Textron Aviation develops special mission-configured Cessna Citation Longitude for Japanese Civil Aviation Bureau

Textron Aviation Inc., a Textron Inc. company, today announced it is configuring the newly certified Cessna Citation Longitude for flight inspection missions. The aircraft, which is anticipated to deliver in 2021, is being modified for the Japanese Civil Aviation Bureau (JCAB) and will conduct flight validation and flight inspection operations.

"From its early design stages, the clean-sheet design of the Citation Longitude gave us the flexibility to incorporate a wide-range of special missions capabilities into the platform," said Bob Gibbs, vice president, Defense & Special Missions Sales. "We're pleased to be working with longtime customer JCAB as it expands its mission profile with the addition of the Citation Longitude. The enhanced performance, large cabin and advanced capabilities of the aircraft give JCAB a new level of efficiency and productivity in maintaining the operational integrity of its airports and airways."

The JCAB Longitude is outfitted with newly designed UNIFIS 3000-G2 flight inspection equipment to perform critical verification of navigation aids such as Instrument Landing System Category I, II, and III (ILS Cat I,II,III) approaches, Ground Based Augmentation System (GBAS), Very High Frequency Omni-Directional Range (VOR), Tactical Air Navigation System (TACAN) and much more.

In addition to the Longitude, JCAB also operates five Citation CJ4 jets in a similar flight inspection capacity.