The light freckled on the white beadboard ceiling where it bounced into the dining room of Le Talisman—a Seine river barge kept at Dassault Aviation’s headquarters in Saint-Cloud, Paris, France—last Thursday, April 27. How could I see that light for myself—and sit around the table with new friends from the storied business jet and defense manufacturer—except for the transatlantic connection provided by aviation?
Yes, in theory, you could untie the very boat we were in and float out to the mouth of the Seine at Le Havre, and you could make your way across an oft-feisty ocean at sea level—but why on Earth would you do that when you could slide onto the flight deck of Dassault’s new Falcon 6X and make the jaunt in comfort and class at Flight Level 430 in less than 7 hours?
