Textron Aviation flew its prototype Citation Longitude for the first time on Saturday, solidifying its presence in the super midsize market. The flight makes it likely the aircraft will be at NBAA in Orlando at the beginning of November. The Longitude was announced in 2012 and Textron had a proof-of-concept aircraft at NBAA 2015 in Las Vegas, but the official first flight was Saturday according to the company. “Today’s successful first flight of the Citation Longitude was performed exactly as we anticipated,” said Scott Ernest, president and CEO, Textron Aviation. “Our product development process is second to none and allowed us to move smoothly from unveiling the Longitude last November, to the first flight of the prototype in just 11 months.”
The airplane seats up to 12 passengers and offers a stand-up cabin and cabin-accessible baggage compartment. It has a full-fuel payload of 1,500 lbs., can go 3,400 nm (high speed cruise) and has a top speed of 476 knots. It has Honeywell FADEC engines with autothrottles and a Garmin 5000 panel. There’s an optional head-up display. First flight lasted more than two hours and all the basic flight characteristics were tested. We had a look at what Cessna flew to NBAA in Las Vegas last year.
