WICHITA, Kan. - Cessna has rolled out of the first production Citation Latitude at the company’s Wichita, Kansas manufacturing facility, three years since it announced the launch of the new business jet. The event was the latest in the aircraft’s progression toward type certification by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which is expected in the second quarter of this year.
The Citation Latitude certification program, which includes four flying aircraft, has accumulated 500 flights and 1,200 hours to date. The first fully-configured aircraft made its public debut at last fall’s National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) Convention & Exhibition in Orlando, Florida and has since been touring the country for customer demonstration flights.
The Citation Latitude accommodates up to nine passengers, can reach a flight level of 43,000 feet (13,106 meters) in 24 minutes and has a range of up to 2,700 nautical miles (5,000 kilometers). It is designed with a powerful new environmental system, a pressurization system providing a 6,000-foot (1,829-meter) cabin altitude at the aircraft’s maximum operating altitude of 45,000 feet (13,716 meters), an electrically-operated cabin door, Garmin G5000 avionics, two Pratt & Whitney Canada PW306D1 engines, and standard auto-throttles.