Dassault Falcon's 900LX
By Mark Huber - September 1, 2009
A very good airplane is about to get better. The wide-cabin Falcon 900 trijet combines unequaled performance and versatility with a design that has remained popular since deliveries began in 1986. More than 400 are in service. Next year, Dassault Falcon will begin deliveries of the latest iteration in this series, the $41 million (2008 dollars) Falcon 900LX, featuring improved range and modernized avionics.
Compared with its predecessor, the 900EX, the new model will use less fuel and have an extra 300 nautical miles of range–a boost to 4,800 nautical miles–thanks to Aviation Partners’ composite blended winglets, which reduce drag during climb and cruise flight. In the cockpit, the Honeywell Primus Epic-based EASy (Enhanced Avionics System) Phase II avionics will have increased capabilities, including synthetic vision for landing safely in extremely bad weather or at airports surrounded by difficult terrain. (Besides being standard on the 900LX, EASy Phase II will be available as an upgrade to all EASy-equipped Falcon airplanes.) These capabilities will come at relatively modest additional cost, around $800,000 more than you’d pay for today’s 900EX. For those who don’t need the 900LX’s long legs, Dassault began delivering a shorter-range variant, the 4,100-nautical-mile, $36.85 million Falcon 900DX, in 2005.
When Dassault announced the 900LX last year, it claimed that it would “feature 55- to 70-percent better efficiency than other airplanes in its class.” Perhaps this was a bit of marketing hyperbole because there really isn’t anything else in this airplane’s class and never has been. A Gulfstream G450’s cabin is narrower and longer and a Challenger 604/605’s is wider and shorter. Comparing cabin volumes, the G450 has 1,525 cubic feet, the 900LX has 1,264 cubic feet and the 604/605 has 1,150 cubic feet.
Because of the Falcon’s unique three-engine design, nothing else this heavy (48,300 pounds at maximum takeoff weight) has the same safety margins when blasting off short runways or traversing protracted stretches of water. Departing from a 4,000-foot runway, for example, is less of a concern for the 900 than for the twinjets. When one engine fails in a twin, you lose half your thrust; but when one goes in a trijet, you lose only one third of your power. With one engine out, a 900 can still climb 2,200 feet per minute.
While that third engine means the Falcon will need more maintenance than a twinjet, a 900 will burn considerably less fuel than the longer and heavier Gulfstream and get you in and out of runways you wouldn’t dare try on a hot day with the Challenger, especially in places like Aspen, Colo., or Toluca in Mexico. Pilots who fly the 900 praise its brisk climb rate, agility and low-speed handling.
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