The first customer installation of Tamarack Aerospace’s Atlas active winglet system was completed late last week on a Cessna Citation CJ1 operated by private charter firm JetPingu and based at Switzerland’s Grenchen Airport. The installation took 400 man hours and was performed at the Textron Aviation Service Center in Zurich.

Tamarack Aerospace Group secured EASA STC approval for the Atlas winglets on the CitationJet, CJ1 and CJ1+ in January. EASA approval for the M2, a variant of the CJ1+ with Garmin G3000 avionics, is pending. U.S. FAA STCs are anticipated to follow this summer for all four models. Tamarack COO Brian Cox told AIN that the company is also pursuing EASA and FAA STCs for Atlas on the CJ3 and then the CJ2. He said the CJ4 and other aircraft types “are on our radar,” adding that more news on this front will follow this summer.

The company's active winglets do not require wing reinforcement, so Cox said the installation time is “substantially less” than that for a “passive” winglet. He added that the company is also working on approval, slated for late summer, of an aircraft flight manual supplement that will improe the first and second gradient climb by 20 percent, raise zero fuel weight by 400 pounds and allow for higher-weight takeoffs in hot-and-high conditions.

The company’s 1992 CitationJet testbed has demonstrated a 25-percent reduction in fuel burn thanks to the winglets and set an unofficial record of flying 1,853 nm nonstop, according to Cox. The Atlas winglets also allowed the testbed to reach FL410 in 30 minutes or less after a max-weight takeoff.