Story ID: 
Stevens gets  on board with C550 upgrades
By: AIN Staff
Caption: Stevens Aviation (Booth No.
Word Count: 203
Stevens Aviation (Booth No. 3201) has struck a deal to market and support the Cessna Citation 550/S550 engine-conversion upgrade program offered by Clifford Development (Static Display), a Toledo, Ohio engineering firm that holds 35 engine-related supplemental type certificates for the model. For an installed price of $2.345 million, Citation 550/S550 operators can add a pair of Williams International FJ44-3A turbofan engines flat-rated at 2,820 pounds of thrust. A re-engined Citation 550 has a 22-minute time-to-climb to FL430 versus the one hour and 37 minutes it takes to reach that altitude by step climbing with the airplane’s original Pratt & Whitney Canada JT15D engines, according to Clifford Development. The upgraded S550 also boasts a four-passenger, NBAA IFR range of 2,515 nm, almost 50 percent better than the original’s figures. The airplane also benefits from a 12-percent increase in long-range cruise speed and 34-percent reduction in fuel cost per seat mile, according to figures in the revised pilot operating handbook. Citation II operators can also choose to upgrade the cockpit to the Rockwell Collins Pro Line 21 IDS system for an extra $438,000, the companies said. Stevens Aviation will perform the upgrades at its main Greenville, S.C. center and provide product support at its Denver and Dayton, Ohio locations.