New Citation Sovereign makes first flight

                         
Cessna’s new Citation Sovereign recently made its first production flight from its Wichita production facility.

The flight of the new Sovereign lasted a little more than two and a half hours and included tests of the avionics and other aircraft systems.

“The aircraft handling characteristics and performance were exceptional, just as we had anticipated after flying more than 1,300 hours in three test flight articles. The Garmin G5000 avionics system provides a sense of control and situational awareness that any pilot will appreciate,” said Matt Freund, Cessna production flight test pilot. “The new Sovereign makes a great airplane even better and continues to shows the confidence and reliability of our Citation brand — this is a terrific milestone for the new Sovereign and Cessna.”

The new Sovereign will have a range of 3,000 nm (3,452 statute miles or 5,556 km) amd is capable of carrting up to nine people in the cabin. The new aircraft is fitted with winglets, so externally is slightly different to the earlier Sovereign model.

“This milestone first flight shows the heritage of the strong Citation brand is embedded in all we do instilling confidence in our customers that Cessna has, yet again, taken customer feedback and combined it with Cessna engineering and craftsmanship to make a trusted Citation aircraft even better,” said Kelly Reich, Cessna business leader for the new Citation Sovereign. “Our team designing, building and flying Cessna’s next generation of aircraft is excited today knowing our customers will soon experience the new Citation Sovereign.”