AOPA Turbine Pilot Magazine - November 2018 - T-31

the movement there as well. Good thing,
because looking out the four-panel windshield, you can't see much of the wing,
swept at an average of about 28 degrees,
and tipped by swooplets-gradually swept
winglets. No one used to flying older
Citations will miss doing the manual
"rotary" tests at the start of the day.
LEAVING THE PRAIRIE

All up and running, I grabbed the tiller
wheel on the left side panel and applied
a little thrust. Once rolling, the tiller does
a steady job of keeping the dual nosegear
headed where you want to go, although my
less than deft hand had us jerking down
the taxiway a couple of times. The brakeby-wire system barely kept us still on the
runway as I shoved the levers forward.
Once releasing the carbon brakes, we shot
down the runway with impressive acceleration, the V1 of 110 knots and VR of 118
knots gone in a flash. I tucked the chevron into the flight director and we dashed
upward across the prairie to Flight Level
430. At a maximum takeoff weight of
39,500 pounds, the Longitude can climb

to FL430 in about 22 minutes. The climb
schedule calls for a step climb to the ceiling
of FL450, but Rogerson said during testing
they frequently went straight to the ceiling.
However, maximum speed of 476 knots is
achieved around FL400. At FL430 and a
relatively light load with ISA at minus 5, we
saw 472 knots or Mach 0.827 while burning 1,700 pounds per hour.
Even at the loftiest altitude, the cabin
maxes out at 5,950 feet, giving the bill-payers a comfortable flight at one of the lowest
cabin altitudes in the class.
Rogerson extolled the human-factors
work Textron did to simplify the cockpit. "We're trying to build a more intuitive
flight deck," he said. For example, the electrical system displays percentage of amps
rather than number of amps being used.
"Why make the pilot do a lot of math?"
Rogerson asked. Electrical system load
shedding is automatic, taking less important systems off line when there's a power
problem, including shutting off electricity to less important windshield panes, for
example. Open a door or hatch anywhere
on the airplane, and an LED automatically

comes on to illuminate that area. Ten
minutes later, it shuts off. Thanks to the
control-by-wire rudder system, the yaw
damper is full time. No need to remember
to turn it on after takeoff or off just before
landing. Dual hydraulic systems actuate the
rudder; a standby electric motor provides
triple redundancy. Like other modern Part
25 designs, the flight controls can be split,
allowing control even if one or more flight
controls becomes inoperative. The fuel system is simple: two wing tanks, each feeding
an engine. The crossflow setting pumps to
the other tank should an imbalance occur.
A single-point refueling system at the right
wing root allows the pilot to enter the number of pounds of fuel needed, once again
saving the math of converting to gallons.
However, that simple fuel system was
causing a bit of a kerfuffle when we visited
in September. Late in the certification program, the FAA decided the portion of the
tanks inside the wing root fairings constituted a "center fuel tank." Because of that
it must meet the fuel tank flammability
requirements demanded by certification
changes that occurred after the TWA

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AOPA Turbine Pilot Magazine - November 2018

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