CJ4, Cessna’s Largest CitationJet, Makes First Flight

By Chad Trautvetter

May 6, 2008
Aircraft

The Cessna Citation CJ4 prototype successfully achieved a two-hour 22-minute maiden flight yesterday morning, taking off from McConnell AFB in Wichita and landing at nearby Mid-Continent Airport. “It was an outstanding first flight,” said Cessna senior engineering test pilot Dan Morris, who flew the aircraft with engineering flight-test manager Dave Bonifield as copilot.

“We tested quite a number of the systems on the aircraft, including the autopilot, and all performed very well. The crew also conducted flight maneuvers to evaluate the twinjet’s stability and control, in addition to initial systems evaluations, climbing as high as 16,000 feet in the process.

Two more flight-test CJ4s are being built at Cessna’s Pawnee advanced engineering facility, which sits adjacent to McConnell AFB. The first production aircraft, S/N 0001, will be used primarily for avionics and systems certification, while the second production aircraft will conduct function and reliability testing.

First flight for these two production CJ4s will take place later this year, Cessna said. Type certification of the eight-seat jet is slated for the second half of next year, with customer deliveries scheduled to begin in early 2010.

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