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Aviation History
2001
2001 - 0123.PDF
flap travel after take-off, and the control forces are light and well harmonised in pitch, roll and yaw. The breakout forces are light and the con trol surfaces powerful and effective. Although light and nimble to manoeuvre, there is no asso ciated tendency to be too lively and depart from trimmed conditions. The handling characteris tics are ideal for single pilot flying as the aircraft can be relied on to take care of itself for a few sec onds as the pilot busies himself with air traffic clearances and the other routine distractions of single pilot instrument flying. Cessna has achieved this harmonious han dling through simple, mechanically operated primary flying control surfaces. The ailerons, elevators and rudder are trimmed manually and have trim position indicators on the trim wheels. The elevators also have electric trim through the usual two-pole switch on the con trol wheel. The mechanical pitch trim wheel is within easy reach (near the captain's right knee) and is so effective to use tliat it will doubtless be the preferred control for many CJ1 pilots. AIRBRAKE OPERATION The airbrakes (speed brakes) have two panels per wing, one extending from the top surface and one underwing. They are electrically con trolled (through a guarded switch towards the rear of the centre console) and hydraulically operated. They can be either retracted or extended but have no intermediate positions. Extending them causes little pitch change but noticeable aerodynamic noise. With the thrust levers at flight idle, airbrakes extended, and airspeed of 230kts, die rate of descent is 40m/s (7,800ft per minute). The CJl is not designed to be a long-range, high-altitude, high-speed aircraft. Its maximum operating altitude is 41,000ft and maximum operating speeds Mach 0.71 or 263kt indicated airspeed. Its range with instrument flight rules reserves is around 2,035km (l,100nm). The flight test CJl took seven minutes to climb through flight level (FL) 180 and a further 10 minutes to reach FL310. At about FL350 it began to run out of breath and much of its nor mal operations would presumably be in the lower 30s or below. Therefore its straight wing serves it well and handling at 3 5,000ft remained crisp. The aircraft exhibited no aerodynamic Mach effects and does not have, or need, a Mach trimmer. There is nb provision for reduced ver tical separation minima operations. A snapshot check showed the CJl to have good longitudinal static stability and to be exceptionally well damped directionally. A pilot not used to the aircraft would be hard pressed to tell, merely from handling characteristics, whether the yaw damper was in or out. A 45° left bank to 45° right bank roll took 3.5s. During high angles of bank, the deep cockpit side win dows give an exceptional field of view for this class of aircraft.. The CJl has\ useful angle-of-attack (AoA) indication to the left of the captain's primary Paddle-shaped thrust attenuators swing outboard across the jet eflux after landing The hydraulic system reservoir is easy to service thanks to a large fuselage hatch The CJl took Seven minutes to climb to FL180 and ten more to reach FL110 flight display (PFD), calibrated from 0.1 to 1.0. For each flap configuration, 0.6 is calibrated to represent the approach speed for 15° flaps and threshold (reference) speed for 35° flaps. It is therefore a useful instrument for flying the aircraft on the approach. It also was useful during the two stalls flown. Provencio advised the Cessna-recommended training technique for stalling which requires the engines to be set at 50% N, rather than power off. This technique would appear to be an engine, rather than airframe, consideration. FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 9 - 15 January 2001 29
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