Prototype light jet takes to sky as business aircraft manufacturers ramp up their respective programmes
Cessna flew its Citation Mustang entry-level business jet for the first time on 23 April. The prototype Mustang completed a 2h 21min maiden flight, taking off from McConnell AFB in Wichita, Kansas and landing at nearby MidContinent airport, where Cessna is headquartered.
Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI), meanwhile, has completed ground engine runs and systems checks on the first Gulfstream G150 mid-size business jet, with a maiden flight scheduled before the end of May.
The prototype of the all-new Mustang will be used for aerodynamic and systems tests, and will be followed later this year by two production aircraft.
The first will be used for avionics development and certification, and the second for function and reliability testing and post-certification service tests. Certification and first delivery is scheduled for the fourth quarter of next year.
Initially, aircraft are being assembled at Cessna's Wichita plant, but tooling is to be relocated to the company's Independence, Kansas single-engine aircraft factory where full production of the Mustang will begin in the fourth quarter of this year. Cessna has a backlog of more than 200 orders.
Rival very light jet manufacturer Eclipse Aviation flew the third conforming Eclipse 500 test aircraft on 21 April, just one week after the second aircraft joined the rapidly accelerating test programme. Certification is planned for the first quarter of next year.
Gulfstream, meanwhile, says the G150 is on schedule for certification in the first quarter of next year and first delivery in the third quarter of 2006. The first aircraft's Honeywell TFE731-40 engines have been integrated with the environmental control system, avionics, electrics and hydraulics in preparation for a first flight next month.
Dassault is expected to fly its Falcon 7X and Falcon 900DX business jets in the next two weeks from its Merignac, Bordeaux facility. "We expect both aircraft to be flying before the European Business Aviation Convention and Exhibition [to be held in Geneva, Switzerland from 18-20 May], says Dassault. Certification and first deliveries of the DX, a defuelled 900EX powered by three TFE731-60s, are scheduled for the third and fourth quarter of the year respectively. Approval and deliveries of the ultra-long-range 7X are earmarked for the fourth quarter of next year.
GRAHAM WARWICK/WASHINGTON DC
Source: Flight International
