facturing, and avionics technology. Promise a reasonable party. By the end of 2002 when announced schedule and then stick to it. Sell it at a believable price that Cessnathe Mustang, itcameseemedlate thatto theeveryonevery-light-jetwith a (VLJ)CAD provides real value relative to other larger jets, but still nets program and a roll of fiberglass had announced plans to the company some profit. build a VLJ.These Johnny-come-latelies to the jet world had To cut through the hype from all of the unproven designs nothing to lose by promising breathtaking performance at and companies, Cessna stamped its Mustang marketing ma• piston-twin prices-ready for delivery at the end of the next terial with a brilliantly simple slogan: Sure thing. quarter. But with its stellar reputation on the line and plenty The two words reminded potential customers that no one to lose by over-promising or under-delivering, Cessna need• has certified and built more business jets than Cessna. Put ed to tread carefully. You don't get to be an 80-year-old com• your trust in a proven company. pany with a global reputation for quality and service by It worked. Orders poured in. building schlock, especially in the business-jet market And although uslially gets the credit for where Cessna has dominated for decades. fostering the notion of a very light jet, Cessna's entrance legit• What to do? imized the market to many buyers. Leverage your position as the world's authority on design• So with orders in hand, Cessna in late 2002 set about deliv• ing, building. certificating, and marketing business jets. And ering on its promise to build a six-seat jet capable of carrying a Cessna did just that, outlining a plan to build a small, highly single pilot and three passengers at speeds up to 340 knots true capable jet that takes advantage of new powerplant, manu- airspeed and on trip lengths of 1,150 nm with IFR reserves. Certification was scheduled for the third inal Cessna 500), the Mustang is classic The MFD dominates the Mustang's G1000 quarter of2006. simple Citation from a flight control panel; here it shows Garmin's Safe Taxi and systems standpoint. It is easier to depiction. Engine gauges and EICAS are And in the third quarter of 2006, it did stacked in two columns on the left side. just that, delivering an airplane that ex• fly than any other Citation, and that's actly met the specs outlined four years good because most of the 260 orders so earlier. Meanwhile, many of the other far are from those who have little to no ed high on the fuselage are the most companies either don't exist anymore or turbine time. distinctive difference from the rest of they are struggling to reach certification From the moment you walk up to it to the herd. They are placed at eye level or serial deliveries. the moment you touch down on the for seated passengers, giving the cabin stout trailing-link landing gear, you get a more open feeling. Traditional Cita• A horse is a horse, of course the feeling that this is a robust, sturdyair• tion windows are taller and more rec• Cessna Chairman, Chief Executive Offi• plane built to be easy to maintain and fly. tangular, but wider in the middle. cer, and President Jack Pelton doesn't like It appears larger on the ramp than Even the doors to jets can be intimi• to call the Citation Mustang a very light you might imagine. The T-tail and em• dating to open. With the Mustang, from jet. Instead, he says, the light jet is simply pennage have the appearance of clas• the inside or the outside, it's a one• an extension of the ubiquitous Citation sic Citation. The wing appears similar handed affair. Simply lift the lever and line, of which 4,500 examples have.been to other Citations, but is in fact all new. turn. It's feather light. built over the past 35 years, with fleet The fuselage and nose section, howev• A nonflushing lavatory is opposite flight hours now totaling 20 million. er, look quite different from the earlier the door-the kind that allows the mar• He's right. The Mustang is Citation models. The nose and windshield are keting staff to say it has a lav,but not one through and through, even though it is more sloped. The door is a constant 24 you'd probably want to use, especially a completely new design. Although inches in width, whereas other Citation since it is separated from the cockpit smaller than any other Citation (but doors narrow toward the bottom. The and the cabin by only curtains. Just for• not a lot different in scale than the orig- Mustang's oval-shape windows mount- ward of the lav is a basic refreshment

AOPA PILOT. 70· IUNE 2007 • Six elliptical windows at passenger eye level give the cabin a roomy feel; pleated shades can be raised up to keep the sun out. The cabin fuselage area is a constant 55 inches wide. A four• inch dropped aisle extends for the length of the cabin.

cabinet with storage for charts and es shorter from the bottom of the aisle other pilot supplies. To the right of the to the headliner, but again, it feels about door are four club seats. The two aft-fac• the same size as the CJ, except in cabin ing seats recline. The two rear seats in a length. With its small aft baggage com• bench configuration are against the aft partment, the crs cabin is a foot longer. bulkhead and don't recline. None of the Like its larger cousins, the Mustang has seats articulates away from the side• a large nose baggage compartment and walls as seats do in many larger jets. But an even larger aft compartment that can the fixed seats still seem to provide handle skis. ample comfort, mostly because the The Mustang's cabin with its leather cabin is wider at the bottom, giving pas• seats, tinted windows, power outlet, 10 sengers more hip and foot room. Other cup holders (apparently passengers Citations have circular cabins. At 55 drink a lot, which may say something inches, the Mustang's cabin is about 3 about our piloting skills), and two work inches narrower than the CitationJet tables is complete and comfortable, if a (Cn, but it doesn't feel that way inside. bit Spartan by business-jet standards. Similarly, the Mustang's cabin is 3 inch- The Go button The cockpit, meanwhile, is a mixture of simple systems and wondrously sophis• ticated avionics. The two dual-channel full authority digital engine control Specifications Landing distance, ground roll 2.390 ft (FADEC) systems make engine start a Powerplants Two Pratt & Whitney snap, for example. Push the start button PW615F. 1,460-1b thrust Limiting and Recommended and as soon as rotation starts, move the Recommended T80 3.500 hr Airspeeds thrust lever into the idle position. With Length .40 ft 7 in VFE(max flap extended) 0 degrees to Height 13 ft 5 in Takeoff/Approach 185 KIAS that, one of the Pratt &Whitney engines Wingspan .43 ft 2 in VFE(max flap extended) Takeoff/Approach spools up on its own-all carefully mon• Wing area 210 sq ft to Landing 150 KIAS itored by the FADEC. Wing loading .41.2 Ib/sq ft VlE (max gear extended) 250 KIAS It is really the new generation of Seats 1+5 VlO (max gear operating) Cabin length 14 ft 9 in Extend 250 KIAS small turbine engines that has made Cabin width 55 in Retract 185 KIAS the VLJ movement possible. Cessna Cabin height.. 54 in VMO(max operating speed) sea level to chose the P&W Canada PW615F en• Standard empty weight 5,350 Ib 27,120 feet 250 KIAS gines to power the Mustang. This newly Max ramp weight 8,730Ib MMO(max Mach number) 27,120 feet Useful load 3,380 Ib and above Mach 0.63 certificated engine produces 1,460 Payload w/full fuel 800 Ib pounds of thrust at sea level and is flat Max takeoff weight 8.645 Ib For more information, contact Cessna rated up to 25 degrees Celsius, mean• Max landing weight.. 8,000 Ib Aircraft Company, PO Box 7706, Wichita, ing you'll get that much thrust even on Zero fuel weight 6,750 Ib Kansas 67277; telephone 316/517-6212; a warm day. The time between over• Fuel capacity 385 gal/2,580 Ib fax 316/517-5658; or visit the Web site Baggage capacity (www.citation.cessna.com) . hauls is 3,500 hours right out of the Nose 320 lb. 20 cu ft box, which is remarkable for a brand• Tail 300 Ib, 37 cu ft All specifications are based on manufactur• new engine. Hot-section inspections er's calculations. All performance figures are not necessary until 1,750 hours and Performance are based on standard day, standard atmos• they can be performed without remov• Takeoff distance. ground roll* 3,110 ft phere, sea level, maximum gross weight Max cruise speed 340 kt. 35,000 ft conditions unless otherwise noted. *Takeoff ing the engine from the aircraft. Range. N8AA IFR Range 1,150 nm distance balanced field length to Part 23 Lightweight, powerful, and fuel effi• Max operating altitude .41,000 ft Commuter Category, 15 degrees flaps. cient, the engines allow the Mustang to offer good performance at miniscule

AOPA PILOT· 71· JUNE 2007 !

fuel burns of around 460 pounds per protect the wing and tail areas from ice. Unusual in some new models, the Mustang hour, or about 70 gph total at FL410. Boots may seem like a low-tech solu• has a manual trim wheel to back up the The Mustang's fuel system is Sky• tion, but they work and the new ver• electric trim. The keyboard is the primary access to the flight management system hawk simple; all of the 2,580 pounds of sions are easy to repair and replace. In (far left). The flight control system is fuel is in the wings. The left tank feeds addition, the boots contribute to the managed through the mode controller at the left engine and vice versa. No Mustang's climb performance because the top of the glareshield (left center). switching of tanks is necessary unless they don't rob power from the engines The rugged trailing link main landing gear you're flying on one engine. Fuel as bleed-air systems do on many other system includes dual rotor steel disc pumps come on automatically at en• jets. And they apparently work well be• brakes with digital anti-skid protection gine start. A heat exchanger on the oil cause the Mustang, with its all-new (above). system automatically warms the fuel in type certificate, has to meet the latest flight, meaning that anti-icing fuel ad• very stringent icing requirements. The ditives are not necessary. windshield is electrically heated, which systems tell the rest of the pack which An electric motor powers the hy• makes the cockpit much quieter than way is up and provide the precision draulic system for landing-gear actua• that of other Citations, which use a necessary for reduced vertical separa• tion and the brakes. For safety purpos• noisy, heavy, and complex hot air sys• tion minimums (RVSM) required for es, none of the hydraulic lines passes tem to provide windshield defog. operation in the upper flight levels. through the pressure vessel. The elec• The flight controls are all mechani• In the center a giant IS-inch multi• tric anti-skid braking system allows the cal, using pushrods and bellcranks. function display provides all of the pilots to stomp on the brakes upon Unusual for a jet, the controls are rout• other information the pilot needs, in• landing while the computers sort out ed through the panel to a yoke-like in cluding moving map, XM weather over• the rest. The speed brakes on the top of single-engine - rather than up lays, traffic and terrain depiction, flight the wings and the flaps also are electri• through the floor. The result is easy ac• planning, and engine indication and cally actuated. cess to the cockpit seats. There is noth• crew alerting system (EICAS). EICAS Thanks to precise control by the ing to block your feet when getting in replaces the plethora of annunciators FADECs, the engines produce minimal and out. In addition, the center found on older jets. Instead, EICASqui• thrust at idle, meaning that no thrust at• pedestal does not go completely to the etly monitors the systems, alerting the tenuators are necessary. The original CJ floor, allowing your feet to slide under• crew via text messages on the MFD needed thrust attenuators to taxi because neath it during access and egress. only when something is awry. it did not have FADEC.Without FADEC, The highly capable Garmin GIOOO All of the navigation and communica• its Williams International engines pro• system holds center stage on the panel. tion radios are managed through the duced too much thrust during taxi, re• A lOA-inch primary flight display (PFD) knobs and buttons around the perime• quiring excessive braking by the pilots. in front of each pilot seat provides atti• ters of the displays or by the alphanu• Engine bleed air prevents icing of the tude and heading information. Dual meric keypad on the pedestal. The Pratt engine inlets. Pneumatic boots solid-state attitude heading reference Garmin GFC 710 flight control system is

AOPA PILOT· 72 •JUNE 2007 Eight locking pins and a passive blade• the cabin to a maximum differential of 8,645. This airplane, with some test gear type pressure seal protect the Mustang's 8.3 pounds per square inch, providing an still on board, weighs 5,750 empty, which constant-width door. A folding two-step 8,000-foot cabin at the maximum cruise is a little higher than typical. We added entry stair provides easy access (above). altitude of41,000 feet. 400 pounds for the two passengers and Cessna uses low-power and long-life LEDs just over 2,000 pounds of fuel. So this for the wingtip strobes and nav lights To the flight levels would be a fairly typical short-trip con• (above, center). The Pratt & Whitney PW615F engines have a 2.8:1 bypass ratio Settled into the left seat with Mustang figuration-four on board and enough with three compression stages and two demonstration pilot Charles L. Bram• fuel for a trip of a few hundred miles. turbine stages, producing 1,460 pounds of meier in the right seat, I hit that right V-speeds were amazingly low: VI and thrust at sea level (above right). Start button and moved the right thrust VR 91 KlAS, and V2 97 KlAS.With a cou• lever to the idle position. The right en• ple of twists of knobs and pushes of but• gine was soon humming. A push of the tons, I set the airspeed bugs on the PFD. managed through the knobs and buttons button for the left side and nudge of the Taxiing out, I noticed it took a fair at the top center of the stack. left thrust lever brought the other side amount of thrust to get the airplane To give you a sense of the capabilities online. The avionics were already hum• rolling. The temperature was 21 de• of the Garmin G1000 system installed in ming and Brammeier had put in a flight grees C with the winds out of the south the Mustang, which is significantly more plan for Independence, Kansas, 84 nm at 25, gusting to 36. Welcome to Kansas. sophisticated than the G1000 in simpler southeast of Wichita Mid-Continent Air• On the runway, I clicked the thrust airplanes, the "Flight compartment, in• port. Some Mustang subassemblies are levers up to the Takeoff setting, noted strumentation and avionics" section of built in the Wichita plant and other Cess• that the G 1000 annunciators agreed, the Citation Mustang Specification and na facilities, but assembly is done at the and away we went. VI and VR arrived Description book eats up six of the 24 Independence plant next to the single• quickly; a little tug on the yoke and we pages. By contrast, the electrical, pres• engine piston airplanes. Of course, we were climbing away at more than 3,000 surization, environmental, and oxygen• wouldn't get to Independence the direct fpm. I pulled the levers back to the system descriptions all fit on one page. way; we would head west first, climbing climb detent and turned toward the Regarding pressurization, that's man- to altitude to see how the Mustang flies. west. Wichita's cooperative controllers aged bv the GlOOOtoo. wi" . essna ramp, N510KS allowed us to climb straight to altitude. . . st,J3 At FL350 and with the cabin at a comfortable 6,800 feet, the speed settled in at 354 knots true, well above the book speed.

down to about 700 fpm. The trick is to golfer Payne Stewart had had one. but very capable avionics, the other climb at 170 KIASuntil reaching Mach To see whether the Mustang would thing that makes the Mustang more 0.45 and then climb at that speed. I meet its promised 340 KTAS at mid• affordable than your traditional Cita• flipped on the autopilot because RVSM cruise weight, we descended to FL350, tion is the manufacturing process. As requirements mandate that the autopi• where the temperature was right at Mustang Program Manager Russ lot handle allievel-offs above FL290. standard. There the speed settled on Meyer III pointed out during a brief• Air traffic control doesn't want ham• 354 KTAS,well above the book speed. ing, the Mustang takes full advantage fisted pilots busting altitude when only Fuel burn increased to 660 pph. Mean• of everything Cessna has learned 1,000 feet separates aircraft. while, the cabin was a comfortable about building jets. Although some After a total of26 minutes, 30 seconds 6,800 feet. older models of Citations are still built in the climb, we leveled off at FIA10.We With a turn back to the east, Bram• using a lot of bent aluminum and riv• had burned 420 pounds since engine meier set up for the GPS 17 approach to ets, the Mustang is mostly made from start. The temperature there was 4 de• Independence. The vertical navigation formed aluminum skins bonded to grees above standard. I clicked the planning had us descending from structure, providing an amazingly FADEC back to the cruise setting while FL350 to 2,500 feet at a point five miles smooth finish. In metal bonding, a the airplane accelerated. The airspeed from the airport. A caret on the verti• chemical bonding agent (glue, but the soon settled in at 324 knots true while cal-speed-indicator tape showed us engineers don't like to call it that) is burning 470 pounds per hour. when to start the descent. applied to the components to be Brammeier noted that in the case of During the descent, the system cal• joined and then the parts are mated a rapid depressurization all we would culated a landing weight of 7,260 under pressure and heated in an auto• have to do is don the oxygen masks, pounds and a VREr of 89 knots, about clave for a period of hours. yank the thrust levers back, and put out what I fly in my Beechcraft Bonanza. I One fuselage tool at the Indepen• speed brakes and landing gear. The au• dialed the minimums into the G1000 for dence plant holds the side skins in topilot, sensing the depressurization, the approach, which set a bug on the al• place with a vacuum and then moves would turn the airplane 90 degrees to timeter. Turning into the wind on final, the two sides inward to mate with the get it off an airway and begin a rapid it felt like we stopped, but soon the run• floor and its associated ribs while the descent to 15,000 feet, managing the way appeared underneath and I aft bulkhead is moved forward, bring• pitch all the while so as to not over• plunked the airplane down on the pave• ing all of the pieces together just right. speed the airplane. With any luck we'd ment between gusts. The trailing-link External skins come together leaving wake up at 15,000 feet if we didn't quite gear softened the impact significantly. neat and tidy seams of 20-thousandths get the masks on. Few of even the high• of an inch, meaning no hand fitting est-end autopilots have such sophisti• Time for bonding and filling are required. A routerlike cated features as an emergency de• Besides the new generation of small, tool cuts the door and window open• scent mode. If only the Learjet carrying efficient engines and the lower-cost ings in the fuselage skins, again, ensur• ing a perfect fit. estimated operating cost As of mid-March, Cessna was build• For a typical 500-nautlcal-mile trip ing about one Mustang a week, but 3-Year Average plans to eventually increase that to In Warranty Out of Warranty about four a week, wicking away at that Average speed (knots) 313 313 260-order backlog. As of mid-April, Average fuel flow 95 95 only three Mustangs had been deliv• Labor hours (per fl ight hOUr) 0.60 0.90 ered-two for use by Cessna as demon• stration airplanes and one to a retail Operating cost per flight $hour$183.60$714.24$380$2.28$78.6472 $ $165.66$643.7950.13$48$380$2.06 customer. The first retail customer is MaintenencePartsEngineTotal costreservesper flight hour FuelLabor($4($80perpergalion)hour) David Goode, a former U.S. Ski Team Cost per nautical mile member and president of Goode Ski Technologies. Goode moved up to the Mustang from a Cessna 310. A glitch in the G}000 software held up Mustang deliveries while a fix was developed and flight-tested. Deliveries were ramping up by late April; the com-

AOPA PILOT· 74· JUNE 2007 I pany hopes to deliver 40 aircraft this mance singles, especially one with any Cessna designed a new high-lift airfoil to year and 100 next year. time behind the G1000, will easily tran• give the Mustang low stall speeds and low drag and pitching moments. The leading sition into the Mustang. It is in many edge sweeps back 11 degrees. Rylng the transition ways simpler to fly than a piston twin, As we piled back into the airplane for especially from a systems standpoint. course should have little trouble ob• the return to Wichita, it dawned on me And with Cessna's estimate of $2.06 per taining coverage through a number of that even on flight two I was already nautical mile in direct operating costs, aviation insurers. feeling more at home with the airplane. it is less expensive to operate than Cessna has developed several services I have a Garmin GNS 530W in my air• many turboprops. in support of Mustang customers new to plane, so the operating logic is similar Those transitioning into the Mus• turbine operations and who likely don't to the GlOOO's.With the simple engine tang will do so by taking a course at already have flight departments. Pro• start procedure and simple engine FlightSafety International, which in Tech, for example, is a new initiative that management, thanks to FADEC, and April certified its all-new Mustang sim• will provide a host of services, including the somewhat familiar cockpit archi• ulator. FSI also provides a cockpit sim• navigation database management. For tecture, I was believing I could actually ulator to help pilots master the GlOOO. maintenance, Mustangs will be serviced get this going and back to the ranch Unlike FSI's traditional courses, which right alongside other Citations at Cess• without busting it. are for the most part by the book, the na's string of company-owned Citation We blasted off into the terrific head• Mustang program will be customized Service Centers. They've thought of it all. wind, climbing away effortlessly to to the needs of the customer. Recogniz• When you look at the complete Mus• 17,000 feet. On the way up I experiment• ing that about 90 percent of Mustangs tang package, it's easy to see why "sure ed with the flight controls and racked will be owner flown and many owners thing" brought in so many eager the airplane around. Throughout the will have little turbine time, Cessna and customers. AaI6. flight envelope, the airplane flies like a FSI worked together to develop a new much smaller airplane-more like a approach. Customers will complete a E-mail the author at thomas.haines@ Cessna 210 than a jet-especially re• "proficiency index," basically a thor• aopa.org. garding the V-speeds, yet it retains all of ough survey of their flying skills and the nice, stable handling characteristics proficiency. FSI will then build a cur• CB Links to additional information of the rest of the Citation line. riculum to get the pilot up to speed in about Cessna Mustangs may be found Any reasonably competent pilot the Mustang. According to insurance on AOPA Online (www.aopa.org/pilot/ used to flying light twins or high-perfor- experts, pilots completing the FSI links.shtml].

AOPA PILOT· 76· JUNE 2007