New Cessna Citation Sovereign Makes First Flight

Bethany Whitfield

Tuesday, April 30, 2013 at 08:15 PM ET

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** Cessna Citation Sovereign**

Key Takeaways:

The first production model of the upgraded Citation Sovereign successfully completed its maiden flight, with test pilots praising its handling and the new Garmin G5000 avionics.
The new Citation Sovereign features significant upgrades including new winglets, more powerful engines, and the Garmin G5000 avionics suite, replacing the previous Honeywell system.
These enhancements provide improved performance, offering an increased range of 3,000 nm and the ability to climb directly to 45,000 feet.
Cessna has also introduced a new five-year warranty package for the Citation Sovereign.

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The new Citation Sovereign made its maiden production flight recently, giving Cessna test pilots their first opportunity to evaluate the upgraded jet’s performance and handling.

The flight originated near Cessna’s manufacturing plant in Wichita, Kansas, and lasted for two-and-a-half hours. During that time, Cessna’s test crew performed evaluations of the Garmin G5000 avionics panel, the engine system and aircraft systems.