Falcon 2000EX Awarded FAA Type Certificate

Dassault Falcon celebrated another milestone in the 2000EX program: JAA approval and FAA certification.

"This occasion marks the successful culmination of an intensive flight test program begun in October 2001," said Jean-Louis Cuvillier, 2000EX Program Manager. In the past year and a half, the test aircraft have flown 242 flights, totaling 568 hours. "We are especially pleased with the excellent reliability and dispatch rates for the 2000EX, as demonstrated on several endurance flights above and beyond the certification process." Within a span of eight days, the test team performed 36 flights over 51 hours.

Meeting the numbers, beating the numbers...

Dassault Falcon president John Rosanvallon was enthusiastic in his praise of the engineering and flight test teams. "In keeping with Dassault's 'Promises made, promises kept' reputation, the Falcon 2000EX met every key performance goal, and even beat its predicted balanced field length [BFL] by five percent!" Early in the program, Dassault had projected a BFL of 5925 ft at 41,300 lbs.  After final flight tests, however, the 2000EX actually beat the original field performance projected for an aircraft that was 600 lbs lighter. The certificated aircraft will now boast a BFL of only 5634 ft at SL, ISA+15°C.

The 2000EX is the highly-anticipated sibling of the Falcon 2000, which last year became the best-selling, large-cabin business jet and is the most popular large-cabin business jet in use in fractional programs. The new, longer-range Falcon 2000EX has a nonstop capability of 3800 nm (6 passengers, NBAA IFR reserves, .80 Mach). The main benefit will be westbound nonstop flights from Paris or London to the east coast of the United States, even into stiff winter headwinds; or eastbound flights to Europe from major Midwestern cities like Detroit, Chicago and Minneapolis. Other headwind legs like Dubai to London and Sao Paulo to Miami will also be achievable nonstop.

Seven Falcon 2000EX aircraft are now in various stages of completion: two are in France; five are at the Little Rock (AR) Completion Center.  Customer deliveries will begin in the second quarter of 2003.

FMI: www.falconjet.com