Dassault Falcon 50
| Dassault Falcon 50 | |
|---|---|
 A Falcon 50 on approach to Saint Paul , Minnesota |
|
| Type: | Business jet |
| Design country: | |
| Manufacturer: | |
| First flight: |
November 7, 1976 |
| Commissioning: |
February 27, 1979 |
| Production time: |
1976 to 2008 |
| Number of pieces: |
352 |
The Falcon 50 is a three-engine business jet from the French manufacturer Dassault Aviation , which is based on the Dassault Falcon 20 . The Falcon 50 itself was developed into the Falcon 50 EX. The Dassault Falcon 900 is a new development based on the Falcon 50. The aircraft is used by the Swiss Federal Council , among others . On April 6, 1994, the presidents of Rwanda and Burundi were shot down in a machine of this type, sparking the genocide in Rwanda . The production of the Falcon 50 was stopped in 2008.
history
In the early 1970s, Dassault began developing a new business jet , which, in contrast to the previous models - Falcon 10 and Falcon 20 - was primarily intended to meet the need for aircraft with a significantly longer range. In particular, non-stop flights across the Atlantic and from the west to the east coast of the USA and vice versa should be possible. To make such long-haul flights possible, not only the cell and tanks were enlarged. Dassault also developed the design, which is still unique for business aircraft, with three instead of the usual two engines. This made it possible to circumvent the restrictions that applied to twin-engine aircraft at the time and required them to fly on routes with a maximum distance of 60 minutes to alternate airports. Three-engine aircraft have been exempt from this rule since 1964.
On November 7, 1976, the two pilots Hervé Leprince-Ringuet and Gérard Joyeuse finally started their maiden flight with a prototype in Mérignac . A month later, however, it was decided to develop improved supercritical wings for the Falcon 50. Such a converted machine flew for the first time on May 6, 1977. This made the Falcon 50 the first civil aircraft with supercritical wings . This wing construction proved so successful that the same wings were used almost unchanged for the much larger Falcon 900 and Falcon 2000 . Approval was granted on February 27, 1979.
Series production started in 1976 and was divided between various Dassault plants and Aérospatiale :
- The hulls were made at Aerospatiale in Saint-Nazaire .
- The Dassault factory in Colomiers was responsible for the wings.
- The Dassault plant in Mérignac took over the final assembly and flight tests.
technology
The Falcon 50 is a three-engine business jet in low-wing design . Three TFE731-3-1C engines from Garrett AiResearch (now part of Honeywell International ) serve as the drive , with the air inlet of the middle engine being arranged in an S-shape (so-called S-duct). The range is 5830 km and the maximum cruising speed is Mach 0.8. The sometimes significantly higher information of up to 6,480 km range, for example by the Swiss Air Force, is likely to be due to a different - probably military - calculation of the fuel reserves. The cabin height is 1.8 m, the width 1.86 m and the length 7.16 m. The cabin offers space for eight to ten passengers.
Falcon 50EX
The Falcon 50EX is a further development of the original model, which was announced by Dassault on April 26, 1995. The first flight from Bordeau-Mérignac airport took place on April 10 of the following year and another year later the first aircraft was handed over to a customer. The Falcon 50EX completely replaced the Falcon 50 in production. The production of the EX was stopped again in 2008.
The biggest change is the change to improved engines of the type TFE731-40. Although these engines have the same take-off thrust, this variant of the TFE731 is more powerful, as the power loss could be reduced by a large amount due to a higher operating temperature. Together with other measures such as the integration of a FADEC , the efficiency could be increased by around 7%, which also enables a greater range. The maintenance intervals for the engines have also been extended.
The cockpit, which is designed for two-man operation, has also been modernized, in which a Pro-Line 4 glass cockpit from Rockwell Collins with four CRT - EFIS displays is used. A heads -up display was also offered as an option .
future
The Falcon 50 and Falcon 50EX are still in use in large numbers, which is why Aviation Partners Inc. (API) - supplier of the winglets for the Falcon 900LX and 2000LX - is also developing blended winglets as a retrofit set for the Falcon 50 .
Dassault itself has not offered an aircraft in this class since the production of the Falcon 50EX in 2008. The planned follow-up project tentatively titled S uper- M id s ize (SMS) , after having been all parameters frozen and RB282 by Rolls-Royce had been selected as the engine stopped due to the economic crisis in 2008 and started all over again . As of October 2010, the parameters are said to have been frozen for the second time and negotiations with partners and suppliers are ongoing. Commissioning is planned for 2016 [obsolete] .
Users
In Switzerland, the Federal Air Transport Service (LTDB) - part of the Swiss Air Force - uses a Falcon 50. The machine was originally owned by the Aeroleasing Geneva company and was used repeatedly by the Swiss Air Force. In December 1995 the aircraft was bought for international UN missions and as a Federal Council jet. As a result, the machine previously registered as HB-IEP civil was taken over on January 31, 1996 under the military registration T-783. In 1999 the cockpit was brought up to the level of the Falcon 50EX (Collins Pro-Line-4 glass cockpit) and in 2006 the aircraft was given a new paint job.
Another user is the French Navy , which has a special version for surveillance tasks, the Falcon 50M Surmar . In addition to the special paintwork including the national emblem, it can be recognized above all by the two large windows that replaced the foremost of the seven small windows of the standard version (see adjacent picture). To equip this version includes in particular a surface search radar Thales Ocean Master 100 , a Forward Looking Infrared- system Thales Chlio , three computer terminals and up to eight droppable inflatable lifeboats . In 2000 and 2001, five Falcon 50 equipped in this way were delivered to the Flotilla 24F of the French Navy in Lann-Bihoué . In the following decade, the Aéronavale received four more former copies of the Armée de l'air . They essentially correspond to the original machines, which have since been referred to as the Falcon 50MI ("Intervention") to distinguish them. The main difference is the reduced dropping ability of lifeboats, they are called Falcon 50MS ("Surveillance").
Other state users were or are Burundi , Djibouti , Iraq , Iran , Italy , Jordan , Yugoslavia (see picture below), Libya , Morocco , Portugal , Spain , Sudan , South Africa and Venezuela .
Technical specifications
| Parameter | Falcon 50 | Falcon 50EX |
|---|---|---|
| length | 18.52 m | |
| height | 6.98 m | |
| Span: | 18.86 m | |
| Wing area | 46.83 m² | |
| Wing swept | 29 ° | |
| Hull diameter | 2.03 m | |
| Cabin length | 7.16 m | |
| Cabin width | 1.86 m | |
| Cabin height | 1.8 m | |
| Range | 5,830 km | 6,047 km |
| Max. Cruising speed | Do 0.80 | |
| Service ceiling | 13,700 m | |
| Max. Takeoff mass | 17,600 kg | 18,000 kg |
| Setup weight | 9,150 kg | 9,600 kg |
| crew | 2 | |
| Passengers | 8 to 10 depending on the seating | |
| Engines | three Honeywell TFE731-3-1C | three Honeywell TFE731-40 |
| Thrust | 16.5 kN | |
Incidents
- A Falcon 50 machine with the presidents of Rwanda and Burundi , Juvénal Habyarimana and Cyprien Ntaryamira on board was shot down with two anti-aircraft missiles on the evening of April 6, 1994 while approaching Kigali airport . All nine passengers on the plane - in addition to the two presidents, seven high-ranking officials from Rwanda - and the three French crew members were killed. The attack is considered to be the decisive spark for the genocide in Rwanda (see also the downing of the presidential plane in Rwanda on April 6, 1994 ) .
- On October 20, 2014 at 11:50 pm local time, a Falcon 50ER collided with a snow blower at Moscow- Vnukowo airport when taking off from runway 1, take-off direction 06, and hit the runway. In the accident, all four occupants of the plane died, including the CEO of the oil company Total Christophe de Margerie , the driver of the snow blower was uninjured (see also the flight accident of Total manager Christophe de Margerie ) .
Web links
- Official Dassault Falcon 50 website
- Type certification of the Dassault Falcon MF50, MF900 and F900EX - EASA-TCDS-A.062 (PDF; 500 kB)
- Factsheet of the Swiss Air Force (PDF; 90 kB)
- Full description on aerospace-technology.com
- Description at bredow-web.de
- Description at airliners.net (English)
- Article at jetadvisors.com (engl.)
Individual evidence
- ↑ https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/paris-air-show-dassault-reopens-engine-competition-for-falcon-327886/
- ↑ http://www.aerokurier.de/de/business-aviation/fluggeraet-steller/dreiklangdimensions-dassault-falcon-900lx.32451.htm ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically defective marked. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Transcript of a speech by Charles Edelstenne on dassault-aviation.com (PDF; 168 kB)
- ↑ http://www.flugrevue.de/zivilluftfahrt/airport/falcon-50er-kollidiert-beim-start-mit-schneefraese/595516
