EBACE Show News - May 20, 2008 - (Page 32) NEW AIRCRAFT EBACE 2008 Falcon 900LX to Get Aviation Partners Winglets Seven Percent Drag Reduction Yields 300 Miles More Range Dassault announced Monday that its 4,450 nmi range Falcon 900EX EASy will be fitted with modified Aviation Partners’ blended winglets, resulting in the 4,800 nmi range Falcon 900LX. Certification and initial customer deliveries of the new model, which will replace the 900EX in the firm’s model line up, are slated for mid-2010. “The aircraft will be available in mid 2010, but that’s not as soon as we would wish because there’s a lot of work to do on structures and systems. We have to change the wing structure significantly because it was already highly optimized,” explained Olivier Villa, svp civil aircraft. His comments stem from Dassault’s experience with the The API blended winglets should improve climb performance by up to 10%, enabling the new derivative to climb directly to FL390 in 20 minutes. Dassault claims Falcon 900LX will achieve 55% to 70% better fuel efficiency than competitive large-cabin business jets, but that’s as much as a function of the aircraft’s proportionately lower maximum takeoff weight as its enhanced aerodynamics. However, Falcon 900LX’s overall cabin volume is about 80% that of some heavier large-cabin aircraft, so it has the best volume-to-weight structural efficiency of any aircraft in its class. Dassault long has touted the economic and ecologic benefits of operating its fuel-efficient tri-jets, including its new Falcon 7X. With Falcon 900LX trijet is the latest Dassault craft to be fitted with winglets. “The aircraft will be available in mid 2010, but that’s not as soon as we would wish because there’s a lot of work to do on structures and systems. We have to change the wing structure significantly because it was already highly optimized.” —Olivier Villa, Dassault svp civil aircraft Dassault 2000LX development program, during which the firm learned that adapting Aviation Partners’ winglets to the wing imposed significantly higher wing bending moments, requiring a substantial beef-up of the outboard wing structure. Falcon 50/900/2000 series aircraft all share the same basic wing structure and airfoil contours, so Falcon 900LX will require similar wing structure modifications to meet static and fatigue test requirements. Some changes to Falcon 900EX’s systems also will be necessary, but Dassault officials didn’t elaborate on details. 32 the current focus on greenhouse gas emissions and diminishing oil reserves, Dassault claims that fuel efficiency is gaining in importance as a factor in aircraft purchasing decisions. Falcon 900LX’s increased range should enable it to fly eight passengers from Moscow to New York, Geneva to Kansas City or Mumbai to Luton at 0.76 long-range cruise. At 0.80 Mach, Falcon 900LX should have virtually the same eight passenger range as Gulfstream 450, while burning one-third less fuel. Dassault claims Falcon 900LX will be able to fly from Washington, DC, to White Plains, New York, pick up passengers and continue on to Moscow without refueling. The firm also asserts that the aircraft will be able to fly from Paris to Geneva, then on to Beijing without taking on additional fuel. But those numbers are predicated on Dassault’s spec 25,080 lb BOW for Falcon 900LX rather than the B&CA BOW that will be closer to 26,250 lb. The extra heft could reduce unrefueled range by as much as 275 miles, depending on payload. Falcon 900LX’s actual maximum range with eight passengers at longrange cruise may be 4,760 nmi with a 26,250 lb BOW. Falcon 900LX will retain Falcon 900EX’s 48,300 lb MTOW, 42,000 lb max landing weight and 30,864 lb max zero fuel weight, plus its 21,000 fuel capacity. Thus its tanks-full payload, assuming a 26,250 lb BOW, should be 1,250 lb. Operationally, Falcon 900LX retains all of Falcon 900EX’s assets. Its 5,000-pounds-thrust Honeywell TFE731-60 turbofans have matured into highly reliable engines during more than 500,000 hours of operation. Falcon 900LX’s threeengine configuration provides impressive takeoff performance. The Dassault EASy flight deck, based on Honeywell’s Primus Epic avionics suite, provides unsurpassed situational awareness. And the new Aviation Partners winglets undoubtedly will improve Falcon 900LX’s high-altitude Mach buffet margins, an area where Falcon 900EX needed improvement based upon B&CA’s flight evaluation some years ago. Falcon 900EX’s Mmo cutback from 0.87 to 0.84 at high cruise altitudes attests to that fact. Falcon 900LX’s winglets also should give it somewhat better runway performance than Falcon 900EX, but it’s unclear if Dassault will include a new round of runway performance tests during the upcoming certification process. —Fred George May 20, 2008 www.aviationweek.com/shownews http://www.aviationweek.com/shownews
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