This is a flight to the Fort Myers Page Field airport in the Cessna Citation Excel. The Excel is a twin engine medium size private jet with a range of 1,700 nm. It carries 9 passengers and cruises at 420 kts. This is a vlog style video of what it’s like to work as a corporate pilot.
This was a two day trip that involved flying two very different airplanes. One was a single pilot light jet with advanced avionics and the other was an older midsize Citation business jet. The plan was for me to fly the Cessna Citation M2, a single pilot private jet, to the Raleigh-Durham International airport for a pick up and be back in St Louis in time to fly the Citation XLS to the Chicago Midway airport. I would fly the Citation XLS back the next day. Unfortunately, the return time was an hour before the XLS flight. So, just to be on the safe side, I arranged for a part-time captain to be ready to fly the trip if it looked like I wouldn’t be back in time for the departure. I was really glad I had setup a contingency plan because as soon as I checked on with st Louis approach I head the XLS being handed off St Louis approach to Chicago center. I had missed the connection by 45 minutes. Fortunately, as a precaution, I had already purchased an airline ticket to the Chicago Midway airport. As soon as I shut down I secured he aircraft and jumped in my car getting to the St Louis airport in time to catch my Southwest Airlines flight to Chicago. The other Captain was flying back on the Airlines later that evening. I made it to Chicago, checked into the hotel and was ready for the return flight the next afternoon. This video is that two day trip with ATC, cockpit views and takeoffs and landings. Enjoy and safe travels.
Cessna Citation XLS
This is more of an aviation vlog format for the flying video with a mix of flying, ATC and travel. Our flight started with takeoff on pretty day from the Spirit of St. Louis airport. Enroute we encountered some interesting cloud formations we flew through. Once we start our descent into the San Antonio area the weather clears again, and you get a good view of the area. San Antonio approach vectors us for a visual approach to runway 13 right and the Tower clears us to land. We taxi to the FBO which is Million Air and after securing the aircraft we are treated to fresh cookies.
We have one free day in San Antonio which we use to tour the Alamo and then have lunch on the River Walk. Day three starts of with a dense fog but it clears, and we get delayed so that we eventually takeoff at night. The departure ATIS at the end of the video has an interesting NOTAM referencing a laser strike on an aircraft.
The Cessna Citation Excel is a turbofan-powered, medium-sized business jet That seats eight passengers. It has a range of approximately 1,900 nm and cruises at 410 kts.
Cessna Citation Encore flying a visual approach and landing to runway 12R at the St. Louis Downtown Cahokia Airport (KCPS). The copilot is the flying pilot and we have a good view of downtown St. Louis and the Gateway Arch as we turn from the downwind to base leg. This is my first aviation video with a Gopro camera.
This video is a year of corporate flying in 5 minutes. It’s mostly takeoffs, landings and approaches or what I like to call the fun part of the job. I enjoy what I do and like to share that experience in my videos. In actuality, over a years’ time, I’ve flown many more flights and in more airplanes than are shown in the video. So this video is more of an attempt to give you the feel of flying as a charter pilot than a day by day account. Unfortunately, I don’t always have the chance to pull out my camera and capture what would have made great video so some of the coolest things I’ve seen I didn’t get in the video. The aircraft in the video are the Cessna Citation Mustang, Citation Encore, Citation II, Citation Excel and a Beechcraft King Air 350. Some of the video is taken while acting as the pilot or co-pilot. A few of the included scenes are of the aircraft cockpits and the cabin. The name of the music is “Full Throttle”
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| Citation Encore Master Warning Panel |
A Cessna Citation Encore (CE-560) waits out a severe thunder storm next to a United Airlines Airbus 319 on the holding pad at Washington Dulles Airport. Both aircraft are turned into the gust front and the rain can be seen moving across the ramp. The wind registered 46 kts or plus 50 mph on the standby attitude indicator, “the little one” but it was probably higher sense it only registers the portion of wind that goes straight into the pitot tube. The primary airspeed indicator on the flight display doesn’t register airspeed till it reaches a minimum of 60 kts. The inflight portion of the video shows the cabin, cockpit, and instrument panel with the master warning test activated so that the warning lights are illuminated. The landing is at Chicago O’Hare airport.
Video of a Cessna Citation Encore CE-560 takeoff, cruise and landing at Arlington Airport (GKY). On this flight the copilot is the flying pilot. Arlington is about 10 miles south of the DFW airport. Due to its close proximity to DFW, Air Traffic Control requires arriving private jets to descend below the arrival and departure gates of DFW, and then are vectored around DFW to the east. This routing takes arriving aircraft right over the Dallas love airport at a relatively low altitude. In the video the citation flies over Dallas love then turns to the west. At this point the crew gets a Traffic Alert from the TCAS(Terminal Collision Avoidance System) but pass well to the side of the VFR traffic. They then descend and after crossing over the Grand Prairie Airport are cleared for the visual approach to runway 16 and land. Getting into theses smaller general aviation airports where your passengers are closer to their destination is one of the huge advantages to having access to a business jet.
The instrument panel of a Cessna Citation VII. Cessna built 119 of the VII’s which were based on the popular Citation III business jet. It’s powered by two Garrett TFE731-4R engines that can produce 4,080 lbs of thrust each. it has a range of 2,000 nm and can cruise at Mach .85 and has a service ceiling of 51,000 ft.
The Cessna Citation VII, the last of the Citation 650’s, is an upgraded Citation III powered by two Garrett TFE731-4r-2s turbofan engines capable of producing 4,080 lbs of thrust. It has a maximum cruise speed of 480 knots, a range of 2,000 nm and a 51,000 ft service ceiling. The VII was Cessna’s corporate jet that it marketed against the Lear Jet lineup of high speed private jets. The 7 is capable of .85 Mach or 85% the speed of sound. Cessna surpassed this when they built the Citation X which is capable of mach .92. A total of 119 VII’s were built.
A Cessna Citation 550 charter jet crosses the beach at Naples Florida for a landing on runway 23 at APF. Landing view from the cockpit. The Naples Florida airport is just off the beach and landing on a clear day offers a great view of the beach area. Naples is not served by scheduled airline service, so the only flights in and out are general aviation flights or corporate jets.