Cessna’s Mustang Gets EASA, Steep Approach OKs

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Cessna announced Monday at the European Business Aviation Convention & Exhibit (EBACE) that the company’s Mustang very light jet has won European Aviation Safety Agency certification, as well as steep approach approval. The EASA nod makes the Mustang “the first new-generation entry-level business jet to be certified in Europe,” according to the Wichita-based aircraft manufacturer. Deliveries in Europe will begin “later this summer.” The steep approach certification enables the Mustang to land at airports with instrument approaches steeper than a 4.5-degree approach angle. Cessna said this is the first step in the approval process at airports such as London City in England, which has a glideslope angle of 5.5 degrees, and requires special authorization through the airport administration for both the aircraft and the pilots landing there.

The six-place, 340-ktas Citation Mustang has a service ceiling of 41,000 feet, and a 1,150-nm range, flown with IFR reserves. Cessna President, Chairman and CEO Jack Pelton said the twinjet “has met or exceeded every performance objective established when we announced the program in 2002.” In the U.S., several owner-operators are already flying the aircraft, and by year’s end some 40 Mustangs will be in service. Delivery rates of the small jets are expected to reach 150 per year by the end of the decade.

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