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PILOT REPORT

/CA Update: Cessnas Enhanced Citation III

A new avionics suite tops the long list of model improvements brought together in the 179th Citation III to roll off the assembly lines.
By RICHARD N. AARONS January 1990 Document # 2509, 5 pages

Last fall Cessna Aircraft Company stirred up considerable excitement, particularly among Citationphiles, with the announcement of development projects for the entrylevel CitationJet and the long-leg Citation IV, the latter a derivative of the Citation III. Lost in that flurry of announcements was the fact that the seven-year-old Citation III production program was nearing a significant block-point change, a time in the manufacturing run when important improvements are made. Lost too, at least in some quarters, was the promise from Cessna Chairman Russell W. Meyer Jr. that the Citation III would remain in production well beyond the planned 1993 start of Citation IV customer deliveries. Meyer told B/CA hes convinced the market for the Citation III will remain strong, especially with U.S. companies operating from the middle of the North American continent and with European companies taking full advantage of the opportunities offered by post-1992 (economic deregulation). In the United States, either coast is within nonstop reach of a Citation III based in middle states. Companies based on the coasts, on the other hand, might opt for the Citation IV with its transcontinental IFR range. The Citation III was introduced in 1982 and has been relatively popular with Fortune 500 fleet operators. It can haul 10 to 13 passengers in high-density seating, but more commonly carries four to six passengers on legs of up to 2,000 nm (zero wind). The Citation III is certified to FAR Part 25 through amendment

39 and has been okayed for FAR Part 91, Category II operations. Citation III project engineers have been listening over the years to comments-both good and bad-from operators and have responded on a continuing basis with engineering improvements. Recently, several planned enhancements came together in a single aircraft-serial number 179. This event prompted our visit to Wichita, where we reacquainted ourselves with the Citation III and, more importantly, took advantage of an opportunity to talk with the engineers behind the product enhancements. Serial number 179, due off Cessnas Wichita assembly line in March, is an important milestone for the Citation III program. Dozens of minor improvements and several major system and subsystems refinements appear in this airframe enough, in fact, to have justified a new letter designation had Cessna been so inclined. The more obvious improvements include a new, standard, digital-avionics package, a redefined interior, and a redesigned (and lengthened) center pedestal. Behind-the-scenes changes include relocation of the baggage compartment J-box from the ceiling to the aft wall, rearrangement of the avionics bay, and the addition of a second rotating beacon, a fuel-totalizer system, dual nicads and a large (76-cubic-foot) oxygen cylinder to the standard equipment list. Sections

BLOCK-POINT CHANGES

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Report

Pilot

of number 179s nacelles are fabricated of metal, a significant change Mom the earlier all-composite nacelles. Other improvements that have appeared individually on some recently delivered airframes will appear together on this airframe. They include: the removal of the flap system asymmetry brakes (at serial number 169) in favor of a modified flap controller; a modification of the floor panel layout (on serial number 170) that enhances maintenance access to components under the aft cabin floor; and (on serial number 173), several changes including the rerigging of the airstair door, redesign of the cabin-seat pedestals and rework of the lavatory footwell to accommodate largefooted passengers. The baggage compartment liner was reworked at serial number 174. Other bits-andpieces improvements spread out among the last serial numbers, and brought together on number 179, include a new installation for the generator control unit, maintenance access panels on the vertical sides of the dropped aisle and a modification to the rudder stop block. One item on operators wish lists- electric windshields-has to wait for the Citation IV. Cessna chose Honeywells digital SPZ-8000 flight control system for newly manufactured Citation IIIs not only because of the industry-wide movement toward all-digital airplanes, but also because the Citation III often finds itself working in a Fortune 500 fleet, and the digital avionics suite is likely to be compatible with those of its larger stablemates. The heart of this system is Honeywells proprietary avionics standard communications bus (ASCB) and its controllers, which can tie together five major avionics subsystems-digital automatic flight control system (AFCS), electronic flight instrumentation system (EFIS), digital air data (DAD), strap-down attitude/heading reference system (AHRS) and weather radar. Dual strap-down AHRSes reduce weight and improve MTBF by replacing vertical and directional gyros, as well as rate gyros and accelerometers, with a single accelerometer package. This unit provides precision attitude, body rates and three-axis linear acceleration data needed for flightpath control, malfunction detection/isolation and aircraft response limiting. AHRS information goes straight to the integrated autopilot/flight director computer, which provides fail operational/fail-passive automatic control. The guidance controller functions almost identically to earlier analog units (from the pilots viewpoint), with the exception of a new flight level change (FLC) feature. This mode manages airspeed through control surface movement, thus providing overspeed protection when changing altitude. The system also includes internal avionics

AVIONICS SUITE

maintenance capability via built-in test equipment (BITE), flight-fault monitoring and power-up self-testing. The fault monitoring systems-largely software-can be used on the ground to diagnose system malfunctions down to subsystem or board level. The Citation III nav/com/pulse package is by Collins. It includes VHF-22 transceivers; VIR-32 nav units (VOR, LOC, GS and marker beacon receivers), dual RMI 36 indicators, dual DME-42 units, dual TDR 90 transponders and a single, digitally controlled ADF 462. Also included in the standard avionics package are Global Wulfsbergs Flitefone VI and Bendix/Kings KHF-950 HF communication gear. The change to the geometry of the cockpit center pedestal was made to accommodate a wider variety of navigation/flight management systems. Cessnas demonstrator is equipped with dual Global Wulfsberg GNS-X units. The new layout of the nose avionics bay enables technicians to access or remove any box without having to disturb its neighbors. Repositioning the J-box from the ceiling of the aft baggage compartment to the rear wall of that area also was done to accommodate maintenance. Now, both the front and rear of the J-box panel can be easily reached. The addition of dual nicads and temperature indicating systems to the standard equipment list was done simply because virtually all customers ordered these options. Maintainability again was on the minds of Cessnas engineers when they repositioned aft cabin floor panels and provided access plates in the walls of the sunken aisle. The decision to redesign the Citation IIIs interior appointments (or, more accurately, to give the customer greater latitude in his selection of interior elements) was driven again by the fact that this airplane is a fleet dweller. Cessna marketers unabashedly point out that many future Citation III sales are targeted at companies that already operate large business transports-Gulfstreams, Dassault Falcon 50s and 900s, and Canadair Challengers, for example. We want the executive who is accustomed to a G-IV interior to feel right at home when he boards the Citation III, explained one Citation sales engineer. Weve brought the cockpit up to world-class standards for the crew with the new avionics package; its just as important to bring the cabin up to the same world-class standard for the passengers. Frankly, B/CA spent more time poking around the cabin than the cockpit. In our opinion, the Cessna interior concepts and their execution are both top rate. This is, indeed, a mid-size interior in which the heavy-iron

CABIN REDESIGN

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ilot Report

SPECIFICATIONS CESSNA CITATION III


ENGINES Model Power SEATING WEIGHTS(Ib/kg) Ramp Takeoff Landing Zero fuel BOW (incl. crew) Max payload Useful Max fuel Payload w/max fuel Fuel w/max payload 2 Garrett TFE731 -3B-1 00 3,600 lb ea. 2+7/9 22,200/10,070 22,000/9,979 20,000/9,979 15,300/6,940 13,500/6,136 1,800/818 8,700/3,954 7,329/3,331 1,371/623 6,900/3,136

PERFORMANCE VMO/MMO 300 kt/0.835 m BFL (ft/m) 20,000 lb (SL/ISA) 5,020/1,530 21,479 lb (DEN, ISA + 20) 8,264/2,629 Rate of climb (SL, MGTOW) (fpm/mpm) All-engine 3,699/1,127 Engine-out 805/245 Max cert. alt. (ft/m) 51,000/15,545 Service ceiling (MGTOW) (ft/m) 43,000/13,106 Cruise TAS, long-range (FL 450) 422 kt Fuel flow, long-range 1,053 lb/hr TAS high-speed (FL 390) 468 kt Fuel flow, high-speed 1,506 lb/hr Ranges (NBAA, 200-nm alt.)/trip specific range Maximum payload 1,734 nm/0.33 Maximum fuel w/avail. payload 1,970 nm/0.34 Ferry 2,108 nm/0.36 FAR Part 36 Noise (EPNdB) Takeoff 84.6 Approach 93.8

passenger should feel comfortable. The scheme begins with new headliners and window reveals, both designed to increase light and thus increase passengers feelings of cabin spaciousness. Seats are mounted on fixed pedestals and are fully articulating Tom the seat-pan up. Each seat reclines, swivels and tracks inboard. Armrests adjust to the passengers elbow height, and the adjustable headrest can be lowered entirely into the seat back. Foot rests are optional. Because cabin accommodations are fabricated to order on the Citation III, the buyer can customize seat contour and firmness as desired. Cabin hardware is modern and finely crafted. Hinges and locks are heavy, and the fit is excellent.

B/CA editors have flown the Citation III several times over the years and have always been impressed with its crisp, light handling and its maneuverability and braking. Citation 500-series pilots moving up to the III will find most systems and procedures similar, if not identical, to those of their old airplanes. On the other hand, theyll have to get used to a combination rudder/tiller steering system and what may be the best brake system in the industry. A walk-around inspection gave us the opportunity to examine the Citation IIIs absolutely flawless (and rivetless) bonded metal surfaces-part of the secret of its ultra-low drag profile. Cessna engineers used composites wherever they could on the design-a decision that has been successful everywhere but in the nacelles. It seems that vibration and heat cycles are simply too much for all-composite nacelles on the Citation III and have presented maintainability problems. The demonstrator we flew had nacelles fabricated of both composites and metal. By aircraft number 180, all nacelle components will be fabricated of metal. The walkaround also gave us an opportunity to experiment with the no-bounce airstair door. (The door in earlier serial numbers had been rigged without a lockdown mechanism. Thus, when a passenger stepped off the airstair, the rebound popped the door up to a chest-high, semi-closed position. Thats why youll usually see Citation III copilots casually leaning on the handrail as passengers disembark.) The rerigged airstair on our demonstrator performed flawlessly while we played with it. However, after our demo flight-indeed, after we had forgotten all about the airstairs new lock-down feature-we disembarked and were amazed to see the door slip off the lock and slowly creep up to its embarrassing mid-chest balance point. Back to the drafting boards! Climbing into the Citation III cockpit isnt easy. The pedestal crammed full of long-range nav. HF comm and EFIS/AFCS controllers-extends right back to the cockpit aft bulkhead. Stepping over the pedestal and getting the other foot to follow without dragging it across a bunch of expensive hardware takes a bit of agility. Once seated, however, the cockpit is relatively comfortable, although headroom seems a bit tight. As touched on earlier, any Citation 500-series pilot will recognize the Model IIIs basic on/off/normal switches. Because this airplane is set up for two pilots, the system switches found on the left panel of Series 500 airplanes are on a canted center panel forward of the throttles in the III The Citation IIIs switch and control arrangement is highly intuitive. Pilots new to recently certificated FAR Part 25 airplanes will find that the pre-start and start

FLYING THE CITATION III

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CITATION III DIRECT OPERATING COST CHARACTERISTICS


(High-Speed Cruise) Block Speed (kts) 367 400 416 425 431 437 438 430 Stage Length (nm) 300 500 700 900 1,100 1,500 1,900 2,100 Block Fuel Flow (U.S. gph) 255 230 225 222 220 217 216 198 Direct Cost Per nm $2.06 1.89 1.82 1.78 1.75 1.73 1.72 1.76

ilot Report

Altitude (1,000 ft) 37 41 41 41 41 41 41 43

CITATION III DIRECT OPERATING COST


(Per Flight Hour*) First-Year Warranty $414.00 53.69 43.85 173.30 684.84 1.71 1.49 0.92 High-Speed Cruise Five-Year Average Costs $414.00 78.38 89.53 173.30 755.21 1.89 1.64 1.02

Fuel ($1.80 per U.S. gallon) Maintenance: Labor ($47.00 labor rate) Material Garrett MSP Plan Direct Cost: Dollars per hour Dollars per nm Dollars per sm Dollars per km
*500 nm/575 sm/926 km stage length

(500 Hours Annual Utilization) First-Year Warranty $342,420.00 186,033.00 528,453.00 2.64 2.30 1.43 High-Speed Cruise Five-Year Average $377,605.00 186,033.00 563,638.00 2.82 2.45 1.52

CITATION III TOTAL ANNUAL BUDGET

Direct Cast x 500 Hours Fixed Cost Total Budget: Dollars per year Dollars per nm Dollars per sm Dollars per km

CITATION III FIXED ANNUAL COST


Hangar Rental ($1,300 per month) Personnel (two crew including fringe benefits) Insurance: Hull (0.35% on $7.295 million) Liability and medical Miscellaneous Office Supplies Telephone Recurrent Crew Training etc. Fixed Cost (per year)

Year 1-6 $15,600 127,000 25,533 7,900 10,000 186,033

*Hangar personnel insurance and miscellaneous costs are all based on reasonable assumptions for average expense.

checklists seem to contain an endless amount of checking systems that check other systems. This complexity has more to do with regulatory matters than operational requirements. Suffice to say that the Citation III has an impressive bunch of press-to-test-this-system buttons. We used the APU to start both Garrett TFE731-3B engines. Starts were quick and cool. (Most customers opt for an APU installation.) While Citation demopilot Steve McCartney touch-typed our round-robin flight plan into the GNS-X, we explored the IIIs ground handling. The tiller (actually a palm-size wheel) is on the pilots left-side panel. The wheel provides 75 degrees of left or right steering. The rudder pedals provide six degrees of left or right steering. For most operations-taxi, takeoff and landing rollout-we found we could use the rudder pedals alone. The tiller is useful, of course, in tight maneuvering situations. The tillers turn authority is about what weve experienced in other tiller steering systems, but its center-return spring is a bit more abrupt than most. The flight controls feel entirely conventional despite the fact that the ailerons are hydraulically powered with a manual reversion. There are four hydraulically actuated and manually controlled spoilers per wing. The outboard spoiler on either side works with the associated aileron to help depress the down-side wing. Two center spoilers are used as speed brakes, and the inboard spoiler functions as a ground spoiler. All spoilers and speed brakes can be deployed during flight or after touchdown. We tried using the spoilers at both ends of the speed envelope; they are quite effective and produce minimal rumble and practically no trim changes. The Citation III is well-behaved throughout its flight envelope. The airplanes controls feel as solid at FL 430 as they do at 16,000 feet. All perturbations from trim speed resulted in positively damped recoveries, including repeated attempts to induce dutch roll with the yaw damp off. We ran a full stall series (through the break) at middle altitudes and again

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ilot Report

found this Citation to be as smooth as its smaller siblings. We made several approaches followed by landings to a full stop. The Model III requires no more pilot compensation than does any other Citation. The only real surprise with this airplane is the effectiveness of its brakes. They are equipped with a fully modulated anti-skid system. If the pilot elects to use aggressive braking on a dry runway, the airplane will be pretty much stopped by the time the reversers deploy fully. Citation III pilots are divided on their dry-runway stopping philosophies. Some pop the reversers as they deploy the spoilers and apply gentle braking; others use full reverse and pretty much stay off the brakes. Either way, the airplane responds beautifully. We did V1 cut drills both in the airplane and in FlightSafetys WIDE-visual, FAA Phase II simulator, the latter at FSIs Wichita Citation Training Center. Once again, the III was well-behaved. Pilots on their ways up from the turboprop and lightjet worlds should have no trouble adapting to the Citation III. If they are challenged at all by the transition, it will be from forcing themselves to get up to flight levels in the 40s as soon as possible after takeoff to obtain the full performance book range and fuel specifics. This airplane is designed to operate at high altitudes and has to be at those altitudes to make its 2,000-nm (zero wind) legs. Base price of the Citation III beginning with unit 179 is $6.775 million. That includes the Honeywell SPZ-8000 flight control system, four-tube 5- by 6-inch EFIS, and Collins Pro Line II nav/com/pulse radios. APU and interior are priced separately. Most Citation IIIs will be outfitted with APUs. Typical delivered price of the aircraft should be about $7.8 million. The accompanying in-warranty, operating-cost workup was supplied by Cessna. Block speeds and block fuel flows are shown at high-speed cruise for various stage lengths. Block speed includes climb, cruise descent and a five-minute approach. Fuel includes 150 pounds for a 10-minute taxi allowance. Cruise altitudes shown are typical flight levels for the specified stage lengths. Flight at lower altitudes will increase both block speeds and fuel flows; flight at higher altitudes or reduced power will decrease them. Engine progressive maintenance is estimated from Garrett data at $149.99 per hour for the first 4,500 hours. It includes routine inspection hot-section and gearbox inspection, extended maintenance and unscheduled maintenance. Rental, shipping and optional engine-service bulletins are not included. Citation III owners can opt for Garretts Maintenance Service Plan (MSP). MSP-used in the operating cost calculations here-guarantees all engine-related costs at a

rate of $173.30 per hour in North America and $190.16 per hour elsewhere. Parts costs are based on Cessnas Guaranteed Parts Program, which covers materials requirements as shown in the cost tables at a flat hourly rate. The rate applies for 3,000 hours or seven years with a minimum charge of 250 hours per year. Fuel costs used in this exercise are based on a nationwide survey of retail prices. Labor rates are typical, according to Cessna. Actual first-year maintenance estimates vary from $70.00 to $125 per hour, the average cost being $97.54. B/CA

OPERATING ECONOMICS

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