Every Citation CJ1 rolled off the line with the same wing. Ours won't stay that way for long — she's in the middle of having Tamarack Active Winglets fitted, an FAA-approved modification that changes more than the silhouette. Before the airplane comes back to Fort Lauderdale Executive (FXE), it's worth being precise about what this modification actually is, what Tamarack says it does, and — because that's the house rule here — what it doesn't.
What Tamarack Active Winglets actually are
A lot of winglet kits are simple: bolt a fixed tip extension onto the wing, pick up a bit of aerodynamic efficiency, done. Tamarack's system, certified under its own supplemental type certificate (STC), works differently. Alongside the taller winglet itself, Tamarack adds a small active control surface near each wingtip — the company calls it TACS, for Tamarack Active Camber Surface. In turbulence or during maneuvering, TACS deflects automatically to relieve the extra bending load that a longer wing and taller winglet would otherwise put on the spar.
That load-alleviation piece is the actual engineering trick. Passive winglet kits that add span without it usually require reinforcing or re-certifying the wing structure to handle the added bending moment — heavier, more invasive, more expensive. Tamarack's active surfaces manage the load in real time instead, which is how the STC adds effective span and winglet lift to an existing CJ1 wing without a structural rebuild. It's a genuinely different category of modification from a fixed tip fairing, and it's the reason Tamarack can claim the performance gains below in the first place.
For a light jet like the CJ1, that matters more than it would on a bigger airframe. Adding span to an existing wing normally adds load the original structure was never asked to carry. Active load alleviation is Tamarack's answer to that problem — and it's why these winglets carry a full FAA Supplemental Type Certificate rather than being a simple bolt-on.
What Tamarack cites for the CJ1
Tamarack's published data for a Citation CJ1 fitted with Active Winglets points to gains in five areas: more range (up to 1,400 nm nonstop), a stronger climb (direct to FL410 in 32 minutes or less at max takeoff weight), fuel-efficiency gains of up to 33%, a ride up to 25% smoother as TACS actively offloads gust loads, and up to 400 lb of additional useful load. Every one of those is manufacturer-cited, and every one of them is, as of this writing, unconfirmed on our airframe — the kit is being installed, not flying yet. We'll log real numbers on this specific aircraft once installation and flight testing are complete, and update this page with what we actually measure. Until then, treat everything above as Tamarack's engineering data, not our test results.
The headline figure worth knowing: Tamarack cites up to 1,400 nm nonstop with winglets for a CJ1 equipped this way — at max cruise thrust, zero wind, with standard reserves (manufacturer-cited until confirmed on the airframe). Tamarack's own payload-range charts put the same jet flat-wing at roughly 1,100 nm under the same conditions, so the winglets are worth on the order of 300 nm. That number is what reshapes the map from South Florida.
What up to 1,400 nm nonstop opens up from South Florida
Draw a 1,400 nm ring around FXE and — once the winglets are on and confirmed — it's a genuinely different set of missions than a stock CJ1 can make without a fuel stop. Every destination below assumes what a dry lease always assumes: you and your own pilot are the ones flying it, under your own operational control.
- The full Eastern Seaboard. New England and the Northeast corridor — Boston, the New York area, and points between — sit inside nonstop range from South Florida, rather than requiring the technical stop a stock CJ1 sometimes needs with a full cabin.
- Texas. Dallas–Fort Worth, Austin, and Houston fall comfortably inside the ring — useful for lessees running business between South Florida and Texas without a fuel-stop detour.
- The Bahamas and the wider Caribbean. Nassau and the Exumas were already easy; winglets extend that same nonstop reach further down-island — Turks and Caicos, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic all sit well inside 1,400 nm.
- Northern South America. The Caribbean coast of Colombia and similar northern-tier destinations move from "possible with planning" to squarely nonstop territory.
None of that changes what Palm Aero offers, which is the aircraft itself — you and your own pilot decide the route, file the plan, and fly it. We're not describing a travel service; we're describing what a specific, dry-leased airframe can reach nonstop once the modification is confirmed. If your mission runs through any of those regions, the estimator is the place to model it against what charter would cost for the same route.
The honest part: what winglets don't change
This is the section a sales page would skip, so here it is. Tamarack Active Winglets are a wing modification — they don't touch the parts of the airplane people actually ask about day to day:
- Cabin size. Same CJ1 cabin, same seats, same stand-up height (or lack of it). Winglets don't add an inch inside.
- Baggage capacity. The nose and tailcone baggage compartments are unchanged. If a stock CJ1 was tight for your bags before, it still is.
- Cruise speed. This is an efficiency, range, climb, and ride modification, not a speed modification. Tamarack doesn't market — and we won't claim — a materially faster CJ1. Expect to arrive with more fuel in the tanks and a smoother ride getting there, not noticeably sooner.
- The airplane's category. A winglet-equipped CJ1 is still a CJ1 — single-pilot certified where insurance allows, same systems, same maintenance program, same type rating. It's a meaningfully better version of the same airplane, not a different one.
We'd rather you know that going in than have you picture a bigger cabin or a faster jet and be let down by the real thing, which is: the same well-kept CJ1 you'd already looked at, flying farther, climbing better, and riding smoother in bumps.
Why we're doing this on a dry-leased airplane
Most CJ1s flying with Tamarack winglets belong to owner-pilots who bought the modification for themselves. We think a dry-leased one is worth having too — it's the same logic as the rest of the business: publish real, specific things about a real airplane instead of talking in generalities about "light jets." The aircraft page has the full spec sheet, and it will carry a note the day these figures move from "manufacturer-cited" to "measured on our airframe" — that update will be its own small piece of news when it happens.
If you fly the kind of missions above — Eastern Seaboard, Texas, the islands, or further south — and want to talk through what a dry-leased, winglet-equipped CJ1 looks like on your routes, get in touch. We'll give you real numbers, and we'll tell you plainly which of them are still Tamarack's numbers and which are ours.
None of this replaces the rest of the aircraft's story — the lease rates are still published, the pilot is still yours to hire and pay directly, and the CJ1 is still the same well-maintained airframe underneath the new wingtips. Winglets are one upgrade on top of a structure we already believed in enough to lease out. If the range and mission profile above are the reason you're looking at a CJ1 in the first place, that's exactly the conversation we want to have — with the manufacturer's numbers clearly labeled as such until our own flight data replaces them.
Tamarack Active Winglets are currently being fitted to our Citation CJ1 and are not yet installed or flying; every range, climb, efficiency, ride, and payload figure above is manufacturer-cited and has not been measured on this airframe — we'll publish our own numbers once installation and flight testing are complete. Palm Aero Group leases the aircraft only; it is not a charter operator, holds no Part 135 certificate, and does not provide, select, or schedule flight crew. This page is general information, not legal or tax advice; prospective lessees should confirm any arrangement with qualified aviation counsel. Here's exactly how a compliant dry lease works.