Cessna on Tuesday announced to a small group of aviation journalists that its Citation Latitude midsize jet is on track for certification and first deliveries early next year. Announced just two years ago, the Latitude is a clean-sheet airplane designed to compete in a new supercharged midsized market characterized by airplanes with bigger cabins and longer range. The Latitude is right there in both regards.
On Tuesday I had the chance to tour the third flying example, complete with a beautiful production interior, and to witness the first flight of the fourth conforming aircraft, from Wichita Mid-Continent Airport, home base for Cessna Aircraft. That flight lasted two and a half hours and allowed the crew to complete Cessna’s standard first flight profile. The interior, with a flat floor and six feet of actual headroom, was roomy and luxurious, featuring the same new-design seats as on the Citation X+ and Sovereign+.
The fourth Citation Latitude taxis out for its first flight.|
The Citation Latitude has surprised even Cessna with big performance gains over those originally targeted. Its range is up 200 nautical miles, from 2,500 nm to 2,700 nm, and its runway takeoff distance is now a remarkable 3,668 feet, an improvement of 362 over its target takeoff distance. It should be pointed out that a sub-4,000-foot takeoff figure for a 2,700 nm range midsize jet is impressive, if not unprecedented. The Latitude features the new Garmin G5000 touch-controlled flat panel display system with autothrottles, and is powered by a pair of Pratt & Whitney Canada PW306D high-efficiency turbofan engines. Certification for the $16.2 million twinjet is anticipated in the spring of 2015.
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