Cessna Citation Columbus

Citation Columbus
Role	Business jet
National origin	United States
Manufacturer	Cessna
Status	Development canceled 10 July 2009

The Cessna Citation Columbus (Model 850) was to be the latest in Cessna's Citation family of business jets.

Development

The mock-up of the Citation Columbus's cabin was first shown at the Paris Air Show in 2007. Unveiled on February 6, 2008, development of the largest Citation was first revealed at the 2006 National Business Aviation Association convention as the Large Cabin Concept, or LCC. The Columbus had a target range of 4,000 nmi (7,408 km) with 8 passengers. Cessna had announced partnerships with Spirit AeroSystems for the fuselage, Pratt & Whitney Canada for PW810C turbofan engines, and Rockwell Collins for avionics.

On 29 April 2009 Cessna announced that it was suspending the Citation Columbus program, but indicated at that time that the program might be restarted once economic conditions improved. The company also indicated that it would lay off 1,600 workers, including up to 700 workers from the Columbus program.^[1] On July 10, 2009 Cessna announced the cancellation of the program in documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Pratt & Whitney also announced the development of the PW810C engines for the Columbus had been halted.^[2] The company said "Upon additional analysis of the business jet market related to this product offering, we decided to formally cancel further development of the Citation Columbus". Cessna's parent company, Textron will write-off US$43 million as a results of the cancellation. The SEC-filed documents indicate that Cessna spent approximately US$50 million on tooling, facilities and other costs for the project. Most of these costs are unrecoverable and cannot be used for other projects.^[3]

The Columbus was intended to have the largest displays available. The cockpit would have featured a synthetic vision system, autothrottles, optional head-up display and Collins' MultiScan weather radar with optional windshear prediction.

On 11 July 2009 Cessna announced that it would return US$10M to the City of Wichita and Sedgwick County. The money was received as an economic incentive for developing the aircraft in Wichita and was part of $70M in cash assistance and tax breaks received from those two governments.^[4]

Specifications

Data from Cessna^[5]

General characteristics

• Crew: 2 (Pilot and copilot)
• Capacity: seating for 8 or more
• Payload: 1,950 lb (884.50 kg)
• Length: 77 ft (23.4 m)
• Wingspan: 80 ft (24.3 m)
• Height: 27 ft 7 in (7.49 m)
• Wing area: 709.3 ft² (65.90 m²)
• Airfoil: 29.9°
• Powerplant: 2 × Pratt & Whitney Canada PW810C turbofans, 8,830 lbs (39.28 kN) each

Performance

• Maximum speed: 562 mph (904 km/h)
• Range: 4,000 nm (7,408 km)
• Service ceiling: 45,000 ft (13,716 m)
• Rate of climb: 27 min to 41,000 ft (27 min to 12,497 m)Cabin altitude of 6,700' at 45,000' MSL

Avionics
Rockwell Collins

See also

Related development

• Cessna Citation series
  

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration and era

• Dassault Falcon 50
• Challenger 300
• Raytheon Hawker 4000
• Gulfstream G200
  

References

1. ^ Grady, Mary (April 2009). "Cessna Will Suspend Columbus Program, Close Bend Factory". http://www.avweb.com/avwebflash/news/CessnaWillSuspendColumbusProgramAndCloseBendFactory_200284-1.html. Retrieved 2009-04-30. 
2. ^ Warwick, Graham (July 2009). "Cessna Citation Columbus Program Killed". http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story.jsp?id=news/COL071009.xml&headline=Cessna%20Citation%20Columbus%20Program%20Killed&channel=busav. Retrieved 2009-07-14. 
3. ^ Grady, Mary (July 2009). "Goodbye, Columbus -- Cessna Cancels Extra-Large Jet Program". http://www.avweb.com/avwebflash/news/CessnaCancelsExtraLargeColumbusJetProgram_200720-1.html. Retrieved 2009-07-16. 
4. ^ Yahoo! Finance (July 2009). "Cessna will return $10M to Wichita, Sedgwick Co.". http://xsltm.finance.a1.b.yahoo.com/news/Cessna-will-return-10M-to-apf-2902671446.html?x=0. Retrieved 2009-10-07. 
5. ^ Cessna Aircraft (2008). "2008 Specs and Description". http://columbus.cessna.com/media/2008ColumbusSpec.pdf. Retrieved 2008-05-27. ^{[dead link]}

• PICTURES: Cessna unveils Citation Columbus; Spirit to make fuselage, Flight International, Reed Business Information, February 6, 2008. Retrieved on February 6, 2008.

External links

• Cessna Citation home page
• Cessna Citation Columbus home page