Dassault has handed over the first customer-owned Falcon 8X to its US completion centre, and says its flagship business jet is on target for certification and service entry next year.
The 9 October 2015 delivery of 8X serial number 4 (s/n 4) to the Little Rock, Arkansas facility comes as the French airframer prepares to ramp up production of the ultra-long-range aircraft at its Bordeaux Mérignac final-assembly plant. Nine 8Xs are currently in various stages of manufacture at the site, where Dassault recently broke ground on a Falcon maintenance, repair and overhaul facility.
Little Rock is currently outfitting the third test aircraft, s/n 3, which flew in from Mérignac in the third quarter. The fully completed aircraft is to enter the flight-test programme later this year, when it will be used for comfort and functionality testing, the company says.
This 8X will also embark on a round-the-world test campaign designed “to demonstrate its reliability and performance in different flight conditions, such as high and low temperatures, high altitude and humidity”, continued Dassault.
Dassault Aviation
As of 10 October, two 8X test aircraft have notched up 315 flight hours across 153 sorties at Dassault’s flight-test centre in Istres, near Marseilles. “The portion of the flight-test programme dedicated to opening up the flight envelope has been completed and s/n 1 recently reached a speed of Mach 0.97,” the company said.
Initial certification tests, covering take-off and landing performance and validation of the third-generation EASy flight deck, are also in advanced testing, it added.
“These achievements reflect the steady advance of the 8X flight-test programme since the aircraft first took to the air last February,” said Dassault chief executive Eric Trappier. “Tests have fully confirmed target capabilities, in particular long-range performance.”
European and US certifications are earmarked for mid-2016, leading to service entry in the second half of the year.
The 8X was launched in May 2014 as a longer-range and stretched version of the eight-year-old 7X. It sits at the top of Dassault’s six-strong product line, which includes the in-development 5X. The large-cabin, long-range twinjet – the first of a family of widebody Falcons planned by the company – was rolled-out in June, and is scheduled to make its maiden sortie next year.
Source: Flight International
