Photo courtesy of Textron Aviation
The third aircraft in the Cessna Citation Longitude flight-test program recently completed its first flight, Textron Aviation says. At one hour and 40 minutes, the flight tested multiple systems. The company has also started assembly line flow in its east campus Plant IV manufacturing facility, with the first four production Longitude aircraft in progress.
“The speed at which our team is achieving these milestones is an important indication to our customers of the maturity of the aircraft’s systems and the proficiency of our processes,” says Brad Thress, SVP of engineering. “We continue to build momentum in the program, and the team is dedicated to getting this world-class aircraft in the hands of our customers.”
The first Longitude in the test program flew less than six months ago. To date, the first two aircraft in the flight test program have completed 125 flights, logging more than 250 hours, Textron Aviation says. Certification of the Citation Longitude is expected before the end of this year. The aircraft would be used in the program for avionics and systems development, and for collecting flight simulator data.