MARK HANNANT
French airframer Dassault is showcasing its new EASy flight deck here at the show and claims that it will improve aircraft safety when it enters service early next year.
The Falcon 900EX, one of two Falcons on static display, is kitted with the as-yet-uncertified flight deck. The operating system has been developed in partnership with Honeywell. Dassault expects certification in the first quarter of 2003.
It will reduce cockpit work load, improve situational awareness and safety, says Jean-Francois Georges, senior vice-president, civil aircraft Dassault Aviation.
He says the "highly intuitive" concept will "streamline and simplify the man-machine interface in the cockpit". Says Georges: "Manufacturers have a responsibility to improve safety. Ironically, one of our industry's problems is that we have been making essentially very safe aircraft for a very long time.
"Human-factors problems underlie two-thirds of all accidents. The only solution is to improve situational awareness.
"We see this very clearly at Dassault because our culture comes from over 50 years of manufacturing single-seat jet fighters such as the Mirage 2000 and Rafale.
Tactics
"The values of situational awareness are obvious – in terms of tactics, in terms of safety, and in terms of keeping the pilot's mental processes at their optimum level."
The Falcon 900EX EASy cockpit features two outboard displays situated directly in front of the pilot and co-pilot stations. These provide all essential information for piloting the aircraft.
Traditional presentations are augmented with engine parameters, aircraft configuration, and red and amber failure messages from the crew alerting system.
Dassault, which currently sells 80% of its Falcons in the US, says it is seeing changes in the European market and an increasing acceptance of the corporate jet as a business tool. This means there's significant growth potential in the European market.
The company expects to increase its sales to fractional operator NetJets, both in the US and Europe, and to see improved sales in 2002 to the corporate operators that make up 95% of its customers.
Source: Flight Daily News
