A pre-dawn arrival and landing in a Cessna Citation Mustang at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago. O’Hare is the world’s 2nd busiest airport and flying single pilot in this airspace can be a challenging experience. I arrived before 6:00 am so avoided the peak traffic times but even so, approach was very busy with airline traffic entering the terminal area. This was evident by the high number of ATC radio calls and the approach controllers request to maintain a higher than normal speed to the marker. No problem for the Mustang, which can slow rapidly. There’s no speed limit on the speed brakes and the gear extension speed is 250 Knots. Pull the throttles to idle, extend the speed brakes, drop the gear and your decelerating towards the outer marker like you just dropped anchor. In the center of the instrument panel on the Multi-Function Display (MFD) you can see how helpful the G1000 moving map display is for situational awareness. On the flight plan page I flip through various approaches to 27L and select and load the 27L ILs approach. With all the city lights on the ground it can be very difficult to visually identify and maintain the landing runway. The course line and all the approach fixes are presented on the MFD map and greatly aid in identifying the airport and the runway. More than one seasoned pilot has started his turn towards the airport and rolled out on the wrong runway. Once cleared for the visual approach the map display is great for confirming you’re on the correct course to the assigned runway. The lighting on runway 27L consist of an ALSF2 Approach Light System leading to the runway, a 4 light PAPI Precision Approach Path Indicator to the right of the runway for visually maintaining the glide path, and at the far end of the runway the pulsing white lights across the runway are hold short lights for use in land And Hold Short Operations LAHSO. Unfortunately, with an early morning summer takeoff I picked up lots of bug splats on the windshield which are visible in the video.
Tag Archives: citation 510
Cessna Citation Mustang Landing at Night Nashville TN
A Cessna Citation Mustang CE-510 Very light jet (VLJ) makes a visual approach and landing to runway 31 at the Nashville, Tennessee airport. Once cleared for the visual approach we follow a Boeing 767 visually to the runway. In this case, a wake turbulence encounter while following the heavy 767 is a very real concern. Its wake vortices are an invisible hazard and flying into the vortices of an aircraft of the size of the Boeing can cause the temporary loss of control or worse for a smaller aircraft. Our strategy to deal with this possibility is to stay above the wake vortices of the preceding aircraft. These vortices sink at 300 to 500 ft per minute and can last up to 2 minutes before dissipating. Since we can’t actually see these spinning horizontal tornado like columns of air that come off the wingtips of the heavy we stay one dot high on the glide slope as we descend to the runway. There is a fair amount of air traffic control communications in the video. Another interesting thing about the video is that this landing is just before the sun comes up. You can still see all the airport lighting and the two bright flashing lights on the approach end of the runway are the Runway End Identifier Lights (REIL’s) their purpose is to aid in identifying the end of the runway at night when the runway is surrounded by bright city lights.
Citation Mustang Landing at Spirit of St. Louis Airport
A Cessna Citation 510 landing on runway 26L at Spirit of St Louis Airport. The Citation Mustang is a single pilot light jet with a fairly low landing ref speeds. For this landing the aircraft was at a weight of 7,500 lbs., the ref speed was 91 kts and the required landing distance was only 2,380 ft. The maximum landing weight is 8,000 lbs. In the video it was a little bumpy on final and you can see that the pitch tends to vary a little more than it does on other aircraft. I think this may be due to the relatively short coupling of the wing and fuselage and would probably be more noticeable to pilots transitioning to the mustang from larger aircraft. Over all, the Mustang has the feel of a sports car and is a good short field performer. Here are a couple of takeoff performance examples at the maximum takeoff weight and high temperature.
Max takeoff weight of 8,645 lbs and Flaps-15
Airport elevation sea level, no wind and temperature +40C
Takeoff distance required is 4,440 ft
Max takeoff weight of 8,645 lbs and Flaps-15
Airport elevation of 5,000 ft., no wind and temperature +20C
Takeoff distance required is 5,020 ft
Cessna Citation Mustang CE510 Takeoff and Landing
Video of a Cessna Citation Mustang (CE-510) takeoff and departure from Chicago Midway Airport. The video ends with a landing at Columbia Regional Airport and shows the extension of the speed brakes on the wing at touchdown. The speed brakes are activated by the flying pilot who toggles a switch on the throttles to extend the panels and spoil lift. This helps the aircraft settle more firmly on the runway for maximum braking. The Cessna Mustang is an easy to fly fuel efficient personal jet that can be flown single pilot or with a crew. It has Two FADEC (Full Authority Digital Engine Control) equipped Pratt & Whitney Canada PW615F engines that produce 1,460 pounds of takeoff thrust each. Setting power with the FADEC controlled engines is simple. Smoothly push the throttles up to the takeoff detent and leave them there till you’re ready to set climb power. After takeoff just pull the throttles back to the climb detent and the FADEC sets the appropriate power for the climb conditions. The cockpit instrument panel is dominated by 3 large monitors. These panels are at the heart of the impressive Garmin G1000 avionics suite. The Garmin 1000 brings a host of pilot friendly work load reducing features to the single pilot cockpit. One example is the airport diagram that can be displayed on the center multifunction display. This is great for night operations at unfamiliar airports. The solo pilot can monitor his taxi route to and from the active runway on this large beautifully lit monitor. The mustang has six seats including the crew seats and ample baggage space. The nose baggage compartment can hold a maximum of 320 lbs. and the tail baggage compartment a maximum of 300 lbs.
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| Cessna Citation Mustang Interior |
Considered a very light jet (VLJ) it has a max ramp weight of 8,730 lbs and a maximum landing weight of 8,000 lbs.it’s max service ceiling is 41,000 ft and its flight plan speed is 340 kts. The fuel system holds a maximum of 2,580 lbs of fuel and a flight planning rule of thumb for fuel burn is 1st hour 700 lbs, 2nd hour 600 lbs, 3 rd hour 500 lbs.
Citation Mustang Very Light Jet
The citation 510 is a 4 passenger business jet. It’s powered by two Pratt & Whitney PW615F turbo fan engines and has a max ramp weight of 8,730 lbs. It can climb to 41,00 ft and cruise at 340 ktas with a range of 1,150 NM. Apologies for typo, the mustang has the Garmin 1000 avionics package.