Dassault Falcon 50
Falcon 50 | |
---|---|
French Air Force Falcon 50 | |
Role | Business jet |
Manufacturer | Dassault Aviation |
First flight | 7 November 1976 |
Status | Production ended; in active use |
Primary users | Armee de l'Air South African Air Force Portuguese Air Force Italian Air Force |
Produced | 1976–2008[1] |
Number built | 352 |
Unit cost |
$US21.15 million (2006)[2] |
Developed from | Dassault Falcon 20 |
Developed into | Dassault Falcon 900 |
The Dassault Falcon 50 is a French super-midsized, long-range business jet, featuring a trijet layout with an S-duct air intake for the central engine. It has the same fuselage cross-section and similar capacity as the earlier twin-engined Falcon 20, but is a completely new design that is area ruled and includes a more advanced wing design.[3]
Design and development
The first prototype flew on 7 November 1976, with French airworthiness certification on 27 February 1979, followed by U.S. Federal Aviation Administration certification on 7 March 1979.[3] Dassault developed a maritime surveillance and environmental protection version as the Gardian 50.[4]
The Falcon 50 was later updated as the Falcon 50EX, the first of which flew in 1996,[5] and the last of which was delivered in 2008.[1] The Falcon 50EX features improved engines and other enhancements to give further range improvements to an already long-range jet. The Falcon 50EX designation applies to serial numbers 253–352, which marks the end of the production line for the Falcon 50/50EX.
The last Falcon 50EX was built in late 2007 and delivered in early 2008.
Successors to the Falcon 50 are the Falcon 7X[6] and the Falcon 900 featuring a larger fuselage and the same three-engine arrangement. Dassault announced in January 2008 what is essentially a replacement aircraft for the Falcon 50, codenamed the "SMS" (Super Mid Size). The basic design process, including engine selection, was supposed to be completed by early 2009. However, in a June 2009 press conference, CEO Charles Edelstenne said that all design choices had been reopened and the goal was extended to the end of the year.
Dassault and Aviation Partners Inc. have announced that High Mach blended winglets were being developed for the Falcon 50 as a retrofit kit.
Variants
- Falcon 50
- Basic initial variant with Honeywell TFE 731-3-1C engines and optional auxiliary power unit (APU); 252 manufactured, with one serving as a prototype for the Falcon 50EX.[7][8]
- Falcon 50EX
- Marketing name for Falcon 50 with TFE 731-40 engines; an APU installed as standard equipment; changes to the rudder control system; updated avionics; and other improvements; 100 manufactured, plus one modified Falcon 50[7][8]
Operators
- France
- French Navy operate eight Falcon 50M for maritime surveillance.
- Iran
- Italy
- The Italian Air Force operated four Falcon 50s from 1985 until 2005, when two aircraft were retired.[9]
- Morocco
- Portugal
- Serbia
- South Africa
- Venezuela
- Bolivia
Former operators
- Benin
- Bulgaria
- Burundi
- Djibouti
- Egypt
- Iraq
- Jordan
- Royal Jordanian Air Force
- Jordanian Royal Flight
- Libya
- Rwanda
- Spain
- Sudan
- Switzerland
Accidents and incidents
- USS_Stark_Incident: May 17, 1987 USS Stark was part of the Middle East Task Force assigned to patrol off the Saudi Arabian coast near the Iran–Iraq War exclusion boundary. An Iraqi pilot attacked USS Stark in a Dassault Falcon 50 modified business jet armed with two Exocet missiles.[1] American Intelligence was convinced the attack was made with a Dassault Mirage F1, even though the Mirage did not have the capability at the time.[2]
- Assassination of Juvénal Habyarimana and Cyprien Ntaryamira: Rwandan President Juvénal Habyarimana, Burundian President Cyprien Ntaryamira, the Chief of Staff of the Rwandan military, two Burundian ministers, and seven others were killed when Habyarimana's Dassault Falcon 50 was shot down over Kigali airport and crashed on the grounds of the Rwandan presidential residence on 6 April 1994. The assassination of Habyarimana triggered the Rwandan genocide.[10][11]
- 2014 Falcon 50 Vnukovo ground collision: on 20 October 2014 at 2357 Local Time, Falcon 50EX F-GLSA was departing from Moscow's Vnukovo International Airport on a flight to Paris when it hit a snow removal vehicle. After the impact the aircraft rolled upside down, crashed and was destroyed by fire. All four people on board – the CEO of Total S.A. oil and gas company Christophe de Margerie and the three crew members – were killed.[12]
- On September 27, 2018, Falcon 50 N114TD overran runway 19 at the Greenville Downtown Airport (KGMU) , resulting in fatal injuries to two of the four on board.
Specifications (50EX)
Data from Flight International[13]
General characteristics
- Crew: two
- Capacity: eight to nine passengers
- Length: 18.52 m (60 ft 9 in)
- Wingspan: 18.86 m (61 ft 10 in)
- Height: 6.98 m (22 ft 11 in)
- Wing area: 46.83 m² (504.1 ft²[14])
- Empty weight: 9889 kg (21800 lbs)
- Useful load: 8,119 kg (17,900 lbs)
- Max. takeoff weight: 18,008 kg (39,700 lbs)
- Max Landing Weight: 16,200kg / 35,715lbs
- Payload with full fuel: 1,080kg / 2,380lbs
- Fuel Capacity: 7039 kg / 15520 lbs
- Cabin Length: 23’ 5” / 7.14m
- Cabin Width: Max: 6’ 1” / 1.86m Floor: 5' 2" / 1.57m
- Cabin Height: 5’ 9” / 1.75m
- Powerplant: 3 × Honeywell TFE 731-40 turbofan engines, 16.46kN each (3,700 lbf) each
Performance
- Maximum speed: Mach 0.956 (1,015 kph)
- Cruise speed: Mach 0.85 (488 kn; 903 km/h)
- Range: 5,695 km (3,075 nmi) ()
- Service ceiling: 14,936 m (49,000 ft)
- Rate of climb: 10.43 m/s (2,053 fpm)
- Take off Distance: 1,504 m / 4,935 ft
- Landing Distance: 658 m / 2,159 ft
Avionics
Collins ProLine4
See also
Related development
Aircraft of comparable role, configuration and era
Related lists
References
- 1 2 "News Channel - Homepage - flightglobal.com". Flightglobal.com. Archived from the original on 28 August 2008. Retrieved 26 April 2018.
- ↑ "Purchase Planning Handbook" (PDF). Business & Commercial Aviation. Aviation Week. May 2006. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2017-03-09.
- 1 2 Taylor 1988, p.75.
- ↑ Taylor 1993, p.928
- ↑ "News Channel - Homepage - flightglobal.com". Flightglobal.com. Archived from the original on 6 June 2009. Retrieved 26 April 2018.
- ↑ "News Channel - Homepage - flightglobal.com". Flightglobal.com. Archived from the original on 6 June 2009. Retrieved 26 April 2018.
- 1 2 Type Certificate Data Sheet A46EU, p. 4
- 1 2 Type Certificate Data Sheet A46EU, p. 16
- ↑ "Official website Aeronautica Militare". difesa.it. Archived from the original on 15 December 2014. Retrieved 26 April 2018.
- ↑ Raymond Bonner (November 12, 1994). "Unsolved Rwanda Mystery: The President's Plane Crash". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-01-01.
- ↑ "ASN Aircraft accident Dassault Falcon 50 9XR-NN Kigali Archived 2012-05-26 at the Wayback Machine.". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 15 December 2008.
- ↑ Accident description for ASN Aircraft accident 20-OCT-2014 Dassault Falcon 50EX F-GLSA at the Aviation Safety Network
- ↑ "Super Mid-Size Jets". Flight International. Archived from the original on 2016-12-01.
- ↑ Taylor 1988, pp.75–76.
Bibliography
- Federal Aviation Administration Type Certificate Data Sheet No. A46EU, Revision 18: Dassault Aviation Mystere-Falcon 50, Mystere-Falcon 900, Falcon 900EX; August 17, 2016
- Taylor, Michael J. H. (1993). Jane's Encyclopedia of Aviation. London: Studio Editions.
- Taylor, John W. R. (editor). Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1988–89. Coulsdon, Surrey, UK: Jane's Information Group. ISBN 0-7106-0867-5.
External links
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