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BUSINESS AVIATION

60 Years of Falcons Define Business Jet Evolution

by James Wynbrandt
May 4, 2023, 12:04 PM

Charles Lindbergh, fourth from right, views the prototype Mystère 20 on the day it made its first flight, May 4, 1963. Among the Pan Am and
Dassault officials was project manager Rene Lemaire (far right).

May 4 marks the 60th anniversary of the inaugural flight of the Mystère 20, Dassault Aviation’s first business jet and the first member of what would
become the Falcon jet family. Every decade since, Paris-based Dassault (Booth Z72, Static AD_02) has introduced a new Falcon, each raising the
bar for performance, comfort, and efficiency. More than 2,700 Falcons have been delivered worldwide.

The Falcon family’s patriarch, aircraft designer Marcel Bloch, born in 1892, was among the welcoming throng at Paris Le Bourget Airport when
Charles Lindbergh concluded his nonstop transatlantic flight in 1927. Interned in Buchenwald during World War II for refusing to collaborate on
aircraft production under the Nazi-occupation government, Marcel adopted the surname Dassault—the nom de guerre of his elder brother, who
served in the French Resistance—after his liberation from the concentration camp.

In 1961, as head of the eponymous military and commercial aircraft manufacturer he’d formed after the war, Dassault approved the development
of the Mystère 20, which was based on the company’s transonic Dassault Mystère IV fighter-bomber and powered by a pair of rear-mounted Pratt
& Whitney JT12A-8 turbojet engines (changed to General Electric CF700 turbofans for the production model).

His son, Serge Dassault (later company president and chairman), came to the NBAA Convention in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the following year
bearing photos of the wooden mockup of a proposed business jet and reported receiving an “encouraging” response. Concurrently, U.S.-based
Pan American Airways was quietly planning an executive aviation division and seeking the right aircraft to inaugurate service.
Serge Dassault oversaw the birth of the Falcons.

Surely, Dassault must have been pleased when Lindbergh himself birthed the business aircraft family following the1963 debut flight with an order
on the airline’s behalf for the first tranche of 160 copies of what would be renamed, in 1966, the Falcon 20. Federal Express (now FedEx) also
chose the Falcon 20 to launch its overnight package delivery service in 1973.

With demand growing in the U.S. in the early 1970s for a longer-range aircraft, Dassault stretched the Falcon 20 airframe and developed the
Falcon 50 trijet, which first flew in 1976, powered by three Garrett TFE731-3 engines. Typically configured for eight to 10 passengers in a two-zone
cabin, with a top speed of Mach 0.86 and range of some 3,400 nm with IFR reserves, the Falcon 50 could cross the North Atlantic or the
continental U.S.

The first civil aircraft to incorporate supercritical wings, the Falcon 50 featured a revolutionary airfoil that improved transonic performance and high-
lift characteristics, providing better handling in high-speed flight, as well as superior short and hot-and-high field capability.

While new models have been in constant development throughout the Falcons’ history, so have updates to in-production aircraft. The Falcon 20,
for example, begat the Falcon 200 and smaller Falcon10/100, among other derivatives. The Falcon 50 itself was upgraded to the 50EX in the mid-
1990s and remained in production until 2007.

The 1980s brought demand for true intercontinental-range aircraft, and Dassault answered with the Falcon 900, introduced at the 1983 Paris Air
Show. A clean-sheet, 12- to 14-passenger trijet, it offered a 4,000-nm range and a wider, longer fuselage than on the Falcon20/50 models.

Among the program’s innovations were design and manufacturing processes that incorporated the Dassault Systemes CATIA computer-aided
design technology, allowing engineers to fine-tune and produce its structural and aerodynamic features with outstanding accuracy. In addition, the
cockpit featured digital avionics and composite materials were employed in every application possible, saving significant weight.

Later derivatives include the 900B/C; 900EX EASy (Enhanced Avionics System), featuring a Honeywell Primus Epic all-glass flight deck with
synthetic vision; and 900LX, the current production model, with three Honeywell TFE371-60 engines, high-Mach blended winglets, and a 4,750-nm
range.

In the 1990s, having met long-range-market needs, Dassault shortened the 900’s fuselage while retaining the advances introduced in the series to
create the shorter-range Falcon 2000 twinjet, which first flew in 1993. The first executive aircraft designed on a computer, the comfortable,
efficient, and economical 10-passenger jet, powered by two CFE738-1-1B turbofans, boasted a transcontinental range of about 3,000 nm with
eight passengers at Mach 0.80.
Still popular, the twin-engine, super-midsize Falcon 2000 saw a number of variants, including the 2000EX introduced in 2002, with range of 3,878
nm and room for up to 10 passengers.

The series was updated with the 2000EX in 2002, powered by Pratt & Whitney Canada PW308C turbofan engines and featuring an EASy flight
deck and a range of 3,878 nm; and the 2000LX in 2009, the current production version, which incorporates blended winglets and offers some
4,000 nm of range.

Meanwhile, the new century called for ultra-long-range global access, and at the 2001 Paris Air Show Dassault announced the Falcon 7X. A 12- to
16-passenger trijet with a range of 5,950 nm, it first flew in 2005, powered by three P&WC 307A engines. The first fully fly-by-wire business jet,
incorporating Dassault’s proprietary digital flight control system, the 7X featured a new wing that helped give it a maximum speed of Mach 0.90
while maintaining a 3,950-foot cabin altitude at 41,000 feet in an interior hushed by advanced sound-dampening.

In 2009, the 7X was certified to fly into and out of London City, demonstrating its ability to access some of the world’s most challenging airports, a
certification all in-production Falcons have now earned.

The follow-on Falcon 8X, which first flew in 2009, introduced a longer, and longer-range (6,450-nm) version of the 7X that is up to 20 percent more
fuel efficient than any other ultra-long-range aircraft, according to Dassault. The 8X introduced FalconEye, the first combined vision system head-
up display, to the flight deck. The three-zone cabin can be outfitted with an aft shower and crew rest provisions forward, and environmental
systems can be controlled by a mobile app, while Ka-band high-speed broadband keeps passengers connected globally.

As aircraft ranges stretched, customers sought more space and the comforts of home onboard. The Falcon 5X, launched in 2013, was to be the
blueprint for the next generation of Falcons. Though Dassault canceled the program due to development issues with the proposed Safran
Silvercrest engines, the 5X airframe design was subsequently stretched and paired with two P&WC PW612D turbofans to create the 5,500-nm
Falcon 6X, a big jet with Mach 0.90 top speed that was unveiled in 2018 and is slated to enter service this year.

Dubbed the first “ultra-widebody” business jet, the twinjet 6X will feature the widest and tallest purpose-built business jet cabin (eight feet six
inches by six feet six inches), with a galley skylight—another first—and a mood lighting system to help passengers adjust to changes in time zones
while traveling. Yet despite its size, the 6X retains the Falcon’s famous short-field and hot-and-high operational agility.

Waiting in the wings is the Falcon 10X, due to enter service in 2025. It will feature an even wider and taller cabin—nine feet one inch by six feet
eight inches—and a 7,500-nm range, a maximum speed of Mach 0.925, and a landing distance of 2,500 feet. Flying on a new, high-speed carbon-
fiber composite wing, another Falcon first, it will also be the first Rolls-Royce-powered Falcon with purpose-built Pearl 10X engines.
Next up, Dassault’s largest business jet, the Falcon 10X powered by Rolls-Royce Pearl engines and featuring a composite wing and single throttle
system. Entry into service is planned in 2025.

The 10X’s cabin—which will maintain a 3,000-foot altitude while the jet is cruising at 41,000 feet—will be configurable into up to four zones of
custom length. Thirty-eight windows, which will be 50 percent larger than any in the current fleet, will flood the cabin space with light.

AIRCRAFT

https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/business-aviation/2023-05-04/60-years-falcons-define-business-jet-evolution