General Aviation Profile

Dassault Aviation Positions 6X at Top of Long-Range Segment

Dassault Aviation Positions 6X at Top of Long-Range Segment

All-new aircraft designs are relatively rare in the aircraft industry. They must offer a real advancement in the state of the art to justify the investment. The all-new Falcon 6X does not disappoint. It is the largest and most comfortable aircraft in the long-range (more than 5,000 nm-plus/ 9,260 km) segment, and the most technologically advanced.

A TRUE WIDEBODY CABIN

The 6X introduces a new standard in long range cabins. With a width of eight feet six inches (2.58 meters) and height of six feet six inches (1.98 meters), it has the largest cross section of any business jet flying. It will be eclipsed in cabin size only by the Falcon 10X ultra-long-range jet now in development.

The cabin is divided into three living areas, in part so that passengers on long flights can choose a spot for rest, work or dining. The 6X can carry 16 in comfort, but typical passenger loads will be far smaller, allowing teams or families to really spread out and relax.

Operators can customize each section according to their tastes, and also optimize certain areas for the type of mission they will fly. Those who routinely travel long distances can choose an extended entryway for more galley storage space and equipment. Opposite a longer galley, operators can opt for a crew rest area allowing a resting pilot privacy and the space to lie flat and get some quality off-duty time.

At the other end of the cabin, operators can opt for private lounge or stateroom configurations so that passengers can also rest peacefully and have the privacy to change either into more comfortable flight attire or business clothes to look sharp upon arrival.

A HEALTHIER CABIN EXPERIENCE

Aircraft owners and their passengers are much more focused today on the health aspects of flying. Dassault anticipated these desires in the design of the 6X. Cabin air is refreshed continuously and run through hospital-grade HEPA filters for the healthiest possible experience. Cabin altitude pressurization is maintained at a low 3,900 feet (1,189 m), when cruising at 41,000 feet (12,497 m), greatly reducing fatigue.

Dassault plans a cabin as quiet as the ultra-long-range Falcon 8X, which leads the industry in the sounds of silence. At an average of 49dB, the 8X in flight is as quiet as a living room in the suburbs.

TECHNOLOGY AND SAFETY INNOVATIONS

The 6X benefits from technology transfer from Dassault’s advanced Rafale fighter jet, with its finely tuned Digital Flight Control System. DFCS improves handling, safety, and ride in turbulent conditions.

The 6X represents Dassault’s latest advance in digital flight control technology, managing primary and, for the first time, secondary flight control surfaces such as flaps and flaperons, as well as nose wheel steering for better tracking in gusty conditions and on wet runways.

AN ADVANCE IN FLIGHT DECK DESIGN

The 6X’s spacious, ultra-widebody flight deck offers more headroom than the flight deck in any other business aircraft, and 30 percent more window space than previous models, providing greater situational awareness in the air and on the ground.

The FalconEye Combined Vision System brings a new dimension of technology and safety to the 6X. It is the first Head-up Display (HUD) that combines images from a synthetic vision system (SVS), derived from database-driven terrain mapping, with images from a thermal and low-light enhanced vision system (EVS).

Joined into a single view, FalconEye provides an unprecedented level of situational awareness to flight crews in challenging weather conditions and all phases of flight. FalconEye permits approaches to 100-foot minimums, providing a substantial operational benefit.

DEFINING NEW PERFORMANCE BENCHMARKS

With its high lift slats and flaps and a new and brawny Pratt & Whitney Canada PurePower PW812D engines, the 6X continues the Falcon tradition of strong short field/high and hot runway performance. Approach speeds can be as low as 109 knots, allowing operations at short fields under 4,000 feet (1,220 meters). The new-generation Falcon 6X wing allows for a wide speed envelope bounded by low-speed approaches and a top speed of Mach .90.

The 13,000- to 14,000-pound thrust P&W Canada PurePower PW812D turbofan shares the proven, rigorously tested common core technology used in Pratt & Whitney’s PurePower® family of geared turbofan commercial engines.

The new PW812D delivers a double-digit increase in fuel efficiency, with improvements in fuel burn, environmental emissions, engine noise, and operating costs, setting a new “green” standard for emissions with the advanced TALON™ X combustor.

The company estimates a 40 percent reduction in maintenance costs versus other engines in this class. The 6X will also be able to fly with a 50/50 mix of sustainable aviation fuel.

The 6X will have the longest range in its class, flying 5,100 nm (9,445 km) at high-speed cruise of Mach .85, or its 5,500-nm (10,186 km) maximum at Mach .80. It can fly from Paris to Beijing or Shanghai to Melbourne at high-speed cruise. Or Beijing to San Francisco at long-range cruise.

THE CATEGORY LEADER HEADS SKYWARD

Flight testing of the 6X began in March and now three aircraft are flying in the test campaign, which is expected to wrap up next year.

Flight tests have also gone “quite smoothly,” with the jets showing “a high level of maturity relative to this point in a typical test program,” according to company reports. By early summer, more than 200 test hours had been flown.

Dassault, which has invested heavily to expand its global service organization, is training technicians now to care for the new aircraft, in part by assigning senior techs from around the Dassault maintenance network to participate in supporting the test fleet.

In recent years the factory service network has added TAG Maintenance Services and ExecuJet MRO Services to expand service coverage in Europe, the Middle East and Asia. It has strengthened spares support, field service and many other aspects of its vast service organization. As a result, the company now routinely ranks number one in independent industry surveys.

With certification planned in 2022, big things are ahead for 6X customers.

www.dassaultfalcon.com

INDUSTRY REPORTS