The Cessna Citation Mustang is the smallest of the Cessna executive jets, but it can hold its own when it comes to getting from A to B in double-quick time.
Despite an ‘‘extremely strong headwind'' on the way down from Napier yesterday, pilot Gerald Grocott said the trip took just one hour and 55 minutes.
The trip back would be done in a super-fast hour and a quarter, with 80-knot tailwinds to help them home, he said.
The plane brought Roger and Reydon Weiss to visit their friends Jeff Price and Terry Harrison at Three Miners vineyard. The couple own Elephant Hill Winery in the Hawkes Bay, but live in Germany.
Managing director Gunter Theis, who came with the couple, said they were looking for some good fruit and they found it.
The Cessna Citation has a range of 2000km and carries 1500 litres of fuel. It can fly at 630kmh. It only needed a 600-litre top-up for the return journey, Mr Grocott said.
Two Pratt and Whitney engines provide 1500 pounds of thrust each side and the plane can land on a runway with a minimum length of 1000m.
The Alexandra Airport has a 1200m runway. The plane cruised on the trip at an altitude of 36,000 feet.
