Story ID: 
Sovereign nearing first flight
By: AIN Staff
Caption: Spriggs completed the first test run of the Citation Sovereign’s Pratt & Whitney Canada PW306C engines on January 11.
Word Count: 138
Spriggs completed the first test run of the Citation Sovereign’s Pratt & Whitney Canada PW306C engines on January 11. Said Rice, “The test run went well and the program is on schedule. The engines were calibrated at all power settings up to takeoff thrust and the thrust reversers have also been tested.” On January 26 the pilots completed the first taxi test of the prototype. The PW306C was certified in May last year and installed on the prototype Model 680 on November 21. FAA certification of the $13 million super-midsize business jet, described by program manager Brad Thress as “more of an all-new airplane than anything Cessna has designed since the Citation X,” is expected late next year. First customer deliveries are pegged to begin in early 2004. A planned first flight on February 25 was delayed by high winds in Wichita.