Aviation Partners (stand 1655) has been awarded US Federal Aviation Adminstration and European Aviation Safety Agency supplemental type certificate approval for its high mach blended winglets on the Dassault Falcon 2000 Series.

Certification of the winglets represents the culmination of a three-year development programme and exhaustive flight testing carried out in collaboration with Dassault Falcon Jet,a working relationship that was announced at EBACE in 2007 at the launch of the 2000LX .

"Anytime you can improve the productivity and performance of an existing asset, while making it more eco-friendly, is a wise investment," says Joe Clark, API founder and chief executive. "We are doing our part in a changing world."

Aviation Partners winglets on a Dassault Falcon
 © Aviation Partners
An exhaustive flight-test programme was carried out by Dassault and API on the winglets

The Falcon 2000 winglets are optimised for cruise speeds of M0.80 and higher. They will provide a drag reduction of 5%at M0.80, which equates to a range increase of more than 370km (200nm). At long-range cruise speeds the benefits are even greater, says Clark

API has now turning its attention to certificating the same winglets for the Falcon 900 series, followed by the Falcon 50. "With a combined in-service fleet of around 1,200 airframes, this should be our most successful business jet programme to date," says Gary Dunn, API's vice-president of sales.

  • All the latest news from EBACE

Source: Flight Daily News