Cessna Citation Mustang (C510) Wish List
The Cessna Citation Mustang is a wonderful airplane, especially for a brand new design. I'm sure it, or its derivatives will continue to improve over time. This wish list was created to keep track of potential improvements. It is not a critique of the Mustang, but rather practical feedback to provide to Cessna in order to improve the product for every one's benefit. Thanks to various contributors for your ideas and suggestions.
If you have additional ideas or suggestions, email me at the address listed at the bottom of this page. Let me know if you would like credit for your suggestion.
See also my
Mustang Review.
G1000 / Avionics:
- The G1000 should definitely preset V speeds on the PFD, rather than the manual error-prone process. It has all the necessary information. Note that Angle of Attack (AoA) indicator appears as a green ball in the airspeed tape, which can be used as a backup for entering Vref for landing purposes. Additionally, it would nice to display the actual angle of attack as some pilots, especially with military training, prefer that. Right now, only the green ball of critical AoA is displayed.
- When entering an airway on a flight plan, the intermediate waypoints are not displayed. When ATC clears you to a later waypoint, the only option is to take out enroute charts and figure out the waypoint manually even though the G1000 knows. Perhaps there could be a manual "Expand / Collapse airway" menu item on the Flight Planning page. (Note: this may be possible under some revisions of the G1000 software. See the G1000 Pilot's Guide, section 5-80)
- There is no way to do any "What If?" route planning. On a plane with two separate 430 or 530s, you can use the second to plan alternates for time, fuel or on-course heading / DTK. While it is possible and prudent to carry a handheld GPS, like a Garmin 496, as backup and alternate planning, there is no easy way to cross-fill the 496 to the 1000. If ATC gives you a re-route in a dual 530/430 equipped plane, the re-route can be entered on the backup Nav, verified, and then cross-filled into the active Nav. There is no way to do that on the G1000.
- VNAV Planning:
- Show Top of Descent (TOD) distance. Right now, it is shown graphically and by time, not distance.
- Planning +x / -x miles from a waypoint is less intuitive than the 530/430 VNAV planning where plain English "Before / After" is used.
- The METAR graphical display flags are too large, obscuring too much information when zoomed out.
- EICAS: have more text available for the messages. There are too many obscure messages to memorize. At least allow highlighting an EICAS message and have a "More..." softkey to get an expanded description or suggested action in case an unfamiliar message appears. Obviously significant messages should be memorized by the pilot.
- Why does the "Go-around" button turn on the Flight Director, and the Autopilot FD button turn it off? Couldn't either one flip the state of the FD?
- A little tone or beep crossing 18,000' (or whatever the appropriate local Flight Level transition altitude) would be useful. Rev 13 of the G1000 software now flashes the altimeter setting when crossing into the Flight Levels. There is no audible tone.
- Checklists should be available on the MFD, especially the emergency ones. Why not link the EICAS messages to the checklists? Imagine that you select the message in the EICAS, then hit the "Checklist" softkey.
- Departures that involve radar vectors are not displayed on the MFD or listed as a Departure Procedure. A backup source, like paper, is required.
- For pressurization, the destination airport elevation must be preset in the MFD. It should default to the destination airport of the flight plan rather than having to look it up manually.
Cabin / Comfort:
- Like any modern car, allow cockpit and cabin temperatures to be set by thermostat, rather than manually. The interior has a tendency to get warm during descents. Ideally, the environmental / pressurization display on the MFD would also optionally show cockpit and cabin temperature.
- At least a chemical toilet, instead of just a bag. I plan on using Water Jelly Crystal - Superabsorbant Polymers (aka Sodium Polyacrylic) in the bag to at least prevent sloshing in case of emergency usage. There have to be some good aftermarket solutions for this already.
- The cabin has too much plastic, like a mid-market American car, rather than the luxury details you'd expect from a private jet.
Entertainment / XM Radio.
- Passengers should be able to view the current XM channel in addition to changing it.
- Crew should have XM output in the cockpit that is muted automatically by ATC. Some Mustang pilots have had this performed as a custom retrofit.
- There should be a external input for an MP3 or DVD audio available in the cabin that would be sent to all cabin headset outputs. Sure you could use a $10 splitter from Radio Shack if necessary.
- Some pilots would prefer that the XM radio should be detachable for use outside the plane. Of course, you could always take your Garmin 496 or Nuvi along, which would probably be a lot cheaper than any option available from Cessna. As my friend Philip pointed out: "For the price of the [$5000] XM option, you could buy at least 250 MP3
flash-based players, fill each with eight hours of aviation-themed
songs, and give one to each of your first 250 passengers as a souvenir
of their journey."
Public Address:
- A real intercom should be available between crew and at least one cabin area, as found on some Caravans.
- The PA button should be a useful cabin announcement via the two cockpit speakers, which are already clearly audible in the cabin. If your passengers are using the XM headsets, pressing PA will allow the pilot to cut in and make an announcement, which is better than nothing.
Headphones:
- Tip power should be sufficient to power other brands of headphones, such as Sennheiser, etc. besides just the Telex.
- LEMO plugs should be added for Bose or other types of powered headphones.