As the waiting lists for new business aircraft grow, innovation is taking hold in the used market, creating updated versions of proven designs via the Supplementary Type Certificate process. Among the leaders in this movement is Clifford Development, which recently announced the first flight of a Citation 550 with Williams FJ44-3A engines. The aircraft took off from Kalamazoo/Battle Creek International Airport on July 18 for its first flight and everything went well, according to the company. The conversion costs $2.275 million but the projected performance improvements are significant.
According to the math from NASA, the re-engined Citation should climb directly to FL430 in 27 minutes instead of the step climb that took an hour and 47 minutes with the old engines. The company is also projecting a 20 percent boost in fuel economy. “From the start, Citation S550 operators worldwide have been very interested in our program because of our forecasted 40 percent NBAA range increase,” said CEO Jim Clifford.” Currently, rising fuel costs have made our re-engining programs increasingly important to operators.”
