Dassault Proposes Its 900C Falcon Jet
as New Addition to Medium-Range Family

Dassault Aviation is certificating a new version of the Falcon family, the 900C, as a replacement for the seven-year-old Falcon 900B in its four-member business jet family.

All the 900Bs on Dassault's production line have now been sold, and the 900C has been the standard version on offer since it was announced in June. A Falcon 900B is being used in a certification program, which is to be completed in the spring of 1999, and the first 900Cs will be delivered in the year 2000.

The 900C is basically a 900B with the more modern avionics of the extended-range Falcon 900EX, which was introduced in 1996. The original five-tube Honeywell electronic flight instrumentation system (EFIS), with small screens and extensive analog back-up systems, is replaced by a fully integrated Primus 2000 system with five 8 in x 7 in liquid-crystal flat-screen displays showing flight and navigation data and engine and system information. Controlled by three redundant integrated avionics computers, the Primus system includes dual Laseref inertial platforms, the database-driven Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System (EGPWS) and dual Category II autopilots. The radar has a turbulence-detection function.

The only difference between the 900C and the 900EX, in terms of avionics, is that the 900C does not have an autothrottle - the 900EX system is designed to work with the full-authority digital engine control of the TFE731-60 engine.

The 900C has the same engines, gross weight, fuel capacity and performance as the 900B, and represents a lower-cost alternative to Dassault's top-of-the-line 900EX for operators who find transatlantic range adequate. Customers will benefit from the more advanced avionics, which are more reliable and incorporate new safety functions such as EGPWS. Dassault, meanwhile, can eliminate the 900B's unique cockpit layout from its assembly line and can increase its Primus 2000 orders, reducing its procurement costs.

Dassault claimed a speed record for the Falcon 900EX this year, following a flight by the demonstrator from Sao Paulo, Brazil, to Teterboro, NJ, on June 3. The aircraft covered the 4,272 nm point-to-point distance in 11 h 7 min, burning 18,900 pounds of fuel, despite an early descent and lengthy vectoring in the New York area.

By mid-year, after 18 months of deliveries, 29 Falcon 900EX aircraft had been handed over.

Development testing of the Head-Up Guidance System (HGS) has just been completed for the Falcon 900EX. Certification by the FAA is expected in the first quarter of 1999.

Initial certification will enable Falcon 900EX operators to use HGS to conduct approaches in Cat. II weather. Certification to Cat. III is expected in the third quarter of 1999.