Also Unveils Electronic Flight Bag Option On 2000 And 900 Lines

Dassault Falcon had some big news to share at EBACE2006 Tuesday... or rather, some big numbers. The company confirmed an increase in range for its new Falcon 7X bizjet to 5950 nm, as well as an increase in payload with full fuel. The new range will enable the 7X to fly nonstop between cities such as New York and Riyadh, Paris and Singapore and Los Angeles and Rome.

As previously announced, Dassault was examining a number of options to increase the range of the world’s first purpose-built fly-by-wire business jet. Those improvements were confirmed recently and will include the addition of winglets, additional fuel tanks in the forward section and a redesign of the secondary rudder and lower fin.

The thrust for the Pratt and Whitney Canada 307A engines was also increased to 6400 lbs.

"Our goal from the first day of the Falcon 7X program was to exceed the expectations of our customers and to build an aircraft Dassault would be proud of," said Charles Edelstenne, Chairman and CEO of Dassault Aviation. "We’ve succeeded in both areas. Our customers are getting more airplane than they were promised."

In addition to extended range, the Maximum Take-off Weight (MTOW) has been increased to 69,000 lbs which would still make the Falcon 7X the lightest airplane in it’s class by at least 22,000 lbs. The payload capacity with full fuel has been increased by more than 1,000 lbs and the Basic Operating Weight (BOW) is 34, 272 lbs.

Following the successful completion of cold soak tests involving Falcon 7X s/n 002, flight testing of the aircraft in natural icing conditions has recently begun and will take place throughout Europe.

"So far, the test article has performed as designed during the grueling static and fatigue trials," said Olivier Villa, Senior Vice President of Civil Aircraft at Dassault Aviation. "We’re another step closer to certification with ultimate static load testing to begin shortly."

EFB Now Available On Falcon 2000 And 900 Aircraft

In addition to news about its upcoming jet, Dassault also reported the company is now offering hard mounted Electronic Flight Bags (EFB) on all new Falcon 2000DX, 2000EX, 900DX and 900EX aircraft.

The CMC Electronics PilotView system will offer airport, departure and approach charts, along with graphical real time weather information. The Class II unit is side mounted on pilot or copilot side and certified for all phases of flight.

"We believe the PilotView EFB gives our operators the most advanced Electronic Flight Bag in corporate aviation,” said Eric Monsel, Vice President of Programs for Dassault Falcon. "With its solid-state design, PilotView makes a terrific supplement to our EASy flight deck and provides to our cockpit a paperless capability"

The PilotView EFB is fully customizable, and improves productivity by enabling efficient access to information such as Jeppesen charts, up to date aircraft documentation, and weight and balance program. PilotView is ideal for cockpits where space is at a premium. The unit features an 8.4” display that offers exceptional readability in all cockpit light conditions and features a "film-on-glass” touch sensitive screen with an aircraft quality slide-out keyboard.

FMI: www.dassaultfalcon.com, www.cmcelectronics.ca