Sixth Falcon 8X arrives at NBAA

Dassault Falcon Jet Corp. reported that its new Falcon 8X, having racked up 380 flight hours in over 185 flights, is now more than two-thirds of the way toward FAA and EASA certification. Not bad for an airplane that debuted in May 2014 and had its rollout in December 2014. As if to celebrate that milestone, the sixth 8X to come off the assembly line made the trip to the National Business Aviation Association convention static display. So far, the 8X has met all long-range, low-speed-handling, and other targets, reaching maximum speeds up to and including Mach 0.97. Certification of the 6,450-nautical-mile trijet, powered by three Pratt&Whitney PW307D, 6,722-pounds-static-thrust engines, is expected by mid-2016.

Dassault Aviation is also demonstrating its new “FalconEye” head-up display (HUD) system at the show. This system combines synthetic and enhanced, thermal and low-light imagery from a six-sensor camera system and will allow Dassault to pursue operational credits for instrument approaches to 100-foot minimums, and perhaps even lower. Dual HUDs will be a future option for Falcon customers, the company said.