New Jet Preview: Dassault Falcon's 5X

This large-cabin model, which will likely be certified in 2017, sets new standards for comfort and performance.

Watch BJT's video preview of the Falcon 5X.

Lots of products boast of being the biggest and most advanced, but Dassault’s new large-cabin 5X twinjet really delivers on those claims. Among other things, it changes the standard for cabin comfort, aircraft performance and ease of maintenance. And it provides an impressive template for follow-on aircraft. 

After nearly six years of rumors, Dassault revealed the $45 million aircraft in late 2013. The first 5X will fly this year and certification will likely occur in 2017. 

The jet’s fuselage diameter is 8.86 feet—a bit larger than that of the 8X, which is still under development and much larger than the fuselage on past models. The new tube yields six and a half feet of headroom and volume of 1,766 cubic feet, making the 5X even larger than the company’s current flagship, the trijet 7X, or its stretched 8X cousin. Available configurations include seating for 12 passengers. 

Dassault claims that the aircraft will be 50 percent more fuel efficient and cost 30 percent less to operate than competing models from other manufacturers. It will feature fly-by-wire controls with sidesticks and new Snecma Silvercrest engines (11,450 pounds of thrust each). The Falcon EASy avionics suite, based on Honeywell Primus Epic platfrom, includes dual heads-up displays with synthetic and enhanced vision information. The large cockpit incorporates a 32 percent larger windshield than the one on the 7X as well as pilot seats that recline 130 degrees, allowing one crewmember to rest while the other flies.  

The 5X has a maximum takeoff weight of 69,600 pounds and a range of 5,200 nautical miles, which equates to 11 hours, 30 minutes in the air. It can take off from relatively short, 5,000-foot runways and touch down fairly slowly with an approach speed of just 105 knots. 

It can do this without sacrificing high-speed cruise performance. The 5X has a top speed of Mach 0.9—around 600 miles per hour at cruise altitude. Other plusses include much longer maintenance intervals for inspections and component replacement than previous Falcons have had; an all-new wing that incorporates a fresh winglet design; leading-edge slats that enable slower approach speeds to shorter runways; andflaperons, which are typically found only on military aircraft.

The flaperons save weight, provide better control and smooth out turbulence by combining flaps and ailerons into a single control surface: flaps deploy to increase lift at low speeds while ailerons regulate bank and roll. Dassault has traditionally been a trailblazer among bizjet makers in adapting military technology such as 3D computer design, sidesticks and fly-by-wire controls. 

These innovations come naturally, as the company also builds the highly successful line of Rafale and Mirage jet fighters. (Many of the engineers who designed those airplanes also worked on the 5X.) Dassault has a reputation for taking airframe aerodynamic optimization to the next level and almost an obsession with trimming weight out of the final product. The Falcon 5X continues this tradition. 

For passengers, not only does the 5X provide more space, it also offers brighter space. The windows are 30 percent larger than on the 7X.The entryway can be filled with natural light, courtesy of an electronically dimmable “Zenith window” skylight from Vision Systems above the galley aisle. The “smart glass” in the skylight can adjust tint in virtually any degree to modulate the amount of incoming light and solar heating.

The 5X’s pressurization system will leave passengers refreshed. The cabin altitude is only 3,900 feet while the airplane cruises at 41,000 feet; and it’s just 6,000 feet at the 5X’s service ceiling of 51,000 feet. 

The cabin, which features the Falcon HD inflight-entertainment system will be available with various layouts and with seats than can be fully reclined to produce sleeping areas for up to six passengers. The pressurized 155-cubic-foot main baggage area is accessible through the aft lavatory, providing dressing space in flight. The single executive seats have been redesigned with a slick-looking shell back and mechanical functions such as slide, swivel and recline controlled by an electric switch in place of the traditional, and maintenance-prone, cabling system. Full-electric-function single seats also are an option. 

Dassault’s decision-makers are betting that all of this adds up to the right airplane at the right time.

And they’re probably right.

Top Notch Maintenance Support

The 5X will be easier to maintain with longer inspection intervals and an enhanced maintenance computer whose data can be downloaded on the ground or transmitted while airborne via Falcon Broadcast. Warranty terms also improve with the 5X, with items being covered for longer periods—some up to 12 years.

Dassault has done much to speed completion time and improve customer support for all its models in recent years: building a 77,000-square-foot maintenance, repair and overhaul facility in Bordeaux, France, constructing a 250,000-square-foot, $60 million completion center in Little Rock, Arkansas that will open next year; increasing the number of parts for "right-sizing" price reductions; significantly increasing spare-parts inventories; and hiring more service personnel. Nearly all parts ship within an hour of order placement, and 98.5 percent arrive on the day customers need them.—M.H.

Falcon 5X cost and specs (29K)