Dassault Aviation’s Falcon 7X has set new standards in business jet design and has already captured a significant share of the hard-fought market for ultra-long-range corporate aircraft. Julian Moxon reveals how they did it.

The lat est in a long line of successful business jets from Dassault Aviation, the Falcon 7X is another example of the French company’s game-changing approach to aircraft design. Put simply, the aircraft represents nothing less than a revolution, both in the way it flies and in how it is built.

Dassault’s stated aim was to give customers the best that money can buy in terms of performance, reliability and cost effectiveness, and if market response is anything to go by, it has more than achieved its goal. More than 200 Falcon 7Xs have been sold till date, making it the fastest selling civil aircraft in the company’s history, with orders from more than 40 countries.

The three-engined Falcon 7X was Dassault’s answer to the Gulfstream G550 and Bombardier Global Express XRS, both powered by twin power plants. It is a totally cleansheet design, using a claimed 13 to 27 per cent less fuel than its competitors and is the first business jet in the world to feature an all-digital fly-by-wire flight control system providing numerous operational benefits, including more refined control precision coupled with greater ride comfort for passengers.

For the first time, Dassault has designed the aircraft from scratch using a “virtual” digital design system which dramatically shortens production time—and therefore costs—and ensures that every component of the aircraft fits together perfectly first time without the need for mock-ups or prototypes. Add to this a new, high aspect ratio wing, redesigned cockpit and passenger cabin and it is easy to see why the Falcon 7X has won early success in the marketplace.

With its 5,950 nm range, the Falcon 7X can fly its passengers from Mumbai to Cape Town or from Bangalore to London airport—one of the most challenging in terms of access because of its short runway and environmental limits—in fact the latest Falcon is the only longrange business jet to have won US Federal Aviation Administration approval to use London City Airport. This excellent short field performance suits the Indian market particularly well, as many of its airports have short runways in elevated locations.

Dassault presented its entire Falcon range at the recent Aero India 2011 show in Bangalore. The company claims more than 60 per cent of the market for large cabin/long range aircraft in India and says it is rapidly consolidating its position by increasing customer support and after sales services in the country. Almost half of the 15 new Indian orders are for the Falcon 7X, the first aircraft having been delivered in early 2010, the rest to follow within two years.

Thierry de Poncins, Dassault Falcon’s Regional Sales Director for the Indian subcontinent, said: “Falcon customers are very happy with the performance and capabilities of the aircraft. Falcon jets can easily deal with the demanding situations often found in India, and much more effectively than the competition, because they are very well optimized in terms of design and weight.”

Pilots love the new Falcon, describing it as being “like a fighter” to fly. They also appreciate the unique EASy integrated flight deck, which provides a major improvement in the man-machine interface as well as offering cockpit commonality across the Falcon range. Flight data is presented on four 14 in flat-panel displays arranged in a “T”, providing clear, uncluttered access to flight information. February saw US certification of the enhanced vision system, which presents the outside world on either head-up or flight deck displays in low visibility conditions such as fog haze, snow or at night.

In 2008, Dassault announced the next stage in the EASy story—the EASy II. This aims to further ease the pilot’s job, with particular emphasis on safety. New features include synthetic vision, providing a true-to-life image of the terrain ahead of and below the aircraft, a new flight management system and compatibility with the future seamless air traffic management system. Certification is planned for June this year and the system will be available first on the Falcon 900LX and on the Falcon 7X in the third quarter of 2012.