Introduction To The Cessna 550 Citation Jet
Cessna 550 Citation Jet is a twin-engine business class jet aircraft. It forms part of the Citation series of aircrafts brought out by Cessna which were initially characterized by twin turbo-powered engines and straight wings. The jets of Cessna Citation series have long been the mainstay of corporate air travel in the United States.
The Cessna 550 Citation was another name of the Citation II series developed by Cessna in order to improve upon its Citation I aircrafts. The latter had proved to be successful in the market of business jets with its turbo-fan engines and ability to take off from smaller airfields. The Citation II improved on the previous version with a greater seating capacity of a maximum of ten passengers.
The Cessna 550 Citation aircraft also acquired a more powerful engine compared to the Citation I. Citation II was equipped with JT15D4 engines which gave it a greater speed as well as longer range. The aircraft made its debut flight on January 31, 1977 and around a year later in March 1978, it received its certification for two-pilot operation.
An upgraded version of the Cessna 550 Citation II was the Model 551 which came to be known as the Citation II S/P. the latter was developed to compete in the Turbo-prop segment as most of the turbo-prop aircrafts were flown by single pilots. Yet another improved variant was the Model S550 Citation S/II which employed a more powerful engine of the JT15D4B class. Other than that it also had an upgraded design which gave it superior aerodynamics.
The Cessna 550 Citation II has found uses in other fields as well. It has been acquired by the Aircrafts Operation Center of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to aid in the acquiring of remote sensing imagery. The Citation II has had thirteen Hull-loss accidents with a total of thirty five fatalities. While it does not have any history of hijackings or other criminal occurrences, Citation II has had thirteen occasions of other types of hull-loss occurrences without any fatalities.
