Citation X - Vakker kvikkas

Cessna Citation X Mach 0.935 Speed Confirmed by FAA

Woodrow Bellamy III

The FAA recently finished high speed certification flights to confirm the new Citation X as the world's fastest civilian aircraft with a top operating speed of Mach 0.935 (617 mph, 536 ktas), Cessna said Thursday. 

 

 

[Cessna's new Citation X. Photo, courtesy of Cessna.] 

 

Cessna expects to achieve certification for the new Citation X by 2014, after completing 1,300 flight hours thus far as part of its FAA flight-testing program. The high speed testing evaluated handling qualities, stability, control and maneuverability at high speeds. 

 

"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,” said Michael Thacker, senior vice president of engineering at Cessna. 

 

The Citation X is one of six new aircraft that Cessna is currently working on bringing to the market by next year, including the Citation M2, TTx, Grand Caravan EX, 182 Turbo Skyland JT-A and new Citation Sovereign.