Cessna unveiled its new Citation Columbus business jet yesterday. It's fast (Mach .85) , efficient (PW810 engines) and has very long legs (4000 nm). To boot, it's got wireless hubs on board to, "connect your PDAs, cell phones, laptops and just about any other communication device to the rest of the world."
This is an aircraft designed with the global economy in mind.
First flight is scheduled in 2011, FAA certification in 2013 and entry into service 2014.
See the complete product brochure from Cessna.
Click for high-resolution:
More high-resolution photos below the fold.
And you thought the X's engines looked ridiculously oversized....
One sexy jet even with the beer belly!
Jon, there are several things to rag about here.
Present tense? I know that Cessna has the hubris to use it in their writeup; but, you're supposedly of independent media. Boeing made the same error with its 'potemkin' liner; where is that?
Photos? These are images (okay, that is used elsewhere) not photos.
Of course, on the other hand, a two-year window for certification! Did they learn from the recent Boeing stumble?
Anonymous,
The use of the present tense is to talk about the specifications that have been laid out. Obviously, the performance of the final aircraft has still yet to be seen. I was merely making a comment on the specified features of the aircraft as currently announced.
As for the window for certification. First flight in 2011 and EIS in 2014 gives them up to three full years. It's still a paper airplane, but a business jet is different from a jetliner. They have the ultimately the same airworthiness certification hurdles, but there is also an issue of scale. I don't think the comparison is the same.
Jon
ah, let's talk about that first image for a second: is cessna kidding or are those windows really larger than people's heads? and how tall are these people anyway? that looks like four or five steps, yet the door towers up to what looks like 12ft in the air (assuming the average pictured male is 6ft)
obviously I haven't seen the aircraft but something smells fishy.
Love that last comment as 'fishy' is, perhaps, a more apt description than some other more modern examples.
Yes, it is an image which was composited from several sources. Looks as if the perspective was not quite resolved between the sources.
The OEM ought to be a little more careful with this type of thing.