Engineering, flight test, and certification company AeroMech is developing a supplemental type certificate (STC) for the installation of SpaceX’s Starlink airborne connectivity system on the Textron Aviation Citation 560XL series. Applicable to the Excel, XLS, and XLS+ models, the STC will eventually be extended to include the new Citation Ascend, which will replace the XLS+ in Textron Aviation's lineup when it is certified in 2025.
The Starlink installation includes an electronically steered antenna mounted on top of the fuselage and provides download speeds of up to 300 Mbps and uploads up to 35 Mbps. Everett, Washington-based AeroMech expects to receive the 560XL STC in September and plans to follow that up with STCs for the Citation Sovereign, X, Latitude, and Longitude; Cessna Caravan and SkyCourier; and Hawker 800/900-series jets. It also plans to certify two other airframes for Starlink installations by year-end and will make the STCs available to any Starlink dealer.
Customers can have installations done by AeroMech’s AMI Aviation Services subsidiary, which includes a mobile team for remote installations. AeroMech’s first Starlink STC was for the Beechcraft King Air 200/300 series.