Dassault has flown the third Falcon 7X certification test aircraft, the fly-by-wire business jet reaching 41,000ft (12,500m) and Mach 0.82 on the 1h 43min flight from the French company’s Bordeaux-Merignac facility to its Istres flight-test centre. Falcon 7X serial number 3 will be used primarily for avionics, systems and function and reliability testing. The aircraft have completed 60 flights, logging 171h of the 1,200h required for European and US certification.
Source: Flight International
Rolls-Royce has completed flight testing of the Pearl 10X engine it is developing for the Dassault Aviation Falcon 10X business jet after a six-month campaign.
French investigators have found that a Cessna 525A Citation departed Paris Le Bourget after personnel failed to realise nose-gear maintenance was incomplete, forcing the jet to return for a gear-up landing.
Textron Aviation now says it will exhibit at this month’s NBAA business aviation exhibition in Las Vegas, reserving course after last week backing out of the event amid a machinists strike in Wichita.
