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Cessna has received US FAA certification for the Citation X+, allowing the first customer delivery of what it promotes as the “world’s fastest civil aircraft” to businessman Gerry Buchheit.
“We have clients located across the country and having the fastest civil aircraft in my fleet provides me with something that is priceless to my operations – time,” Buchheit, who owns road construction and commercial real estate development companies, said in a statement.
Certification of the X+ (pronounced ’10 plus’) allows Cessna to wrest the “world’s fastest civil aircraft” crown off the Gulfstream 650. The X+ has a certified top speed of Mach 0.935 (or 536ktas), compared to the G650’s Mach 0.925. The earlier Citation X (top speed Mach 0.92) held the mantle from the retirement of the Concorde in 2003 until the G650’s certification in 2012.
Compared to the Citation X, the X+ features winglets, dual FADEC-controlled Rolls-Royce AE3007C2 engines, a 38cm cabin stretch, and Garmin’s G5000 avionics suite (which features synthetic vision technology). As well as its Mach 0.935 top speed, the Citation X+ can cruise at up to 51,000ft, and has a maximum range of 3,408nm.
