Story ID: 2100313alerts
Cessna Narrows In on Citation M2 Certification
By: Mark Huber
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Word Count: 179
Cessna is completing certification flight-testing on its new $4.395 million M2 light jet and expects certification within “a few weeks,” company vice president Brad Thress told AIN. Earlier this week, Garmin provided the Wichita aircraft manufacturer with the final data load for the aircraft’s new Intrinzic cockpit, which features a touchscreen G3000 avionics system.

“We have to conform the load to the airplane and then we have a couple days of flying,” Thress said. Reports will be written after that and submitted to the FAA, the aircraft’s final certification hurdle. Thress said it is unlikely all this could be accomplished before the start of the NBAA Convention on October 22, but that Cessna would have an M2 on static display there.

According to Thress, Cessna has already built six production M2s at its Independence, Kan. plant and they are “all flying out cleanly.” The M2 adds winglets, the Garmin avionics, a restyled cabin and cockpit and a pair of new Williams International FJ44-1AP-21 engines to the legacy CitationJet/CJ1 airframe.