Bonjour, Universal Avionics InSight Flight Deck

Dassault’s Falcon is a storied and significant aircraft marque defined throughout its six-decades by the persistence with which it has remained in aerospace technology’s vanguard—and the sometimes laudable, sometimes laughable concepts with which French engineering alternately saddles it.

From the Lyndon B. Johnson-era Falcon-20 to the near-future and convention-challenging 10X, Dassault’s Falcons have inspired and polarized generations of pilots whose exclamations of the machines boil down most often to “Wow!” and “Why?”

In 1991, half-way up the Falcon family tree, Dassault brought to market the Falcon 900B, a revised production version of the Model 900. The aircraft was powered by a trio of Honeywell TFE 731-5BR-1C engines, each cranking out 4,750-pounds of thrust that motivated the 45,000-pound jet toward its 51,000-foot service ceiling at a crisp initial rate of 3,755-feet-per-minute. The Falcon 900B’s cockpit featured Honeywell’s SPZ 8000 flight director, dual Honeywell FMZ flight management systems, AZ 810 air-data computers, and Collins Pro Line ARINC 429-series communication and navigation receivers.

Notwithstanding its age, the Falcon 900B remains a desirable aircraft in the 21st Century. Even SpaceX and Tesla boss Elon Musk—from 2004 through 2016—owned and did his globetrotting in one of the capable tri-jets.

For purpose of keeping its robust middle-child in step with technology’s relentlessly up-tempo march, Dassault has worked with the FAA to develop a Supplemental Type Certificate (STC) authorizing Falcon 900B aircraft to be retrofitted with Universal Avionics’ InSight Flight Deck.

The InSight system’s confederacy of displays and sensors provides Falcon 900B flight-crews a vastly enhanced level of situational awareness in even the most demanding flight environments. Featuring a 3D Synthetic Vision System (SVS), 2D interactive digital maps, and embedded Jeppesen charting with high-resolution airport maps, InSight’s high-brightness, large-format displays afford pilots highly correlative, real-time understanding of aircraft attitude and position, atmospheric conditions, relevant air-traffic, terrain features and hazards, airspace boundaries, and both ground and satellite-based navigational procedures.

In addition to adding significantly to the Falcon 900B’s mission capabilities, the InSight STC—by replacing five weighty cathode-ray tubes and three symbol-generators with comparatively dainty Liquid Crystal Displays (LCD)—increases aircraft payload by over two-hundred-pounds.

Universal Avionics CEO Dror Yahav states: “The InSight display system continues to gain significant momentum in the market, with nine STCs available or in advanced development, demonstrating the scalability of the system for business aviation. Upcoming upgrades for enhanced flight vision systems and flight-deck connectivity will bring the updated airplane into the front line of business jets.”

InSight is complemented with the latest in Human Machine Interface (HMI) design, including touch control interactions with maps and charts, pilot-selectable screen layouts, and other modern devilry that'd send Wilbur and Orville screaming from the cockpit. Beyond the slew of in-flight benefits realized by air-crews, the InSight STC provides maintenance personnel remote diagnostic capability, thereby streamlining aircraft service and increasing dispatch availability.

FMI: www.dassaultfalcon.com