Story ID: 071CitationAppAINNov12
Cessna Releases Citation Performance iPad App
By: Matt Thurber
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Word Count: 457
Cessna Aircraft has released a new Citation performance calculator for the Apple iPad. With CPCalc for the iPad along with Cessna’s CLCalc loading calculator (weight-and-balance) iPad app, pilots can spend less time preparing for flights while also making sure that important preflight calculations aren’t ignored. CPCalc is available for all current-production Citations and many out-of-production models, according to Cessna.
  
The CPCalc app walks the pilot through a typical preflight process, using buttons arranged along the bottom of the iPad screen. Selecting an airport pulls it from the app’s database, which then asks the user to select the takeoff runway. The runway’s available length for both takeoff and landing is populated automatically, along with the elevation, magnetic heading and gradient. The user can select a dry or wet runway.
  
The user must input wind, temperature and altimeter setting, then select whether there are no obstacles, obstacles or a minimum gradient requirement. For obstacles, the pilot can input obstacle height and horizontal distance from the runway. The minimum gradient option is handy, offering fields for feet-per-nm or a percentage climb gradient, plus level-off altitude. The pilot then enters the takeoff weight, which is not automatically populated by the CLCalc weight-and-balance app. Other settings include flaps and anti-ice, plus whether to apply a banked climb reduction to the second and en route segments.
  
Once the pilot inputs all the data, pressing the “Calculate Performance” button pulls up a review page, where the user is asked to make sure the inputs are accurate. Pressing the button again delivers the results, which include field performance with V speeds, climb performance including single-engine net climb gradients and V speeds, and weight, landing field length and gross climb gradient for an immediate return. 
  
All the takeoff and landing performance calculations can be emailed or printed, and the same is true for the CLCalc weight-and-balance results.
  
App options include a switch for hectopascal altimeter settings and 60- or 80-percent runway length factors. The app also includes a stall speed calculator. Internet access is not required to use either CPCalc or CLCalc.
  
“CPCalc is easier, faster and often provides better field performance and higher takeoff weights than the AFM data,” said Cessna flight operations manager Ross Schoneboom. “It is an excellent tool for determining engine-out performance, taking into consideration user-inputted obstacles or minimum climb gradients.” The PC version of CPCalc is FAA-approved, and Cessna is currently working on FAA approval for the iPad version. The next app for the Citation line will be an electronic operating manual, according to Cessna, “which uses a worldwide airport and navaid database to plan a route, calculating trip time, fuel and distance.”