Cessna Citation X

The Citation X (Roman numeral for 10 rather than the letter) is the fastest civil aircraft flying today, a mantle it took over once Concorde suspended operations.
Citation X is aerodynamically advanced and as a result, even at high-cruise power settings, its fuel consumption is comparable to other, much slower aircraft in its weight class. The Cessna design team were tasked with creating an aircraft that would beat all others on key missions such as east to west coast USA or transatlantic. Brokers say that it can shave anything from 35 minutes to an hour off these journeys compared to others in this class
A key technical accomplishment is the 70 knot (130 km/h) buffet margin (the difference in speed between the stall buffet and the high-speed buffet). Many transonic airplanes at high altitudes have the stall buffet speed only 5 knots (9 km/h) below the high-speed buffet. The Citation X's wide margin allows for steep turns at high altitudes, which can be useful in emergency manoeuvring. The wide margin also means that the speed does not have to be maintained at a precise value for safe operation of the airplane.

Cessna announced that it was developing the Citation 750, named the Citation X in October 1990 at that year's NBAA conference. The prototype was publicly rolled out in September 1993 and flew for the first time on December 21 that year. Certification was granted on June 3 1996, with the first customer delivery (to golfer Arnold Palmer) a month later.

A Citation X was the 2500th Citation to be delivered, handed over on September 10 1997. The USA's National Aeronautics Association awarded its prestigious Collier Trophy to the Citation X design team in February 1997.

The sleek shape of the Citation X hints at its near supersonic performance. The wings are swept to 37 degrees and the twin Rolls-Royce engines are mounted high on the sides of the rear fuselage. There is a highly swept T-tail, differentiating this from the Sovereign or XL Citations. There are seven cabin windows on either side.

For more information within a handy book why not buy Flight's 2008 Pocket Guide to Business Aircraft.