Dassault has received US and European certification for the Falcon 900EX long-range business jet with EASy advanced flightdeck. Because of delays in certification, the manufacturer has several essentially complete aircraft at its Little Rock, Arkansas, completion centre awaiting approval of the EASy cockpit. Customer deliveries are to begin "almost immediately", says Dassault, with at least six aircraft expected to be handed to customers by year-end.
The EASy flightdeck is based on Honeywell's Primus Epic integrated avionics and features four large liquid-crystal displays managed via two trackball cursor-control devices mounted on the pedestal between the pilots (Flight International, 18-24 November).
Dassault is among manufacturers affected by delays in development of the Primus Epic platform. The Falcon 900EXEASy first flew in February 2002, and certification was planned for the first quarter of this year. "Certification was slightly delayed, but the results meet our expectations," says Dassault chairman Charles Edelstenne. Flight testing of the Falcon 2000EX EASy began in January, with certification and deliveries set for the first quarter of next year.
The manufacturer expects to book 30-40 Falcon orders this year, lower than the 40-50 hoped for at the start of the year and well down on the 70-plus orders booked annually in preceding years. By early October the company had booked 25 orders net of cancellations, two-thirds from US customers, says John Rosanvallon, president and chief executive of Dassault Falcon Jet. "Most of the market - 75% of the total - was replacement," he says.
Source: Flight International
