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Dassault Falcon 900LX
Efficient
and Performant
Launched in May 2008 at EBACE,
in Geneva, the 4,750nm trijet
offers 7% additional range over the
Falcon 900EX. Climb performance
is also improved by 10%, allowing
the aircraft to reach FL390 in just
20 minutes. The 900LX features
35-40% better efficiency than other
aircraft in its class. It can fly from
New York to Moscow; Paris to Beijing
and Mumbai to London. EASA and
FAA Certifications were achieved
in July 2010 with the first delivery
immediately following. Invited for a
flight test this winter and despite cold
weather conditions on the East Coast
of the US, our pilot contributor fell
madly in love with the aircraft.
I am in love. I freely admit it and the great
thing is my wife isn’t even upset as the object
of my affection is an airplane. At first sight
the Falcon 900LX didn’t quite stir my emotions. Its shape was bulbous rather than sleek.
The feeling went away as I began to change
my view of bulbous as speedy rather than
bulky. It was a bright but bitterly cold day in
Teterboro and I was concentrating on keeping warm and not inclined to wax lyrical but
I had to admit it-it’s actually a gorgeous bulbous full figure, a Sophia Loren to today’s thin
angular models. The previous day Dassault
had graciously booked me some simulator
time at Flight Safety’s TEB location. The new
facilities are greatly improved and the staff
couldn’t have been kinder or more accommo-
By David Zara Images Katsuhiko Tokunaga & Dassault Aviation
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dating. Unfortunately, the pilots taking a check ride in the sim prior to my
slotted time appeared to have ran into
some FAA-generated foul weather
and had to retrain and redo some maneuvers. My generous two-hour session shrank to a measly 30 minutes.
I felt doomed I wouldn’t be prepared
for the real thing the next day but
fortunately Woody Saland saved the
day. Woody was designated by Dassault to be the point man on the test
and point he did. He pointed to and
at every instrument, gauge, screen,
button, switch, knob, protrusion and
trackball and in no time made me feel
somewhat comfortable with the cockpit. Lest you think I am smarter than I
really I am, the credit alas goes all to
Woody for knowing when and how to
point to the aforementioned thingybobs that make a cockpit. Woody has
a BA, a Masters and a PHD in aeronautics from NYU and unlike most of his
brethren has a talent for simplifying
things and distilling explanations to
their bare essence making them easy
to understand for common non-PHD
mortals such as yours truly.
The 30 mins went by in a flash and we
even managed to have some fun and
I did a max power takeoff followed
by a sharp 180 back to the field. Sims
are fun for things like that but though
it appears to be nothing but fun the
maneuver gave me a very good feel
for how the aircraft responds and behaves. The word is well. Very well.
Upon further reflection, the feeling I
got from this all too brief session can
The fit and finish of
the interior is flawless
and the luggage area is
accessible up to FL410
be summed up into two simple facts.
This bird flies like a finely tuned fighter
and the avionics are incredibly intuitive. Although I had some familiarity
with the avionics suite from the Gulfstream 450 with which it shares some
traits, the 900LX avionics still felt
easy to understand. Gulfstream and
their PlaneView cockpit and Dassault
with EASy both use Honeywell EPIC
hardware but with different philoso-
“This bird flies like a finely tuned fighter and the avionics are
incredibly intuitive and easy to understand”
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phies in their implementation. There is
not only logic built in to the system,
there is intelligent logic behind the
avionics architecture in the aircraft.
Essentially the engineers at Dassault
must have asked a lot of questions of
pilots before deciding on the set-up.
One reason they knew what to ask is
that they are often pilots themselves.
Dassault is unusual in many ways. One
is that the company is still run by the
family whose name graces the front
door. Family-run businesses tend to
be driven by passion-driven people.
Another is that unlike most manufacturers civilian and military pilots
whose requirements are a little different than civilian pilots labor side by
side. Dassault says fighters are intrinsically woven into the DNA of every
Falcon jet and I feel it is true. Eric
Gerard flew the 8X’s maiden flight in
early February but was the demo pilot
in the Rafale fighter for the French Air
Force for many years prior to his 8X
flight. Dassault likes its test pilots to
have seen more than just one aspect
of aviation. Military pilots must be able
to point the aircraft into the best position to perform their tasks and the
actual flying and navigation of the
aircraft is actually secondary to the
task they need to perform. They have
both less time and less screen real estate space to control the actual plane.
They need to look at one screen and
understand everything that is happening at a glance. I feel the Dassault
engineers have succeeded beyond
anyone’s expectations. What you see
in the HUD is exactly what is shown
on the screens. You aim your circle to
place it in the flight director’s circle to
achieve your goal. It’s that EASy
The next day came up too quickly and
I was met in the company’s flight department by Franco Nese. Franco is
Dassault’s Chief Pilot, Flight OperationsTeterboro and a very serious pilot. We
had briefed the flight the day before
but we went over what we would be
doing once more. His serious demeanor
was followed by a bright smile as he led
me to the aircraft. It had all been pre-
In the quiet cabin there is never any need to raise
one’s voice to conduct a conversation
pared ahead of time by him and Woody
and we slipped into our seats. The seat
tracks well and it was easy to find a
comfortable position. I was given the
honor of the left seat. The start up is as
easy as it can get. You have DEEK protection, a sort of FADEC that controls
the starting procedure. All you have to
do is advance the fuel shutoff detente
in the number #2 engine and switch the
start selector to the start position and
the engine starts. The sequence is quite
rapid and in seconds the engine is happily idling. The #3 engine is started next
the same way followed by the number
#1. This is done with no precipitation
and very little work. The Honeywell TFE
731-60s consume about 190 lbs per engine at idle. They produce 5000 lbs of
thrust and are a far cry from the GIV I
am accustomed to which drinks 1400
lbs at idle. I love the electronic checklists. They are simple, intuitive and mercifully short. They are also easy to run
through on the screens and easily viewable by both pilots.
Simple, smart and safe
Taxiing is easy and precise and it took
me all of 2 seconds to get used to the
tiller wheel, which you must press to
activate. It becomes second nature
within seconds and you’ll find out the
consequences rather fast if it doesn’t
become second nature. This Falcon had
a very tight turning radius and can do
180s even on narrow runways. The tiller
wheel is precise and not grabby at all. I
won’t claim I was as precise and smooth
as I would have liked but I didn’t embarrass myself either though I give the
airplane all the credit. We were cleared
for take off from runway 24 and given
the Ruudy Five departure. I advanced
the throttles and the bird leaped into
the sky. Even though we were carrying 10,000 lbs of fuel out of a possible
20,905 lbs and could be said to be at
mid-weight I gather we used less than
2000 feet of runway with a 6knot headwind component albeit on a cold day at
-8C. Vmca is a low 85 kts and V1 and V2
were low enough to make me doublecheck the screens. There is an interesting distinction I should mention. Unlike
the Gulfstreams I am used to flying the
auto-throttles on the 900LX aren’t engaged until you are about 400 feet in
the air. Woody gave me a simple explanation, which made complete sense.
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Dassault feels the crew should set the
takeoff power and, should an abort be
necessary, the crew will have less to do.
Rather than having to disengage the
auto-throttles and reduce power at a
crucial and stressful moment the crew
has simply to pull back the throttles
eliminating one step in the process. I
wasn’t immediately sold on the concept
but like it quite a bit upon further reflection. It’s the same logic that permeates
throughout the whole aircraft. Keep it
simple, keep it smart, keep it safe.
Simplicity and redundancy design
Climb was brisk and it took all of about
70 seconds to make it to our initial
6000foot altitude. The next clearance to
FL230 was equally expeditious though
at 260 Kts indicated it’s slower than I
am used to. It seems 260 and .74 or. 77
works well for a climb in this aircraft. We
were finally cleared to FL410 and given
a heading towards Cambridge VOR
in Massachusetts. Transitioning from
a heading to LNAV mode and back is
easy. Franco requested a block altitude
between FL390 and 410 and sufficient
airspace for some maneuvers. We did
some steep turns and surprisingly I
didn’t feel the need for any trimming.
The control forces were light throughout the whole spectrum. The process
was highly tactile and the yoke transmitted what the plane did and wanted
to do clearly and without any hesitation.
The forces were linear and incredibly
pleasant. Franco next suggested we do
a simulated loss of pressurization with a
high-speed descent. In no time we accelerated past the aircraft’s .887 MMO
without any Mach tuck nor surprisingly
any vibration and it felt exceedingly
safe. Flight test crews have taken it way
past MMO with no problems. There was
no Mach tuck tendency nor any real vibration. It was actually eerily quiet and
smooth and the aircraft never even
shuddered. Recovery was smooth and
we leveled off at flight level 230. We
were turned to ALB VOR and started
preparing our arrival to TEB. I wanted to
see how labor-intensive it is to prepare
an arrival into a high-density airport but
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Franco had set up the arrival into the
FMS before I could even react. Granted
Franco’s fingers make the avionics sing
but without taking anything away from
his considerable skills all I can say is it
looked easy. At the very least I can say
it was fast and required few steps. The
trackballs are ergonomic and very intuitive and I think I prefer them to the
G450 side-sticks. I was initially concerned they might be a handful in turbulence but though I didn’t get to test
them in adverse conditions I think it’s
safe to say it would be easy to anchor
my hand and use them in total confidence. I also love the terrain feature and
synthetic vision on the screens. Weather
and traffic is easily blended into a tridimensional view easily absorbed by even
older pilots used to steam gauges. One
pet peeve of mine-and almost everyone I know disagrees and thinks I am a
curmudgeon for saying this is I like the
speed-tape to show increasing speed
descending while every aircraft except
GIVs show increased speed going up.
Unfortunately for me and fortunately for
99.9% of the remaining pilot population
Dassault decided to go with the majority. I always felt my preference is more
logical. You point the nose down, speed
increases. You raise the nose, gravity
works against you and you slow down.
I apologize for the digression, systems
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aggressive braking in the 900 LX is
smooth and there is only one thrust
reverser. It’s mounted high in the center engine so there is no risk of FOD
ingestion. While the lone thrust-reverser is nowhere near as effective as
Gulfstream’s twin power barrels it is
quiet and there is none of that occasional tail wagging I have grown used
to. It took about 2600 feet to slow
down to taxiing speed and I feel this
aircraft could be safely flown out of
much shorter fields I normally fly into.
can be easily monitored in the screens
and trouble-shooting and safety are
greatly enhanced when failures can
be seen rather than intuited. The electric system is simplicity itself. It’s a DC
aircraft. End of lesson. The hydraulic
system is equally simple. There is a left
system and a right system and everything driven by each system is clearly
depicted on the screens. One look and
you know what you have and what you
have lost. Simplicity and redundancy design extend to the landing gear design.
Should everything fail you simply drop
the gear and gravity does the rest. One
might be tempted to do a jiggle with the
pedals to ensure proper deployment
and I probably would but Dassault says
it’s unnecessary.
Low speed approach
The auto-throttles combined with
the autopilot did a fine job of transitioning the plane from 300 kts to
250 kts below 10,000 feet. The autopilot has a CLB mode for climb. The
auto-throttles are either off or on but
come on should speed protection be
needed. A good way to avoid Asianatype accidents. Strangely enough,
there is no need for a stick-shaker
and the airplane was certified without one. Approach is easy and my
only concern was lower speeds than
I am accustomed to. The FMS calculated a leisurely 116 kts Vref. The plane
felt rock-solid. My only concern and
it turned out to be unfounded were
the lower speeds for the flap extension. I am used to 250 kts for flaps 10
degrees and the 900LX requires you
slow down to 200 kts. The aircraft
has slats that extend with every flap
position and the transition is smooth
and barely perceptible to passengers.
Landing is a cinch and touchdown
was a sweet end to a most delightful flight. Unlike the GIV I normally fly
Tailor-made for comfort
Lest you think Dassault would organize
a flight test and limit your writer to the
fligth-deck, Jean Rosanvallon, President
and CEO Dassault Falcon Jet, is a very
thorough man and does things a little
differently. He felt a full test should really
be a “full test” and as such also invited
me to sit in the cabin and experience a
flight designed to impress the people
as this aircraft was ultimately created to
sway-the passengers. All I can say it’s
nice, it’s actually beyond nice-it’s actually truly amazing. The landing gear
absorbed all the irregularities of the
taxiway. Takeoff felt linear and smooth.
Liftoff was gradual and with barely a
shudder we were airborne and accelerating. The crew upfront led the way and
the cabin pressurization system worked
miracles. Despite a nasty cold my ears
barely felt the climb and descent. There
was no pressure bumping and temperature control felt tailor-made for
comfort. Sea level can be maintained
up to 23,586 feet and with a pressure
differential of 9.6 psi an 8000foot cabin
can be kept at 51,000 feet. A more likely
scenario is a 6,600foot cabin at 45,000
feet. It’s not absolutely perfect but it’s
serviceable enough. We departed from
an oven-like Las Vegas and landed at
a cold Teterboro and the temperature
stayed comfortably constant throughout the entire flight. One more thing I
noticed when upfront was how quiet
“The electronic checklists are simple, intuitive and mercifully short. They
are also easy to run through on the screens and easily viewable by both pilots”
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the cockpit felt. There was barely any
wind noise even during our high-speed
dive and though I didn’t experience a
dive as a passenger I can attest to how
quiet the cabin is within the airplane’s
normal intended operating range. There
is never any need to raise one’s voice
to conduct a conversation. The fit and
finish of the interior is flawless and the
luggage area is accessible up to FL410.
One other thing worth mentioning
about the luggage space-at 127 cubic
feet it is large but also easily accessible for crews to load. I’ll have to find
another way to exercise my overhead
luggage-tossing muscles.
Designed for efficiency
From an owner’s and an operator’s
standpoint the 900LX has much to
make them happy. For one, the aircraft’s low 49,000 lbs maximum takeoff
weight means smaller over-flight, landing, handling and parking fees. From
both the viewpoint of an owner paying for fuel bills as well a global citizen
concerned about leaving a smaller ecological footprint the 900LX really shines.
This aircraft consumes 50 to 60% less
fuel than most of its competitors. These
are some pretty serious numbers and
they translate into some pretty big savings over the life of ownership. Some
people may be tempted to discount
fuel savings now that oil prices have
tumbled down but high oil prices lurk
around the corner once some producers wait-out and eliminate high-cost
producers and shelve long-term costly
extraction projects. The 900LX was designed for efficiency and it translates
into both operating savings as well as
long legs. It can fly 4750 nautical miles
with standard NBAA reserves. It means
NY to São Paulo or London to Seattle is
possible on one-small-tank of JetA. One
more thing that impressed me is fuel
consumption at different speeds. Most
aircraft have exponential fuel consumption ratios at different speeds. The 900
LX’s fuel consumption is pretty much
linear. Choosing M.77, M.80 or M.83 only
makes a small difference in fuel flows. I
recorded 580 lbs per engine at M.77 and
Specs
PERFORMANCE
Range @ Long Range Cruise
(6 pax, 2 crew, NBAA IFR reserves)
4,750 nm / 8,800 km
MMO (Maximum Operating Mach Number) Mach 0.87
Takeoff Distance (BFL)
(S L – ISA, Max Take Off Weight)
5,360 ft / 1,635 m
Landing Distance (Typical)
(FAR Part 91, 6 pax, SL, NBAA IFR reserves) 2,415 ft / 735 m
Approach Speed
(Typical Landing Weight)
110 kias / 204 km/h
Max. Certified Altitude
51,000 ft / 15,550 m
WEIGHTS/CAPACITY
Max. Takeoff Weight
49,000 lb / 22,225 kg
Max. Landing Weight
44,500 lb / 20,185 kg
Basic Operating Weight
25,815 lb / 11,710 kg
Max. Fuel Weight
20,905 lb / 9,480 kg
Max. Payload
5,050 lb / 2,290 kg
ENGINES & AVIONICS
3 Honeywell TFE731-60 5,000 lb / 22.24 kN
(Max Thrust, ISA + 17°C, SL)
EASy II Flight Deck (with Honeywell Primus Epic System)
EXTERNAL DIMENSIONS
Height
24 ft 9 in / 7.55 m
Length Overall
66 ft 4 in / 20.21 m
Wing Span
70 ft 2 in / 21.38 m
CABIN DIMENSIONS
Cabin Length
33 ft 2 in / 10.11 m
Cabin Height
74 in / 1.88 m
Cabin Width
92 in / 2.34 m
Cabin Volume
1,264 ft3 / 35.80 m3
Baggage Volume
127 ft3 / 3.6m3
Crew / Passengers
2-3 / 8-19
660 lbs per engine at Mach .80 and 780
lbs per engine at M.83 at 39,000 feet at
ISA +8. Owners and operator greatly appreciate the efficiency and pilots think
it’s not too shabby either.
Is there one thing I really don’t like about
the 900LX? There is and it is a dislike and
obstacle that is difficult to surmount-I
don’t have one and I want one. This statement pretty much sums this report.
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