Cessna Citation CJ3

Cessna / Textron Aviation · USA · first flew 2003 · transport aircraft

The Citation CJ3 is the third member of the CitationJet family, further stretching the fuselage and upgrading to Williams FJ44-3A engines for improved range and capacity in the light bizjet category.

Recognition (WEFT)

W — Wings	Low-mounted, swept
E — Engines	2 × turbofan, tail-mounted
F — Fuselage	Longer still than the CJ2 — the progressive fuselage stretching of the CJ family means the CJ3 has the most cabin windows of any CJ below the CJ4
T — Tail	T-tail

WEFT is AircraftIQ's four-point recognition method — how it works.

Spot it by:

Longer still than the CJ2 — the progressive fuselage stretching of the CJ family means the CJ3 has the most cabin windows of any CJ below the CJ4
Williams FJ44-3A engines with noticeably longer, more oval nacelles than the CJ2's FJ44-2C pods
Same natural-laminar-flow wing family as CJ1/2; the thin, lightly-swept wing profile identifies the CJ series as a group against other small bizjets

The CJ3 sits between the CJ2 and CJ4 in fuselage length; the easiest spotter cue within the family is window count. Against the Phenom 100 it shows a T-tail rather than a cruciform tail and the distinctive thin NLF wing.

Specifications

The Cessna Citation CJ3 has a length of 15.59 m (51 ft).
It has a wingspan of 15.47 m (51 ft).
Its maximum speed is 787 km/h (489 mph).
Typical crew: 2 flight crew.

Figures are for the representative variant described above; marks differ. See how AircraftIQ sources figures.

History

First flown in April 2003 and certified in 2004, the CJ3 addressed operator requests for a seven-seat light jet with true coast-to-coast US range. The CJ3+ (2014) updated the cockpit to the Garmin G3000 touch-screen avionics suite, significantly modernising the flight deck.

Variants

The CJ3 and CJ3+ are the two production variants; the CJ3+ is current production with the G3000 avionics.

Where you'll see it

One of the most common light jets seen at UK general aviation airfields; regularly encountered at Farnborough, Biggin Hill and Oxford.

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