This trip in the Cessna Caravan starts at the Spirit of Saint Louis Airport with a short hop to the St, Louis Downtown airport. Then a quick turn and flying on to the Chicago/Aurora Municipal Airport. The landing at Aurora includes the Live ATC radio communications and the pilot cockpit view.
The Cessna Caravan is a large single engine turboprop that only requires one pilot. It’s a fun easy to fly airplane that can carry a large load and cruises at 170 kts. It’s also a great performer on short and unimproved landing strips.
A short single pilot Mustang trip from Columbia Missouri to Spirit of St Louis Airport. This IFR trip has low ceilings and visibility on both ends. If you’ve never flown single pilot IFR the autopilot serves as your copilot. The Citation 510 has an integrated Garmin 1000 avionics suite which really makes the whole single pilot IFR experience so much easier. The large panel moving terrain display on the MFD is a huge help with situational awareness. The trip itself is only about 20 minutes long but it’s a busy 20 minutes. IFR COU to SUS with an ILS to 26L.
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.
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.
The Cessna Citation Mustang is a sharp looking single pilot certified private jet. Its comfortable cabin seats four passengers and If flown single pilot, the copilot’s seat can serve as a fifth passenger seat. Powered by two fuel sipping FADEC controlled Pratt and Whitney Canada PW615F engines that produce 1,460 lbs. of thrust each, the Mustang cruises at 340 knots, has a range of 1,150 nautical miles, and can climb to 41,000 feet. Baggage is stored in the forward and rear external baggage compartments that hold a total of 57 cubic feet of bags. The cockpit is equipped with the proven Garmin G1000 three tube avionics suite. The G100 provides enhanced situational awareness, systems indications, Nexrad weather, and Jepp Charts. This aircraft is easy to fly, very capable and a lot of fun. It has a low operating cost of $860 per hour and used Mustangs are selling in the 1.8 to 2.5 million range.
