The Fastest Biz Jet Alive!

Edmund Schweitzer. President and Chairman of Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories (SEL) placed an order for three #Textron Aviation #Cessna Citation X+s at NBAA 2016. The order builds on a 20-year relationship between the companies. SEL has owned an all-Citation fleet since 1999 and acquired its first Citation X, the predecessor of the X+, in 2002.

SEL designs and builds digital systems that protect power grids, and it has customers in 148 countries. Chairman, Edmund Schweitzer explained the reason for their choice of aircraft: “The Citation X+ is a business tool that allows us to serve our customers around the world. The X+ provides a total cost of ownership that makes sense.” Schweitzer also cited Cessna’s customer service in its decision to keep the all-Citation fleet.

Cessna launched the Citation X (Citation 10) in 1990. Back then Cessna was famous for its reliable and famously docile-handling straight-wing jets (though the X was not the first sweptwing model). The Citation X was the -fastest non-Concorde civil airplane in the world for most of its production life and has recently reclaimed that title. Unlike most previous Citations, it was built from a clean sheet instead of being derived from an existing model. This jet was designed for a new kind of customer, one who wanted style, power and presence while still banking on Cessna's award-winning service.

The secret of the X's design combines low drag with powerful engines and a great wing. The wing is extraordinary, a highly swept supercritical airfoil whose sweep is rivaled among civil airplanes only by that of another very fast model with a slightly greater payload, the Boeing 747.

The Citation X doesn't fit a niche so much as a need. That need is of course for speed, but with comfort, range, sophistication and more thrown in to sweeten the deal. The X offered a good cabin, though it was tight in some respects. Legroom in the club seating areas could be less than ideal.

Headroom, on the other hand, was (and is) quite good. The wing of the X passes underneath the cabin and not through it, as is the case with many Cessnas and competitors, so the cabin floor can be lower.

Over its 18 years of producing the airplane, Cessna has delivered 330 of the original Citation X models.

Cessna announced plans for the new Citation X+ model at the NBAA convention in Atlanta in 2010, 20 years after it first announced the Citation X, the company put on an impressive show, revealing the new plane in front of a big crowd at the Georgia Dome.

The flashiest news was that the new X would get up to Mach 0.935, overtaking the Gulfstream G650, aiming for Mach 0.925, a speed it would indeed achieve. By hitting 0.935, the Citation X would reclaim the "fastest bizjet" title from Gulfsream. With a range of 3460 NM (3216 NM on straight X model), this will get you direct from London to New York at a faster speed than any other jet. In a market where speed is key, if this is what you need in your jet then look no further...

The new Citation X+ has winglets manufactured by Winglet Technology of Wichita. In simple terms, a winglet “fools” the air into behaving as though the aircraft’s wingspan is longer than it really is. Winglets also tame parasitic air vortices coming off the wingtips, reducing drag (some winglets actually redirect this otherwise wasted energy for a marginal performance benefit, similar in effect to tacking a sailboat into the wind.) These factors result in better climb performance, and higher efficiency at high-altitude cruising speeds.

A new glass cockpit manufactured by Kansas neighbor Garmin International, and autothrottles again built by Garmin. The fuselage stretch, is great for the passengers in back. The new airplane has 14 additional inches of cabin length, which creates a lot of extra legroom for the front club grouping, which gets eight of those inches.

Typically configured, the X is a double-club-plus-one configuration.

Lighting was also improved, with LEDs throughout offering mood and brightness options. There are two-layer window shades to let some light through or none at all. New entertainment, information and connectivity options are available, and each seat has an individual portal for entertainment, lighting and flight information. If the cabin of the original X was a weakness, the passenger section on the new model is a selling point.

The huge Rolls-Royce Allison engines help define the X+'s high-tech look. The engines are improved, with a new blade design and additional thermal capacity that give the X+ better hot and high performance. This is great news in any airplane, but in a bizjet it can make possible certain trips in the summer, to Colorado, for example, while also affording improved flexibility on departure times, more payload and better runway performance.

The great news is that nearly every one of Cessna's promises four years ago came true, and the Citation X+ is certificated and already being delivered, a testament to the way things work at Cessna, where on-time certification seems to be core to the DNA. In fact, the airplane earned its FAA approval the day before I arrived in Wichita to fly it, and the first delivery was to a business owner that very day.

The Citation X+ succeeded the X on the production line in 2014, reclaiming the title of the fastest business jets on the market with a certified top speed of Mach 0.935. It has a 3,460-nm range and can seat 12 passengers. Cessna updated the flight deck in the X+ with Garmin G5000 avionics and autothrottles.

List price for a new Citation X+ is USD$23.4M. However, with 28 pre-owned Citation X's on the market ranging from USD$3M-16M, buying an older model and adding winglets, new avionics, refurb the engines and maybe fit a new interior you could get yourself this fast jet for a lot less...

Fabrizio Poli is Managing Partner of Aircraft Trading Company Tyrus Wings. He is also an accomplished Airline Transport Pilot having flown both private Jets and for the airlines. Fabrizio is also a bestselling author and inspirational speaker & has been featured on Russia Today (RT), Social Media Examiner,Bloomberg, Channel 5, Chicago Tribune, Daily Telegraph, City Wealth Magazine, Billionaire.com, Wealth X, Financial Times, El Financiero and many other Media offering insight on the aviation world. Fabrizio is also regularly featured as an Aviation Analyst on Russia Today (RT). Fabrizio is also aviation special correspondent for luxury magazine, Most Fabullous Magazine. Fabrizio is also considered one of the world's top 30 experts in using Linkedin for business. You can tune in weekly to Fabrizio's business Podcast Living Outside the Cube available both in video & audio. You can also follow Fabrizio's aviation videos on Tyrus Wings TV.

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