Cessna Citation Latitude production on track

Cessna Aircraft Company reported that the production for the Citation Latitude aircraft, first announced in October 2011, is on schedule and making progress toward completion of full airframes this year. “We’ve started building engineering test articles. The first prototype is expected to fly in Q1 2014,” said Terry Shriner, business leader for the Citation Latitude. “We’ve moved from engineering, analysis and modeling to cutting metal and driving rivets. The team is always energized when we see an airplane begin to take shape for the first time.”  To build experimental units for testing, Cessna is using production tooling. During this phase, improvements will be identified and incorporated into the tooling and assembly methods before line production begins in 2014 to continue to ensure on-schedule deliveries and support the expectation of high-quality finished aircraft. The first airframe is planned for testing cyclic fatigue; the second for static testing.