SANDPOINT, ID June 6, 2013 – Tamarack Aerospace Group announced today that it has set a new unofficial world record with its Cessna 525 Citation Jet equipped with its Active Winglet™ Technology. The non-stop flight took place between Sandpoint Airport in Sandpoint, ID (KSZT) and the Westchester County Airport in White Plains, NY (KHPN). The flight covered over 1,853 nautical miles (or 2.5% longer than the official record) and took approximately 6 hours 16 minutes. The official 2006 record for the CJ’s weight classification (3,000 – 6,000 kg gross weight) was 1,805 nm.
For the flight, the company’s Citation Jet carried three adult passengers plus baggage and equipment to support the company’s presence at the NBAA regional conference in White Plains, NY. The total payload was approximately 800 lb. With a full load of fuel, the airplane’s takeoff weight was slightly less than 10,700 lb. Tamarack noted that this is higher than the maximum takeoff weight listed for early serial numbers of the Cessna 525.
“We took off a little heavy, but we were flying within the experimental operating procedures we have established with the FAA,” said Nick Guida, Tamarack’s president and pilot for the flight. “Besides, being heavy made it more of an achievement. We were flying a CJ loaded like a CJ1+, but we climbed a lot faster and flew a lot farther than either one would normally go without Active Winglets.”
To maximize range, the TAG flight crew climbed directly to FL410 (41,000 feet above sea level) and followed a flight plan that made use of a slight tailwind. Overall, the jet burned a total of 2,968 lbs. (443 US gallons) of fuel during the flight before landing in White Plains with slightly more than 45 minutes of fuel remaining, per FAA requirements for IFR operations. Block fuel burn during the flight was 479 pounds per hour (71.4 US gallons per hour).
Tamarack president Nick Guida is confident that this performance improvement will be attractive to Citation Jet owners, and particularly those considering upgrading to the larger CJ2. According to the company, an average CJ/CJ1 on the market sells for approximately $1.5 million, while an average CJ2 costs slightly more than $3 million.
“We just demonstrated a 2.3% increase in range over a CJ2,” he said. “With our Active Winglets we’ve taken a CJ and out-performed a CJ2, and we’ve saved about $1.5 million in the process.”
Active Winglets are wingtip devices which improve the aerodynamic efficiency of an airplane’s wing. Passive winglets have been proven to provide aerodynamic improvements on many airplanes, but with structural weight penalties resulting from the manner in which winglets modify the distribution of lift across the span of the wing during gusts and maneuvers. Active Winglets include an automatic aerodynamic surface at the wingtip which controls the lift distribution during gust and maneuver events. This provides all of the aerodynamic benefits of the winglet, while eliminating the need for increased maintenance or additional weight in the form of structural reinforcements.
Premier Jet’s Citation CJ Plus will include Tamarack Active Winglets, an all new Garmin G1000 cockpit upgrade with WAAS, plus new paint and interior. This offering will provide a very attractive, capable and technologlically current aircraft at a highly competitive price point. An additional plus will be continued excellent support from the Cessna Service Center orginization. The CJ Plus announcement may be viewed via the following link: http://jetav.com/premier-jets-cj-plus-features-tamarack-winglets/
To request more information on Premier Jet’s Citation CJ Plus, or to subscribe to program updates, please send an email to jhall@jetav.com.