Light Jet Face-off

While the skies have not been darkened by an overcast of very light jets, as some predicted nearly a decade ago, light jets have definitely created a sustainable niche since the introduction of the Cessna Citation Mustang in 2007. The Embraer Phenom 100 came along less than 18 months later, with the Brazilian company placing a firm stake in the single-pilot jet market. For the first time ever, we take a look at these two competitors side by side. In “Phenom 100 and Citation Mustang Showdown”, expert Cyrus Sigari compares and contrasts the two. They may look similar on the ramp, but you may be surprised at how different these two twenty-first- century jets are one from another.

March 2012
Turbine Pilot Contents

• Light Jet Face-Off: Special section for the turbine inclined.
• Showdown Comparing two entry-level jets under $4 million.
• Mentoring Matters: ISA and Cruise Planning How nonstandard conditions aloft affect cruise planning.
• Logbook Entry: Commentary Light jet, heavy responsibility.

Should you make the leap to flying either of them, or any high-flying airplane, you’ll want a good understanding of the concept of ISA—the international standard atmosphere. As Neil Singer points out in “Mentoring Matters: ISA and Cruise Planning”, you don’t know cold until you know cold at FL410, where what seems awfully cold may in fact not be cold enough to allow you to fly there.

Finally, moving up to a turbine airplane demands learning not just new piloting skills, but also new maintenance skills. A light jet, in particular, is quite a different airplane to maintain than one that flies in the neighborhood of propellers, as Louis Seno points out in our Logbook Entry commentary titled, “Light Jet, Heavy Responsibility”.

If you’re someone who has recently made the transition from pistons to turbines or likes to think such a transition might be in your future, read on. These special edition pages are for you.

Only a small subset of the AOPA membership gets this special Turbine Edition—those whom we believe have an interest in reading about higher-end aircraft. In this monthly special edition you get all of the content in the standard editions, plus these extra pages. If you would rather not receive this edition, just let us know at: memberservices@aopa.org. We’re happy to switch you back to the standard edition.

I hope you learn some new advanced flying techniques and a little about turbine operations in these pages. Let us know what you think at pilot@aopa.org. —Tom Haines, Editor in Chief