The Cessna Citation Excel is an American midsize

business jet A business jet, private jet, or bizjet is a jet aircraft designed for transporting small groups of people. Business jets may be adapted for other roles, such as the evacuation of casualties or express parcel deliveries, and some are used by pu ...

built by Cessna.

Announced in October 1994, the Model 560XL first flew on February 29, 1996, certification was granted in April 1998, and over 1,000 have been delivered. The , 20,200 lb (9,200 kg) MTOW jet is powered by two PW500 turbofans, has the

cruciform tail __NOTOC__ The cruciform tail is an aircraft empennage configuration which, when viewed from the aircraft's front or rear, looks much like a cross. The usual arrangement is to have the horizontal stabilizer intersect the vertical tail somewhere ...

and unswept supercritical wing of the Citation V (560), and a slightly shortened Citation X stand-up cabin. The XLS 2004 update had upgraded engines and a glass cockpit and the 2008 XLS+ had upgraded engines and a revised nose.

The Excel is part of the

Citation family The Cessna Citation is a family of business jets by Cessna that started in 1972 with the entry into service of the first model. In the fifty years following the 1969 first flight, more than 7,500 Citations were delivered, forming the largest b ...

Development

With the success of Cessna's high-end Citation VII, the manufacturer saw a market for an aircraft with the Citation X's features but aimed at a more traditional market, where it would chiefly compete with twin-

turboprop A turboprop is a turbine engine that drives an aircraft propeller. A turboprop consists of an intake, reduction gearbox, compressor, combustor, turbine, and a propelling nozzle. Air enters the intake and is compressed by the compressor. ...

aircraft. The project was announced at the annual NBAA convention in October, 1994, and the prototype aircraft took off on its first flight on February 29, 1996.

Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic ...

certification was granted in April 1998, by which time Cessna had over 200 orders for the aircraft. Its unit cost in 1999 was US$8.7M. By the time the 100th Excel was delivered in August 2000, an aircraft was coming off the Wichita production line every three days. A total of 308 were built before production switched to the Citation XLS. The Citation XLS was the first "makeover" that the Excel received, with deliveries beginning in 2004. Besides a glass cockpit based on the

Honeywell Primus Honeywell Primus is a range of Electronic Flight Instrument System (EFIS) glass cockpits manufactured by Honeywell Aerospace. Each system is composed of multiple display units used as primary flight display and multi-function display. Primus ...

1000 EFIS avionics suite, the XLS featured the upgraded PW545B engines with increased performance. It was produced in 330 units. By 2018, ten year old XLS models were trading near $4 million. The Citation XLS+, or simply "Plus" configuration was another upgraded version of the aircraft which began delivery in 2008, with the inclusion of FADEC engine controls, improved PW545C engines, and a completely revised nose design similar to that found on the Citation Sovereign and Citation X. The Citation XLS+ features Collins Pro Line 21 Avionics and a four screen LCD EFIS display as opposed to the three tube (CRT) Honeywell display in the XL and the three screen LCD Primus 1000 in the XLS.Cessna Citation XLS+ web site
In 2022, its equipped price was $15.5M.

Design

ABC Bedarfsflug Cessna 560XL Citation XLS taking off from Innsbruck Airport

To produce the Excel, Cessna took the X's cabin fuselage (itself inherited from the

Citation III The Cessna Citation III is an American business jet produced by Cessna and part of the Citation family. Announced at the October 1976 NBAA convention, the Model 650 made its maiden flight on May 30, 1979, received its type certification on Apri ...

), shortened it by about , and mated it with an unswept wing utilising a

supercritical airfoil A supercritical airfoil (supercritical aerofoil in British English) is an airfoil designed primarily to delay the onset of wave drag in the transonic speed range. Supercritical airfoils are characterized by their flattened upper surface, highly ...

based on the Citation S/II's wing and the tail from the Citation V. The Excel has the roomiest cabin in its class of light corporate jets and can seat up to 10 passengers (in high-density configuration; typically the number is six to eight in a corporate configuration), while being flown by a crew of two.The Cessna 560XL Citation Excel from Airlines.net
/ref> To power the aircraft, Cessna chose the Pratt & Whitney Canada PW500

turbofan The turbofan or fanjet is a type of airbreathing jet engine that is widely used in aircraft propulsion. The word "turbofan" is a portmanteau of "turbine" and "fan": the ''turbo'' portion refers to a gas turbine engine which achieves mechanic ...

. The original version had two cockpit configurations involving where the landing gear was on the panel. With the gear on the left hand side, the MFD was moved to the right slightly and both radios were moved to the right of the MFD next to each other. With the gear handle on the right side, the MFD remained centered with the radios on either side. The Excel uses

Honeywell Honeywell International Inc. is an American publicly traded, multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. It primarily operates in four areas of business: aerospace, building technologies, performance ma ...

avionics and an optional

Auxiliary power unit An auxiliary power unit (APU) is a device on a vehicle that provides energy for functions other than propulsion. They are commonly found on large aircraft and naval ships as well as some large land vehicles. Aircraft APUs generally produce 115& ...

also powered by Honeywell.

Operators

The aircraft is operated by private individuals, companies, fractionals, charter operators and aircraft management companies. The Swiss Air Force is an operator.

NetJets NetJets Inc. is an American company that sells fractional ownership shares in private business jets. Founded as Executive Jet Airways in 1964, it was later renamed Executive Jet Aviation. NetJets became the first private business jet chart ...

is also a major operator in the United States offering fractional ownership and charter flights. The 560's

ICAO aircraft type designator An aircraft type designator is a two-, three- or four-character alphanumeric code designating every aircraft type (and some sub-types) that may appear in flight planning. These codes are defined by both the International Civil Aviation Organizati ...

is C56X.

Accidents and incidents

As of September 2021, the Citation Excel had been involved in eleven

aviation accidents and incidents An aviation accident is defined by the Convention on International Civil Aviation Annex 13 as an occurrence associated with the operation of an aircraft, which takes place from the time any person boards the aircraft with the ''intention of fl ...

including six

hull loss A hull loss is an aviation accident that catastrophically damages the aircraft beyond economical repair, resulting in a total loss. The term also applies to situations in which the aircraft is missing, the search for their wreckage is terminate ...

es, with eleven fatalities stemming from two of the crashes. On 13 August 2014, a Citation 560XLS+ transporting

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

ian presidential candidate Eduardo Campos and his entourage in the lead up to elections in October

crashed "Crashed" is the third U.S. rock Single (music), single, (the fifth overall), from the band Daughtry (band), Daughtry's debut album. It was released only to U.S. rock stations on September 5, 2007. Upon its release the song got adds at those stat ...

in the city of Santos, São Paulo, killing all 7 on board. This was the first fatal crash of a Citation Excel since entering service in 1996.

Specifications (Citation XLS+)

References

External links

Cessna Citation family home page

Cessna's Excel performance and specifications page archived at archive.org
{{Cessna Citation Excel 1990s United States business aircraft Twinjets Low-wing aircraft

Excel ExCeL London (an abbreviation for Exhibition Centre London) is an exhibition centre, international convention centre and former hospital in the Custom House area of Newham, East London. It is situated on a site on the northern quay of the ...

Aircraft first flown in 1996