Cessna Citation III

what is it?

The Cessna Citation III is an American business jet produced by Cessna and part of the Citation family. Announced at the October 1976 NBAA convention, the Model 650 made its maiden flight on May 30, 1979, received its type certification on April 30, 1982, and was delivered between 1983 and 1992. The cheaper Citation VI was produced from 1991 to 1995 and the more powerful Citation VII was offered between 1992 and 2000; 360 of all variants were delivered, while a proposed transcontinental variant, the Citation IV, was canceled before reaching the prototype stage.

🔎How to recognise it: 2 jet engines · 16.3 m wingspan

base stats

• speed 874 km/hcruise speed
• range 4,348 kmwithout refuelling
• seats 9passengers
• size 9,980 kgmax take-off weight
• built 202made in total

Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).

fun facts

• 🎂First flew 47 years ago, in 1979.
• 🚗Wingspan of 16.3 m: about 4 cars parked nose to tail.
• 🌍Range of 4,348 km: 24× Amsterdam to Brussels.
• 🏔️Can fly 1.8× higher than Mount Everest (8,849 m).

jet: Gas turbine pushing air out the back (turbofan or turbojet): fast and high-flying.

spec sheet

first flight

1979-05-30

introduced

1982

number built

202

role

business jet

origin

🇺🇸 United States

makers

Cessna

engines

2× Garrett TFE731-3B

crew

2

passengers

9

length

16.9 m

wingspan

16.3 m

height

5.1 m

max take-off weight

9,980 kg

top speed

—

cruise speed

874 km/h

range

4,348 km

ceiling

15,545 m

ICAO code

C650

Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.