Dassault Aviation’s new flagship, the Dassault Falcon 8X, achieved European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) certification. FAA certification is expected in the coming weeks, with entry into service planned for this fall.
Three aircraft were used in the flight test program, which totaled more than 830 hours on 400 flights. Those airplanes will now be used to certify Dassault’s FalconEye Combined Vision System (CVS) on the 8X and to gain approval for its use in dual head-up displays. The approvals are anticipated in the fourth quarter of 2016 and late 2017 respectively.
“We’ve broken new ground with the 8X,” said Eric Trappier, Dassault Aviation chairman and CEO. “Not only did we meet customer demand for an aircraft combining increased range and cabin volume with the technological prowess of the popular 7X, but we were able to get it to market fully mature and tested in a remarkably short period of time, and exactly within our production schedule.”
Dassault says Falcon 8X production is continuing to ramp up to meet demand for the airplane. Serial Number 26 is currently in final assembly at the Dassault’s Mérignac production plant near Bordeaux. Twelve airplanes are in cabin outfitting at Dassault’s Little Rock, Arkansas, completion facility.
Derived from the fly-by-wire Falcon 7X, the 6,450-nm-range 8X launched in May 2014 at the European Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition. It first flew on February 6, 2015. The 8X will offer the greatest range and the longest cabin of any Falcon, allowing it to fly from Beijing to New York, Hong Kong to London, or Moscow to Los Angeles nonstop.
