Announced at the 2002 NBAA Convention, the recently certified Citation Mustang is cementing Cessna’s reputation as an on-time, as-promised manufacturer. Certification on September 8 and first delivery on November 22 took place last year on schedule. And the company has received the production certificate and full known-icing approval, with no remaining items left to certify. Cessna expects to deliver 40 Mustangs this year, and the order book stands at more than 250.

The Mustang represents a new class of jet, and while it is larger than other very light jets, Cessna’s choice of the Garmin G1000 avionics suite signals the airplane’s position as an entry-level jet because it will be an easier step-up for pilots who have been flying the company’s modern G1000-equipped piston singles.

The team that developed the Mustang is led by Russ Meyer III, son of former Cessna chairman Russ Meyer. Key team members were Jon Carr, Mustang project engineer; Tana Tennyson, supply management process leader; Dave Bonifield, flight-test manager; Alan Orr, director of assembly; and Neal Reusser and Veronica Balderas, experimental general supervisors.

Commenting on the successful conclusion of the Mustang development program, Cessna chairman and CEO Jack Pelton said, “I’d like to extend my deepest congratulations and appreciation to the talented Cessna employees, our world-class suppliers and the dedicated FAA certification team who took on this mission as passionately and personally as any program I’ve seen. We accomplished what we said we were going to accomplish, and we beat the schedule doing it.”