TYPE: Business jet.

PROGRAMME: Design started mid-1998; announced at NBAA Convention at Las Vegas, Nevada. 18 October 1998; critical design review completed in late 1999; structural testing of fatigue test fuselage began in late 1999; official launch 3 January 2000; construction of cyclic fatigue test airframe started October 2000; manufacture of prototype started in 2001; first flight (prototype N680CS, c/n 000P) 27 February 2002, followed by first preproduction aircraft (N681CS, c/n 0001) on 27 June 2002. Public debut (N681CS) at NBAA Convention in Orlando, Florida, 10 September 2002. These aircraft, plus N682CS, c/n 0002, which flew in fourth quarter 2002, undertook a 2,000-hour, 19-month test programme. By 27 August 2003 the three aircraft had logged more than 1,600 flight hours. Two static test airframes have also been built, one of which will undertake a 36,000-cycle fatigue test programme. After completion of initial flight tests and envelope expansion in June 2002, 000P was dedicated to stability and control checks, high altitude stall tests, cruise performance validation, systems and APU testing and airfield performance; c/n 0001 is the systems verification and certification article; and c/n 0002/N682CS is dedicated to avionics and autopilot testing. FAA certification to FAR Pt 25 Amendment 98 and JAR 25 Change 15, both including TVSM compliance, is scheduled for late 2003; c/n 0002 was also to perform a 150-hour function and reliability programme and, with c/n 0001, undertake 300 hours of post-certification in-service testing before first customer delivery in January 2004; both pre-production aircraft will then be refurbished and brought up to final production configuration before sale to customers. First production aircraft (N52114, c/n 0003) rolled out 27 August 2003. Delivery targets are 21 in 2004, 40 in 2005 and 58 in 2006.

CUSTOMERS: Launch customer Swift Air of Phoenix, Arizona, ordered six on day of launch announcement; Executive Jet Aviation ordered 50, with 50 options, on 20 October for its NetJets fractional ownership scheme. Other announced customers include Atlas Air Service GmbH of Germany, which has ordered one. Firm orders totalled more than 100 by August 2003.

COSTS: US$13,523 million, typically equipped (2003).

DESIGN FEATURES: Design goals included large cabin, good short-field performance and US coast-to-coast range. Low wing with sweptback leading-edge: mid-mounted tailplane with leading-edge sweepback; podded engines on rear fuselage shoulders. New wing design; sweepback 16° 18' at leading-edge, -12° 42' at quarter-chord, dihedral 3°. Mid-mounted tailplane, sweepback 17° 36' at leading-edge, dihedral 0°.

FLYING CONTROLS: Conventional. Five hydraulically actuated spoiler panels per wing; three centre panels function as roll spoilers, variable position speedbrakes and ground spoilers; inner and outboard panels function as variable speedbrakes and ground spoilers. Trim tabs in ailerons and rudder; trimmable tailplane; yaw damper.

STRUCTURE: Primarily metal. Fokker Aerostructures of the Netherlands selected in 2000 to manufacture the tail surfaces of production aircraft.

LANDING GEAR: Hydraulically retractable tricycle type with twin wheels on trailing-link main units and nosewheel; main units retract inboard, nosewheel forwards. Carbon brakes; anti-skid standard; hydraulically boosted nosewheel steering.

POWER PLANT: Two Pratt & Whitney Canada PW306C turbofans with FADEC, each developing 25.3 kN (5,686 lb St) flat rated to ISA + 15°C; target-type thrust reversers. Integral fuel tanks in wings total usable capacity 6,091 litres (1,609 US gallons; 1,340 Imp gallons); singlepoint pressure fuelling.

ACCOMMODATION: Crew of two on flight deck and up to 12 passengers in cabin; standard accommodation for eight passengers in double club arrangement with forward galley and aft lavatory. Fully dimmable LED cabin lighting. Baggage compartment in tailcone with external access. Cabin is pressurised, heated and air conditioned. Airstair door at front on port side; one emergency exit on starboard side, above the wing.

SYSTEMS: Pressurisation system, maximum differential 0.64 bar (9.3 lb/sq in), and air-conditioning system supplied by engine bleed air; pressurisation system maintains sea level cabin to 7,690 m (25,230 ft); closed-centre hydraulic system, pressure 207 bar (3,000 lb/sq in), for operation of landing gear, nosewheel steering, braking system, spoilers and thrast reversers. 28 V DC split-bus electrical system, supplied by two 400 A starter/generators and two AC alternators. Honeywell RE100 APU certified for in-flight operation up to 9,145 m (30,000 ft); and Honeywell environmental control and cabin pressure control systems. Oxygen system standard. Wing and tailplane leadingedges and engine inlets anti-iced by engine bleed air; electrically anti-iced windscreens and air data probes.

AVIONICS: Honeywell Primus Epic as core system.
Comms: L-3 Communications CVR standard.
Radar: Honeywell Primus 880 colour weather radar.
Flight: VOR, ILS, ADF. GPS, dual NZ-2000 FMS. TAWS, TCASII and three-axis autopilot standard.
Instrumentation: Four-tube EFIS with 203 x 254 mm (8 X 10 in) active matrix quartz PFD, MFD and EICAS displays. Max-Viz EVS2000 enhanced visibility system optional.