Cessna’s Citation Cj4
By Mark Huber - June 1, 2010
Cessna delivered the first Citation CJ4 (Model 525C) in April after wrapping up a rigorous flight-test program that included 1,000 sorties and more than 1,600 hours in the air since the airplane’s first flight in May 2008.
The new model, which received FAA certification in March, is the latest in Cessna’s popular CJ series of light twinjets, a line that is entering its third decade. The manufacturer launched the original Model 525 CitationJet in 1989 as a replacement for the early 1970s vintage Citation I. With each subsequent iteration, the CJ1, 2 and 3, the airplane grew a little bit faster and a little bit longer.
But it would be a mistake to call the CJ4 just another stretched out and updated CJ. While the $8.75 million, 16,950-pound (maximum takeoff weight) CJ4 is not a clean-sheet-of-paper design, it’s a “lessons learned” airplane from a company that has learned a lot about small jets in the last 40 years.
While Cessna wanted to introduce a variety of new design features and technologies in the eight- to nine-passenger CJ4, it also wanted to mitigate risk, so it applied items successfully incorporated in several of its other newer airplanes. It borrowed the slicker wing geometry from the larger Citation Sovereign and the bigger passenger door from the Citation Mustang. The more powerful Williams FJ44-4A engines are derivatives of those on the CJ3. The peppier engines and slipperier wing allow the CJ4 to cruise at 453 knots and climb directly to 43,000 feet. Range has been increased to 1,963 nautical miles and full-fuel payload has grown to 1,000 pounds. (Maximum payload is 2,100 pounds.)
Up front, the pilots’ seats have two inches more legroom and the instrument panel has a more logical, ergonomic layout. The avionics are tried-and-true: four-display Rockwell Collins Pro Line 21 with the latest safety enhancements, including electronic charts, graphical weather uplink and Multiscan weather radar, terrain avoidance and anti-collision systems. Like all CJs, the CJ4 can be flown single-pilot.
While these refinements unquestionably make the CJ4 a better jet, it is inside the redesigned passenger compartment where you are apt to notice the most dramatic changes.
Passenger electronics have been upgraded with the Rockwell Collins Venue cabin-management system. There are switch panels at each seat position and power outlets for laptops or other accessories at two passenger seats and both pilots’ seats. The Venue system controls all in-flight entertainment equipment, including iPod connectivity, Blu-ray player, moving maps and 100-gigabyte hard-drive storage for personal media. The standard package includes a single satellite radio receiver and two plug-in, arm-mounted, 10.6-inch high-definition monitors. You can buy additional receivers and monitors that can be plugged in and moved between any of the six main passenger seats. Venue also controls all indirect cabin lighting as well as the electronic window shades, which can be set anywhere between clear, shear and full blackout mode.
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