Operators Survey

Fred George

The Citation Mustang isn’t the biggest, fastest or most fuel-efficient very light jet to be introduced, but it’s a solid market success, and it, along with Embraer’s Phenom 100, has matured into full-scale production programs.

The smallest and least-expensive Citation, the Mustang was designed from the onset to be the easiest handling member of a family noted for docility. As such, the Mustang was intended to be an easy step up for operators upgrading from piston-engine and turboprop aircraft.

Every design element of the aircraft was engineered to mitigate risk, to assure maximum dispatch reliability, even for high-utilization operators. The Mustang reflects the 35-plus year experience of a company that’s built 6,000 twin turbofan aircraft. It’s a typical “sure thing” design with a rugged all-aluminum aircraft tested sufficiently to assure a basic structural life of 37,500 cycles, based upon FAA “limit of validity” standards.

Engineering in high dispatch reliability, though, didn’t mean recycling old technology on a new airplane. Cessna was the launch customer for Pratt & Whitney Canada’s new PW600-series turbofans and the Mustang was the first aircraft to use large-format Garmin G1000 avionics. By the time the aircraft was certified in September 2006, PW600 series engines had been selected for both the Eclipse 500 and Phenom 100, and the G1000 was flying on a dozen other airplanes. These milestones indicated the Mustang’s engines and avionics were rapidly maturing before its mass production began in early 2007.

As a result, operators of low serial number aircraft were impressed, if not surprised, with the Mustang’s dispatch reliability.

“I recommended to our chairman that we not buy the aircraft until at least 100 units were in service because of my fears about the unreliability of a new model. I was surprised. We’ve had few of those teething pains,” said a corporate pilot based in rural Missouri.

However, all new airplanes face unexpected challenges, even the Mustang. Cessna’s top-notch product support, headed up by Chris Webber at Cessna’s Team Mustang, is a big reason why this entry-level Citation has entered service with few glitches, according to operators.

“Team Mustang is all over it, like a dog on a pork chop,” said Mark Aloe, who operates his Mustang in support of a Pittsburgh-based coal distribution business. “Chris Webber at Team Mustang has provided a totally different customer experience [than on my last VLJ]. We’ve had no problems whatsoever.”

Cessna has a Citation V that it uses as an AOG support aircraft. It’s used to rush technicians and parts to restore stranded aircraft to service. It also has ferried customers to their final destinations on a few occasions when repairs took longer than expected.

“Customer support through Team Mustang, especially Tony Hershberger [customer service engineer], has been unbelievable. Cessna has a great support system. It’s just awesome,” exclaimed Lance Ferguson, M.D., a Mustang owner and pilot since January 2009.