Textron Aviation Cesnav vs iPreFlight3
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Textron Aviation Cesnav
This app integrates three specialized calculators for aviation professionals. It helps determine aircraft weight and balance, calculate takeoff and landing performance, and plan flight routes with fuel and time estimations. Results can be exported for onboard use.
- Aircraft-specific weight and balance calculation
- Takeoff and landing performance analysis
- Route planning with fuel and time estimation
- Optimization based on cost and fuel
- Exportable PDF reports
- Support for various Citation models
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Cesnav combines three calculators (Previously known as CLCalc, CPCalc, and EOM) into one app, offering a unified experience from sharing calculations across the calculators to a combined results screen. • The Loading calculator uses an aircraft-specific weight and balance file and allows you to quickly determine your takeoff and landing weight and CG after entering your passengers, cargo and fuel load. • The Takeoff and Landing calculator is an excellent tool for determining engine-out performance in areas where obstacles or terrain clearance is a factor. It is easier, faster, often provides better field performance and higher takeoff weights than the AFM data. • The Planning calculator uses a worldwide airport and navaid database to plan a route calculating trip time, fuel and distance. Many models also feature Cessna’s exclusive GreenTrak technology which will optimize your flight based on DOC and fuel costs, resulting in the minimum total cost. • You can export, print and email PDFs of passenger manifests, loading sheets, performance, and planning results to take on-board. Cesnav is available for all current production Citations and the following models: CitationJet, Latitude, Longitude, CJ1, CJ1+, CJ2, CJ2+, CJ3, Bravo, Encore, Encore+, Excel, XLS, Sovereign, and X. The Loading calculator can also be used with any 550, 560, S550, 208B, or 208 aircraft (208 with TKS currently not supported). New aircraft deliveries include a subscription for the warranty period of the aircraft at no additional charge. App requires a subscription
iPreFlight3
This app helps pilots quickly calculate available payload and fuel for flights. It integrates runway analysis, weight and balance, and flight planning with weather data. Users can prepare flight books and releases, and share them with crew.
- Max Payload Estimator (MPE™)
- Runway Analysis (RWA)
- Weight and Balance (WB)
- Flight Planning with Fuel Calculation
- Flight Book preparation
- Flight Release generation and sharing
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Aircraft Performance Group (APG) has released an application for use on the iPad, which integrates their Runway Analysis (RWA) and Weight and Balance (WB) system with a flight planning module. The combination of these functions allows the user to easily and quickly calculate the available payload for a planned flight – this service is known as MPE™ (Max Payload Estimator). iPreFlight™, has been developed to run on the iPad using the latest iPad technology. iPreFlight™ is a first-of-a-kind product that requires minimum user input to quickly calculate the available payload for a given city pairing, considering takeoff/landing performance limitations, manufacturers WB requirements and flight planning constraints. The flight planning element utilizes manufacturer’s operational data, in conjunction with current forecast weather conditions to calculate the fuel required for the flight. The fuel calculation includes fuel burn (optimized for minimum fuel or time), reserve, alternate and holding fuel. In addition to including the RWA, WB and flight plan, iPreFlight™ allows the user to prepare a Flight Book, containing all textual and graphical weather products for the planned flight. The book may be prepared days in advance of the flight, stored on the iPad and can be automatically updated as products are revised. Approaching departure time the user can easily prepare a Flight Release, consolidating the RWA, WB, flight plan and weather products. The Flight Release may then be emailed, stored on the iPad and/or shared with another iPad, such as the other fight deck crewmembers’, by simply selecting the appropriate distribution method(s). iPreFlight consolidates several preflight functions into one program, not only ensuring accurate takeoff and landing performance limits and correct aircraft loading, but allows pilots to quickly calculate the available payload and fuel requirements for a flight. In addition, iPreflight™ allows pilots to make last minute adjustments with just a few keystrokes. The Flight Release may then be saved on the iPad for review in-flight and shared with the other crewmember, Application Requirements: To use this application you must be an existing APG customer having a Runway Analysis (Point Calculation) and Weight and Balance services account.
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Textron Aviation Cesnav at 5.0 against iPreFlight3's 3.1. Textron Aviation Cesnav also leads on review sentiment (43% vs 5%) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 16.0). iPreFlight3's advantage is monetization model (free vs subscription) and ratings volume (55 vs 3). On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Textron Aviation Cesnav holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 3.1. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: iPreFlight3 has 55 ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 43% of Textron Aviation Cesnav's written reviews are positive against 5% of iPreFlight3's.
Textron Aviation Cesnav ships an update every 4 months, iPreFlight3 every 6 weeks. Both last shipped on November 1, 2026.
| Parameter | Textron Aviation Cesnav | iPreFlight3 |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (3 ratings) — better | 3.1 (55 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 42.9% of reviews — better | 5.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 3 | 55 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 4 months | Every 6 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Subscription | Free — better |
| Devices | iPad | iPad |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 — better | 16.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 117 MB | 29 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Textron Inc. | Aircraft Performance Group, LLC |
Customer experience
Textron Aviation Cesnav
iPreFlight3
In-app purchases
Textron Aviation Cesnav
No in-app purchases
iPreFlight3
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Textron Aviation Cesnav free?
Is iPreFlight3 free?
Which has better reviews, Textron Aviation Cesnav or iPreFlight3?
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