nine passengers, the New Citation X business jet boasts state of the art avionics, touch screen cockpit panels and a pair of Rolls-Royce E3007C2 turbo fan engines. According to Cessna, once in service, it will fly passengers between New York and London, Panama City and Sao Paulo or Dubai and Singapore with unprecedented speed, all the time overflying weather systems and other commercial aircraft at a top ceiling of 51,000 feet.
“Our Citation X customers will be glad to know they will own the fastest civilian aircraft in the world”, added Cessna Business Jets’ senior vice president, Brad Thress. “There is no quicker way to get from point A to point B than inside a Citation X.”
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