1996 Cessna 560 Citation V for Sale (N560GT)
Sold
Available now: 2001 Citation Bravo — $2,300,000
Aircraft Specifications
- Asking Price
- Sold
- Year
- 1996
- Model
- Cessna 560 Citation V
- Registration
- N560GT
Consultant's Notes
The short version
A Cessna 560 Citation V, registration N560GT, listed as a 1996 model. Straight wing, two Pratt & Whitney Canada JT15D engines, CE-500 type rating shared with the rest of the Citation family.
This aircraft has been sold. The page stays up because what follows is not really about this airframe — it is about the 560 family, and in particular about a question that trips up more buyers of this type than any other: *which 560 is it, actually?*
The 560 is not one airplane
Cessna built several distinct aircraft under the 560 designation, and listings use the names loosely. The Citation V came first. The Citation Ultra followed, with more thrust and an EFIS panel. The Encore came later still, with different engines again. They share a fuselage and a type rating, and they are not the same aircraft to own.
This listing is a good example of the problem. It was recorded here as a 1996 Citation V — but by the mid-nineties Cessna had moved from the V to the Ultra, which makes the model name and the year an odd pair. It may have been described loosely, or the year may refer to something other than manufacture. We are flagging it rather than quietly presenting it as fact, because the same ambiguity is everywhere in the market and it costs buyers money.
How to settle it: the serial number, not the advertisement. The serial identifies exactly what left the factory. Ask for it, look it up, and confirm it against the aircraft flight manual and the type certificate data sheet. A seller who cannot produce a serial number quickly is telling you something about how the rest of the file will look.
Why the variant matters more than the badge
Because the engines differ. The V and the Ultra do not carry the same JT15D variant, and thrust differences show up in hot-and-high performance, in climb, and eventually in the shop invoice. Two aircraft that look identical on the ramp can sit in different places on the cost curve.
The panel differs too. The later 560s arrived with EFIS from the factory; earlier ones did not, and many have been retrofitted since — well or badly. What matters is not the badge on the nose but what is actually installed, certified and current, which brings us to the checklist below.
What the 560 does well
It is the stretched, more powerful development of the straight-wing Citation line, and it does what that line has always done: get into runways that bigger equipment cannot use, carry a real cabin load, and cost less to run than anything faster.
Compared with a Citation II, the 560 gives you more cabin, more thrust and better climb. Compared with a swept-wing jet of similar cabin size, it gives up cruise speed and buys back field performance and simplicity. Whether that is a good trade depends entirely on the airports you actually use — not on the ones you imagine using.
It carries the CE-500 type rating, which means crew, recurrent training and much of the maintenance relationship carry across the Citation family. For an operator already inside that family, moving to a 560 is close to the cheapest way to gain cabin and performance.
What to verify on any 560
None of these are red flags. They are what a competent buyer confirms on any aircraft of this generation.
The variant, from the serial number. First, for the reasons above. Everything else — parts, performance figures, programme eligibility — follows from knowing what the aircraft actually is.
Engine variant and status. Confirm which JT15D is installed, whether the hours quoted are total time since new, and where each engine sits against hot section and overhaul. Ask specifically whether an hourly engine programme is in place; on aircraft of this age it often is not, and that single fact can be worth more than the difference in asking price between two examples.
What is actually in the panel. Not what the model implies. Confirm ADS-B Out is installed and certified for the airspace you will use, confirm RVSM currency, and confirm whether the navigator is WAAS-capable if LPV approaches matter to your destinations.
Corrosion and basing history. Ask where the aircraft has lived, not just who owned it. Coastal and humid basing leaves marks that a fresh interior hides.
Damage history and title. In writing, plus an independent search of your own.
A pre-purchase inspection at a facility you choose. Not one the seller recommends. A seller who resists has answered the question — and that test applies to whoever publishes the listing as much as to anyone else.
Who the 560 suits
An operator who needs more cabin than a Citation II provides but still flies out of airports where runway length rules out larger aircraft. A flight department already holding the CE-500 rating that wants to move up without retraining crews. A company whose typical leg is two to three hours with real passenger loads.
Who it does not suit
Anyone whose mission is regularly transcontinental or transatlantic. Anyone who wants factory-current avionics without paying for a retrofit. And anyone shopping purely on asking price — on this generation the engine programme status, not the sticker, decides what the aircraft costs to own.
What is currently available
The aircraft listed on this site today is a 2001 Citation Bravo, serial number 550-0995, with PW530A engines enrolled on Power Advantage+ with full coverage and a Honeywell Primus 1000 panel.
It is a smaller cabin than a 560 and it is worth being clear about that. What it answers is the cost question raised above: it is on a programme, and the programme is what separates a predictable aircraft from an unpredictable one. Its full specification and assessment are on its own page.
Further aircraft are due into inventory. The useful thing to state when enquiring is the mission — legs, passengers, airports, budget — because that is what determines whether any given airframe fits.