Falcon 7X

Dubai 09: Falcon 7X approved for India
By Alan Peaford

Dassault Falcon (stand W310) is expecting a surge of orders from India following today's announcement at the show that the French manufacturer has received a type certificate for the Falcon 7X from India's civil aviation authority.

Falcon 2000 and 900 models are already certificated in India and around 16 large-cabin Falcons are in service in the country.

The first Falcon 7X in India will be delivered in January 2010 to Religare Voyages, a charter company based in New Delhi and part of a multi-billion dollar integrated transnational promoter group straddling financial services, diagnostics, health and wellness, and IT services, globally.

Religare Voyages operates a Falcon 2000, together with smaller jets and turboprops.






A dozen of other large-cabin Falcons including several 7X aircraft are on order for customers in India. The performance of the Falcons are especially valued in India, where short airfields, elevated runways and high temperatures are common.

Dassault has also established in the last few years a spares centre in Mumbai, along with a customer service team based in Mumbai, a liaison office in Delhi, and service centres approved by the Indian civil aviation authority.

"India has been one of our strongest markets over several years so Falcon 7X type certification is of real significance," says John Rosanvallon, Dassault Falcon president and chief executive.

"As the country's economy continues to strengthen, there will be an increasing need to connect India efficiently with other major centres of trade around the world. For example, the Falcon 7X provides direct, non-stop access from Chennai, India with London City airport."

The European Aviation Safety Agency and Dassault have jointly recommended grounding all Falcon 7X business jets after one of the long-range aircraft experienced an uncontrolled pitch trim runaway during descent.
"The crew succeeded in recovering a stable situation and performed an uneventful landing," said EASA in its airworthiness directive issued this afternoon.
The agency said that while "analysis of the digital flight data recorder and the fault history database confirmed the event, it did not explain the origin of the pitch trim runaway. If this situation occurs again it could lead to loss of control of the aeroplane."
Dassault is investigating the cause of the incident.

Dassault last week developed and validated a modification that it believes will enable the Falcon 7X to resume flight shortly, the company said late last week. At the request of the French airframer, the European Aviation Safety Agency and FAA issued emergency directives grounding the fleet late last month after one of the aircraft encountered “an uncontrolled pitch trim runaway during descent” (BA, May 30/2).

Dassault said on June 9 that depending on authority approvals and the logistics of distributing the modification kits, the first 7X trijets could have the modifications installed within 10 days. Dassualt is working with its authorized service center network and factory-owned centers to coordinate the installation of the kits on the 112 aircraft in the field. Dassault notes that the May 25 incident was the “first event of this nature that’s been reported since the aircraft entered service in 2007.”

The Dassault Falcon 7X fleet, grounded since 26 May awaiting rectification of a technical fault, has been cleared to resume passenger operations by the European Aviation Safety Agency.
The manufacturer said it expects the entire 112-strong fleet to be modified and airborne again by "early July".
Dassault Aviation said that the first 7X with an EASA-approved modification to its pitch trim system has "returned to operational status". The manufacturer added: "This follows an intensive effort by Dassault to create a solution that addresses a pitch trim incident experienced by a Falcon 7X on 25 May."
The airframer explained that the modification kit adds additional layers of protection to the Falcon 7X horizontal stabiliser pitch trim control system. After a series of tests had satisfied Dassault that it met requirements, the equipment went into production and was shipped to approved service facilities. The brief delay since then was because, in parallel, the modification had to be reviewed by EASA and the US Federal Aviation Administration.
On 15 June EASA approved the modification. Yesterday it released a new airworthiness directive that allows the aircraft to resume flights with passengers. Dassault said the FAA is expected to issue a similar decision shortly.
The manufacturer has been "in almost daily contact" with Falcon 7X operators, providing step-by-step progress reports on the situation since the company's advice to EASA and the FAA led to the emergency airworthiness directive on 26 May suspending passenger operations.
This followed a 25 May incident where a Falcon 7X experienced a pitch trim malfunction during descent. The crew successfully recovered the aircraft to a stable flight profile and landed safely.

Practically all Dassault Falcon 7X business jets are flying again, following the EASA’s reauthorizing flights for the entire fleet on July 7. As of today, only three 7Xs were still on the ground, but not for any technical reason related to the runaway pitch trim incident that sidelined the fleet in late May, according to Dassault. The manufacturer has found a solution for the horizontal stabilizer electronic control unit (HSECU) part number -04. Operators can have the unit verified or, in the event it does not pass the verification test, replaced. The new one, part number -05, was developed by Dassault. In a June 16 AD, the EASA had allowed restarting flight operations for those Falcon 7Xs equipped with HSECU part number -02 (about 80 percent of the fleet, according to Dassault). Until September, when a software modification is implemented, all Falcon 7Xs remain subject to the flight-envelope restrictions Dassault had defined in June, notably with a Mach 0.85 Mmo, instead of Mach 0.90. The runaway pitch trim incident that sparked the grounding took place aboard a Falcon 7X approaching Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on May 25.

Effective yesterday, an EASA Airworthiness Directive (AD) has restored the full original flight envelope for the Dassault Falcon 7X, providing the fly-by-wire control system is updated. Dassault has developed a modification of the system to improve “the monitoring and reversion logic of the horizontal stabilizer trim system,” EASA said. This modification results in “earlier failure detection and quicker reversion.” Dassault has released accompanying revisions of the aircraft flight manual and aircraft maintenance manual, thus introducing operational tests of the trim. Although it restores the flight envelope, the AD is still regarded as an interim measure. Further EASA action might follow to restore the full original certified minimum equipment list. The Falcon 7X was subject to restrictions, notably a Mach 0.85 Mmo instead of Mach 0.90, after the May runaway pitch trim incident that sparked a grounding and, later, limitations. A production defect in the horizontal stabilizer electronic control unit was corrected.