N178WG

N178WG is a Cessna Excel/XLS, a twin-engine jet operated by BETTERAVIA FARMS LLC. SkyMeter has tracked 396 flights totalling 543 hours of airtime via ADS-B. The most frequent segment is KSDL to KSMX. Service window in our records spans 375 days. Of those flights, 36 (9.1%) carry at least one detected incident — go-around, unstable approach, stall warning, or runway excursion. The Cessna Excel/XLS has a 56 ft wingspan, a maximum takeoff weight of 20,200 lb.

About the Cessna Excel/XLS

The Cessna Citation Excel, introduced in 1998 as the Model 560XL, carved out a lucrative niche as the first midsize business jet to combine stand-up cabin comfort with light-jet operating economics. Cessna stretched the fuselage of the Citation V by nearly two feet, widened it to 68 inches, and paired the roomier cabin with Pratt & Whitney Canada PW545 turbofans—delivering transcontinental range (roughly 1,900 nautical miles) while burning less fuel than competing midsize jets. The Excel became the best-selling midsize business jet of its era, with over 700 delivered across three variants: the original Excel, the XLS (2004, with upgraded avionics and higher cruise speed), and the XLS+ (2008, with further performance refinements and a Garmin G5000 flight deck).

Its success stemmed from hitting the sweet spot between cabin volume and runway performance—able to operate from shorter fields while seating up to nine passengers in a 5.7-foot-tall cabin. The type remains a workhorse in fractional ownership and charter fleets, prized for dispatch reliability and modest direct operating costs. SkyMeter has tracked flights across airframes and operators, with the largest observed operator.