Tamarack Aerospace Receives Approval for CJ Winglets

Tamarack Aerospace Group has secured European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) supplemental type certification (STC) for its Atlas active winglet system for the CitationJet Model CE525 series. The STC covers the original CJ as well as the CJ1 and CJ1+. EASA approval for the M2 is expected in March with U.S. approval anticipated to follow this summer.

The approvals culminate a three-year program that involved more than 300 flights on the 1992 CJ testbed. Tamarack unveiled the system originally for the CJ1 in late 2012 and a year later signed an agreement with Cessna under which Cessna would sell, market and install the active winglets on the CJ series in the aftermarket.

“Active winglets set a new standard as they are two to three times more efficient than previous designs,” said Tamarack Aerospace founder Nick Guida. During the flight tests, the testbed CJ consistently flew at maximum takeoff weight to FL410 in 30 minutes or less, Tamarack said. At maximum continuous thrust the block fuel burn on these flights averaged 96 gallons per hour, the company added and noted the Atlas-equipped CJ set an unofficial record of flying 1,853 nm nonstop and landed with fuel reserves after the six-hour, 16-minute flight.

The system improves stability, smoothing out in-flight turbulence, improves hot and high takeoff performance and allows an increase in maximum zero fuel weight, the company said. It was designed with an active control surface actuator that drives small moveable surfaces to counteract and alleviate wing load. In addition to helping with fuel savings the system permits the installation of the winglets without strengthening the wing structure.

Textron Aviation’s service center network is handling the installations.