Cessna Citation X Closer to Reclaiming Speed Crown

Cessna concluded the high-speed flight-testing with the FAA, inching ahead of the G650 by showing speeds of up to Mach 0.935. The high-speed test program appears to have been a great success all around. "All responses from the high-speed certification testing were well within the expected performance envelope," said Michael Thacker, Cessna's senior vice president of engineering. "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." More than 1,300 hours have been flown as part of the Citation X certification program so far.

In addition to having bragging rights for owning the fastest business jet in the world, Citation X owners will enjoy Garmin's latest avionics offering for larger bizjets, a four-display G5000 panel, as well as new fadec-controlled Rolls-Royce engines. Another new addition is standard winglets, which have been offered as an aftermarket Winglet Technology STC through Cessna's service centers since 2009.

Cessna hopes to achieve certification for the new Citation X early next year.

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