by Rod Douglas 

The world’s fastest charter aircraft… Available here in Australia.

It’s a funny thing but pilots have a reputation for being sexy. Now let’s be clear here, I’m not being sexist. It’s a proven fact that airline pilots, traditionally, have a reputation for struggling to win the longest married steeplechase. These pilots were typically men. Of course in a modern world, and led by pioneers like Nancy Bird Walton, there are many women leading from the front in the cockpit and, it’s a scientifically proven fact, that most men think there is nothing sexier than a woman in a captain’s outfit. So clearly, sex and flying go together.

So a few weeks ago when I walked into the hangar at Jet City and let out a long slow whistle, you can imagine that it was probably because there was an absolutely gorgeous bird standing there in front of me. Now before you pick up the phone to call my wife and tell her that her husband is writing inappropriate articles, I should tell you that the bird in question is probably the sexiest business jet ever designed…the Citation X. My wife already knows that I have many mistresses and that they all have wings; being the modern girl that she is, she encourages me to partake.

This is one sexy bird. Big, bold and beautiful. If you’re standing in the Louvre with a Monet before you, what exactly do you say about it after your breathe is taken away beyond - WOW? Do you start talking about the brush strokes? Well that’s my challenge here. You really have to stand before it (or even better fly it) to appreciate just how amazing this aircraft is.

Sitting before me can only be described as the most beautifully sculptured and engineered business jet ever. Weeks later and I still can’t get my fingers convinced to write about it.

So here goes. Imagine this. You’re gazing down the nose at the superb arc that slides back and collides with a perfect set of swept wings. Everything is polished to within an inch of its life and, as your eye lifts, you discover that sitting high above the wing are the enormous power pods that seem to be as round as I am tall. Could it really be that each engine is really a third of the diametre of the fuselage? Looked at from the side, they stretch back, back, back (over 3.5 metres long for each power pod) until the enormous ‘T’ tail launches skyward. It is a superb piece of sculpture that flies and flies fast.

This is actually, to date, the fastest business jet ever built. As we all know, if you’re going to be the fastest business jet it’s pretty simple…you need oodles of power and the absolute minimum of drag. I’m sure that’s why this particular aircraft has lines that echo the most beautiful of the classics. Rodin’s Thinker is awe-inspiring in its gallery and so is the Citation X in its hangar. Its wing is so perfectly designed that there is not a single blemish to be seen. Perfectly smooth and so delightfully engineered, there isn’t a single requirement for an aerodynamic device and the supercritical aerofoil is swept to 37° which is significantly more than any business jet and only second to the Boeing 747 in any civil aircraft. This enhances the truly beautiful lines that draw in the eye and give an amazing sense of speed, even when it’s standing in the hangar.

In fact, this amazing jet transformed even the company that made it. The Cessna Citation line of jets stretches back to the earliest days of the corporate jet, when Cessna made a logical and simple decision. They would forsake speed to build incredibly well-behaved and reliable aircraft with superb handling. The only issue, and the reputation that developed, was that they would be left in the wake of their primary competitor, the Lear jet.

In 1990 Cessna made a decision to change that reputation by building the Citation X. It took six years and the development of a completely new aircraft that broke the mould of common components across the range.

In fact, the Citation X is built to the very standards required of airliners with complete redundancy in every aspect of the aircraft, including the powered control system (another Citation X first).  Amazingly the world’s fastest business jet is also one of the world’s most useable with incredible short field performance that relies on its relatively small wings becoming big in the pattern, using leading edge slates and fowler flaps, the same approach used on the 747, and big carbon breaks to ensure the stopping power needed to ensure this jet has the ability to get in and out of a 1,100 m strip at max weight.

VH-XCJ is one of two Citation X’s that are on the Australian register. It belongs to a Melbourne based property investor and is the pinnacle purchase of this long time Citation owner. He had previously operated a Citation XLS with Jet City, who have bases at Tullamarine and Essendon, and who have managed his aircraft for many years. They provide a complete management service that included commissioning of the Citation X as well as the sale of the XLS.

This particular Citation X is a 1998 model with around 8,000 hours. For many pilots who spend their time tooling around in general aviation aircraft 8,000 hours sounds like a bloody lot of hours. For a corporate jet that is build to airline certification standards it’s actually only just broken in. An airline like Virgin Blue would expect to put between 4,000 and 4,500 hours on one of their 737s every year. This particular aircraft came from a high pedigree owner, Net Jets, who provide fractional jets in the US and international markets. Before it was bought to Australia it went through a complete rebuild from the ground up, including a complete new (and oh so luxurious) interior, a superb personalised paint scheme designed by the owner and a full assessment of the systems and power plants.

When you walk around and then through this beautiful aircraft it is amazing to realise that the aircraft is 11 years old. When I first met this aircraft at the Avalon Airshow on the Aeromil Pacific ramp, Phil Laffer, the chief pilot, asked me how old the aircraft was. It looked completely new to me, with the exception of the quite dated CRT based Honewell Primus 2000 avionics suite. While more than capable, this flight deck looks a bit ancient compared to modern day flat panel arrangement. I answered with a simple, “five years with a refresh” and he laughed. It’s a beautiful aircraft with a beautiful interior that is absolutely original.

I remember meeting the owner at the opening of the Cessna Store in Sydney early last year and talking to him about his evolution as a jet owner. He doesn’t fly but loves the convenience of having his own aircraft and uses it for business, but also as his personal shuttle between his home city of Melbourne and his family’s beach house on the Sunshine Coast.

Let’s talk about that convenience for a moment. Imagine this. Wealthy individual heads off from his home in Melbourne with several children in tow. Drives across town from his Toorak home and into the chaos of Tullamarine. Being a frequent flyer and Qantas Club member he deposits his car in the Qantas Club valet parking and struggles with his bags to drag them into the, admittedly close by, check in counter.

After haggling over seats in business class and making the family happy about the seating arrangements, they all walk to the security barrier where they disgorge themselves of anything metal and anything interesting to the gaze of the disinterested but power hungry security guards.

Next he drags the family through the terminal and up into the incredibly crowded Qantas Club to wait for the call to arms of a boarding airliner. So…will the plane be on time? Who knows? How far will the jog be to the gate? Who knows? How long will the wait be to board? Who knows? There’s not much control in this process for said wealthy property investor. Anyway, let’s assume that the airliner is on time. Add another 20 minutes clearing the baggage conveyor and from home at Toorak to the first view of the beach on the Sunshine Coast with Qantas - minimum five hours.

Now let’s try the same trip on the same Friday morning using the Citation X. Leave home from Toorak. Drive to Essendon Airport (save

15 minutes). Arrive at Essendon to hand the keys to one of the friendly team from Jet City and walk through the lounge and up the air stair on to the aircraft. Meanwhile your bags are being placed in the pressurised baggage locker and the car is being securely parked for you.

Of course there might be a little jockeying for particular seats by the kids, but with eight superb recliners in a double club arrangement with a belted potty and an additional crew seat there are 10 places to choose to put your bottom. Time from arrival at the Jet City facility to the air stair door being secured – 10 minutes.

When you blast off into the uncluttered skies of Essendon, with no queues of airliners waiting for departures to slow you down, the world is suddenly your oyster. Especially as you begin your climb to the completely empty skies at 51,000 feet over continental Australia. When you get there, and this speedster really starts to truck, you can expect to cut significant time off the flight. We’re talking 30 minutes, or nearly 25% of the time off that taken by a 737.  I hear from reliable sources that a 737 pilot on the same track at FL410 being overtaken by a Citation X doing nearly 100 knots of ground speed faster at FL510 is given the impression that he is standing still whilst loitering along at a measly 876 kph.

Naturally at the other end the car is waiting on the ramp, the bags are disgorged immediately from the great big baggage compartment at the rear (no excess baggage here) and in minutes you’re sitting on the verandah cracking open the first bottle of champagne to celebrate your freedom.

So suddenly the door to door time of this quick squirt up to the beach house has fallen from 5 hours to 3 hours 30. Imagine how many fewer ‘are we there yet dad’s’ you’d have to put up with, all with the convenience and kudos of your own jet. It might be an expensive luxury but it certainly ranks up there as something I’d choose to enjoy, given the resources.

I must say though that Australians have an unusual attitude to the corporate jet. In the US owning

your own jet is the signature point of having made it. People are proud and crow loudly about their jets. With the exception of some ludicrous publicity over the past year about bankrupt auto manufacturers’ CEOs flying to Washington with the begging bowl out, to be able to arrive by private jet is simply regarded as the expected mode of transport for successful business people.

Here it’s very different. You will have noticed that I haven’t named the owner of this aircraft. For those in the know the identity of this aircraft owner is public. He is an investor in a very successful group of aviation companies. He originally made his money in the development of property. He has a low public profile. He is happier to not be identified.

Simply wouldn’t happen in the US. The ‘tall poppy’ syndrome lives big in Australia still. I know a very wealthy man who flies a TBM700 because he simply wouldn’t be seen dead getting out of a jet. It’s a sad part of the Australian psyche that people are making their flying decision not by what they can afford but rather by who they will be thought of.

Funnier still is that should the mythical flight happen with our intrepid owner catching a Qantas flight to the Sunshine Coast… he couldn’t do it. Qantas don’t fly to the Sunshine Coast and I can guarantee you that there are no business class seats on Jetstar.

Back to this fantastic aircraft. With a range of a little over 3,000 nm this aircraft will take you well into Asia and, with a couple of stops, will put you into the US. There is a story getting around that demonstrates just how fast this aircraft is when a Netjet’s Citation X and a Gulfstream 550 departed together for Europe. The Citation X needed a fuel stop and still landed ahead of the Gulfstream in Europe. In an amazing tribute to how much speed means to those fortunate enough to be able to choose between the heavy metal of the corporate jet world, that the Citation X’s owners would often get upset over being given a free upgrade from their aircraft to the much bigger (and much more expensive) Gulfstream’s, because, to be frank, they’re so slow.

So what will it cost you to wrap eight of your friends in the quality hides of the Citation X’s luxury recliners? A mere $8,000 per hour on charter. Or, if you’re feeling really flush, about $23 million for a new one or $15 million (USD of course), for a beautifully turned out refurbished version like VH-XCJ with an operating cost of about AUD$4,500 per hour.

This is the pointy end of aviation. It’s for the truly wealthy few who put time before money, make convenience their middle name and have resources that we’d all dream about. Of course, for those of us who fly, we may well prefer to just take a job at Jet City so that we to can become the masters of ‘the world’s fastest business jet’. Either way, if you want to fly in this beauty, call Lorne Cole at Jet City on 03 9330 1555 for a quote.

Been a jet jockey? Enjoyed the largess of the corporate world on their corporate jets? Own your own? Share your stories with me at rod@aviatormag.com.au