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Textron Aviation rolled out the first production Cessna Citation Longitude yesterday from its Plant IV facility at Beech Field in east Wichita. There are currently five of the super-midsize twinjets on the production line, which Textron Aviation senior vice president of integrated supply chain Ron Draper said incorporates “a number of new and innovative fabrication and assembly techniques.”
According to the company, one of these new technologies is monolithic machining, where major assemblies are milled from a single piece of metal, reducing the number of parts and resulting in more precise tolerances for easier assembly. Textron Aviation also has expanded vertical tooling on the assembly line of the Longitude.
The twinjet is expected to enter service later this year. To date, the four flight-test Longitudes have logged more than 550 hours. A fifth Longitude will join the flight-test program this summer. The first production airplane will also join the company’s demonstration fleet this summer.
Textron Aviation rolled out the first production Cessna Citation Longitude early last month from the Plant IV facility at Beech Field in east Wichita. Five of the super-midsize twinjets are now on the production line, which Textron Aviation senior vice president of integrated supply chain Ron Draper said incorporates “a number of new and innovative fabrication and assembly techniques.”
According to the company, one of these new technologies is monolithic machining, where major assemblies are milled from a single piece of metal, reducing the number of parts and resulting in more precise tolerances for easier assembly. Textron Aviation also has expanded vertical tooling on the assembly line of the Longitude.
The twinjet is expected to enter service later this year. To date, the four flight-test Longitudes have logged more than 550 hours. A fifth Longitude will join the flight-test program this summer. The first production airplane will also join the company’s demonstration fleet this summer.