TRANSITIONING FROM PISTON TO FAN JET

In a past column I wrote about the opportunity to fly right seat in a Cessna Citation Jet (CJ) to take depositions in San Diego, Colorado Springs and Denver. The 525 series CJ has often been referred to as the 152 of fan jets. This is not meant to disparage the 525, but to point out that the 525 is an excellent introductory model in training to fly jets.

The 525 was introduced in 1993. The CJ I flew was made in 1996. It is powered by two Williams FJ-44-1A engines. These engines aren’t the peppiest of jet engines, but they are extremely fuel efficient at altitude in cruise. The CJ has a stall speed of 83 knots and cruises around 350 to 400 Knots ground speed. The ceiling is 41,000 feet. Our flights were in the two hour range and less, and to Colorado we cruised east at 39,000 feet and west at 38,000 feet. I was able to climb at 2500 feet per minute up to 26,000 feet and then 600 feet per minute up to 39,000 feet. There were 5 of us on board.

The CJ is approved for single pilot operation. It is considered a light jet. Used CJ’s can be bought in the low 1 million dollar range. Having flown both a CJ and a Cessna Mustang, I can’t understand why one wouldn’t buy a CJ in lieu of a 3 million dollar VLJ Mustang. Once a passenger is seated in the Mustang, they are in the seat for the duration. There is not much room in the Mustang.The CJ offers the availability to stand up and stretch. One feature of the Mustang that I really like is that the center console is raised off the cabin floor. This enables the flight crew to slide into their seat. In the CJ one has to climb over the console.

The Flight Management System (FMS) in the CJ, made by Honeywell King, is a joy to work with. If you can program a flight into a Garmin 396/496 you can program a flight into the Honeywell FMS. Flying up high I was able to request direct to a waypoint. When approved by ATC I just pressed the direct button on the FMS and press the button next to the desired waypoint. The radios are the same layout as the King KX155’s, and the transponder is located just below the radios. In front of the pilot is a flight director screen with v bars, and I was also able to preset my altitude that I was cleared to. When you reach 1000 feet of your cleared altitude you hear an audio alert that states “altitude altitude altitude”. After that, there is not much difference than flying my Bonanza. The instruments in the right seat are all steam gauges with an HSI. The auto pilot part of the FMS allows you to set in the altitude cleared to. It also has trim for rate of climb and descent, and turn control to a heading. Cessna kept it simple. In future versions of the CJ, CJ + and CJ 1, Cessna installed a Collins system. The Collins take 3 moves versus 1 for the Honeywell to perform the same functions.

One learning difference in flying my Bonanza to the CJ, is the angle at take off and landing. It is much flatter in a jet. Our redline is 257 knots CAS. On take off our rotation speed was 120kts. The flaps are set in takeoff mode and the throttle moved forward to about 99 percent power. Rotation speed is 120. This was the speed needed to continue if we had an engine out. At 130 the takeoff flaps were raised, and at 140 the gear was raised. I was climbing out too high and lowered the noise to a 3 degree climb. The airspeed indicator is a round dial with knots on the outside and mach speed on the inside. My altitude was preselected to my clearance. When hand flying the CJ there are two v bars on the flight director in front of the left seat pilot. When these are lined up, one inside the other, you are on course. I had to look across to the left seat side as I did not have a flight director on my side. There was some parallax that took getting used to. Upon reaching FL 180 I turned on the autopilot, asked for higher and direct Durango, (DRO). When cleared and all set up, I discussed the departure with my Captain. It was then time to talk about the landing. When ATC gives you a lower altitude in a jet they expect a decent rate of at least 1500 feet per minute. I had to reduce power so as not to exceed redline. We descended at 240 knots CAS. When arriving at the airport I reduced power to get under two hundred knots so we could drop the flaps one notch. On downwind I dropped all the flaps, except landing flaps, and dropped the gear at 140 knots. I was now at about 60% power and set up for landing at 120 knots. I flew at 120 until touching down, reduced the throttle to idle and dropped the landing flaps and applied the brakes. I knew it would be a longer roll out than usual landing at a high altitude airport Centennial (APA). I had to be told once to reduce the angle of attack and come in flatter. This allowed the CJ to settle on the runway after round out.

Flying home that evening I took all my new flight knowledge to heart and had a much better angle on take off and landing. I was presented an opportunity by the owner to get my type rating from Flight Safety and respectfully declined. The insurance companies would never allow me to fly single pilot with my lack of jet hours. There are charters that the paying passengers request the comfort of 2 pilots, and I could do that to build up hours. The question is would I want to? Our pilot puts in 13 hour days. He has to be there early to check out the airplane, fuel it and remove it from the hangar. Then he has to have all the flight information imputed into the flight director. Upon arrival at destination there isn’t much to do except get ready for the return flight. Upon return the airplane has to be cleaned for the next flight and put back into the hangar. This makes for a long and tiring day, not the life for me at this stage of my life.

I am very grateful for the opportunity presented me to make these trips in a CJ and see the benefits of business aviation. After our depositions in Denver, we departed at 7PM and were home at 9PM. Since this deposition ran long, the attorney for the other side had to get a room for the night by the airport in Denver and return home the next day.

525LP on the ramp at APA

Right seat gauges

Sunset at FL360

I PAD AND FORE FLIGHT

CHECK IT OUT!

I love gadgets and so do many of my friends. On the day the IPad was released I knew several people who walked into the office with one. The IPad has a great future but was too big for what I wanted to do in my airplane. In direct sunlight it has to be positioned squarely in front of ones vision. When a 7 inch tablet is released I will probably buy one.

My pilot friends were talking about an aviation APP for the IPad and IPhone from ForeFlight. After 10 minutes of playing around with ForeFlight I was truly impressed. I have used RMS Flight Soft from the days of DOS on my computer. I love the program. I take my laptop with me in the cockpit of the Bonanza on long trips. I found it easier to look at charts on the computer than fold and unfold paper charts. I still print out approach plates. My Mac Book Air is bulky in the plane. My wife has to hold the computer for me if we are rerouted. ForeFlight does everything I could ask for on a flight planning and routing software. The graphics on the IPad are amazing, although I find the IPhone to be too small for the APP.

One just downloads the charts needed by State, airports needed, again by State, and you have a true Electronic Flight Bag (EFB). If the IPad was a scrunch smaller I would buy it just for the ForeFlight program. ForeFlight has a great marketing program. They give away one month free and by then you are hooked. It is that good and easy to use. The cost for ForeFlight for the total US is only $75.00 a year! (excluding IPad)

Arthur Rosen is a retired Judge, AOPA-ASN for Phoenix Deer Valley Airport (DVT), Chairman Emirates of the Scottsdale Aviation Commission, served on the Super Bowl Committee for Aviation and Aviation Expert for ABC TV-Phoenix. Arthur can be reached at Judge613@gmail.com.