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Textron updates latest programs

Textron’s 3,500-nautical-mile, 476-knot Citation Longitude appears to be on track for certification, according to Textron officials.

View of the Textron Citation Longitude production line.

So far, 600 test flights and 100 flight hours have been conducted, according to company spokesmen. Flight envelope data is being collected, along with runway performance figures, stall and stick-pusher trials, rudder trim tests, hot- and cold-testing, and in-flight icing tanker tests. Longitudes up to serial No. 14 are now in final assembly.

Head-up display tests for landing credit under low instrument flight rules weather are also underway.

As for Textron’s latest design—the $35 million, 4,500-nm, Mach 0.90 Citation Hemisphere—input from customer advisory boards is being solicited, and wind tunnel testing using scale models has been completed. Meanwhile, the Hemisphere order book is officially open. At last year’s National Business Aviation Association convention, a Hemisphere cabin mockup was on display. A second-generation mockup will be featured at this year’s static display area. First flight? It’s expected in the fourth quarter of 2018.

The $4.8 million Denali single-engine turboprop has completed all testing of its five-blade McCauley propeller, and it’s estimated that 75 percent of the Denali’s structural elements will be completed by the end of the year. First flight of the Denali will take place sometime in 2018, Textron says, and the first year’s worth of production is already sold out.

Thomas A. Horne
Thomas A. Horne
Contributor
Tom Horne worked at AOPA from the early 1980s until he retired from his role as AOPA Pilot editor at large and Turbine Pilot editor in 2023. He began flying in 1975 and has an airline transport pilot and flight instructor certificates. He’s flown everything from ultralights to Gulfstreams and ferried numerous piston airplanes across the Atlantic.
Topics: Jet, National Business Aviation Association

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