Falcon 8X approved for London City
 

Le nouveau Dassault Falcon 8X agréé pour le London City Airport

A true flagship of the Dassault fleet, the Falcon 8X, a very long-range trijet, has obtained approval to operate on the London City Airport, one of the most difficult airports in the world.

With a range of 11,945 km, the Falcon 8X is the longest-range model of the manufacturer and allows to reach Los Angeles or Hong Kong to London without stopovers.

Dassault Aviation is the only business aircraft manufacturer with the entire fleet in production authorized to operate at this airport, including the Falcon 7X and 900LX trijet and the 2000S / LXS jets. Located in the heart of the London business district, the London City Airport has one of the most restricted approach profiles and one of the strictest sound regulations in the aviation industry.

"This aircraft's ability to land and take off from London City, as well as other hard-to-reach airports, allows our customers to measure flexibility and operational strength," said Eric Trappier, CEO of Dassault Aviation. He adds, "Airport performance is one of the flagship design priorities of Dassault Falcon."

Featuring superior short track capabilities, the Falcon 8X boasts a unique digital flight control system, a silent cab and a range of unmatched configurations within the aviation industry. Combined with the new Dassault FalconEye combined vision system, the first head-up display system, the crew has enhanced synthetic features.

I'm surprised that it needed specific approval.

The Falcon 8X is simply the marketing designation for Falcon 7X aircraft from msn 401 onwards. The 7X has been approved for LCY since 2009.

The 8X is 2ft 66 longer than the 7X, the wingspan of the 8X is 0.23ft longer and the 8X is 0.56ft taller than the 7X

Due to the slightly larger size, it needs specific approval

FC

Thanks FC, due to its size the F8X also has two additional passenger windows (16 in total).

I'm not disputing that (though the stretch is actually a tad over a meter, around 4 feet, hence the two extra windows per side), just commenting that the "8X" is purely a marketing name, it's still a Falcon 7X as far as the Type Certificate is concerned.

Dave, for comparison consider the BAe 146 / Avro RJ. The initial certification for the 146-200 / RJ85 at LCY (actually a general steep approach capability at any airport) was not acceptable for the 146-300 / RJ100 because of small differences in aircraft capability during the approach, even though the aircraft have the same type certificate.
The certification margins for a steep approach are small. Several aircraft types have had to make physical changes or involve new operating technique in order to comply.
The larger 146/RJ aircraft certification differed in approach angle and tailwind approval (6 deg - 5.5 deg, 5 kts - 0 kts); thus if the 7x was near or at a limit, then recertification for the 8x would be understandable.

I thought City lost most of its business jet traffic years ago due to very high fees and a lack of parking.

Actually was about to ask about the relevance of this certification. Bizjet in City is anecdotic.

...the relevance of this certification.
Because as an EASA certification it approves the aircraft to operate at any airport / runway with a GS angle greater than 4.5 deg. Sion, Lugano?, ...

It did. Most disappointing. The days when 6 or more aircraft were parked at the Jet Centre are long gone. Nowadays one is common, and quite often none at all. There's just as much space there as there used to be.

Dave, I agree that F8X - as being a F7X - is type certificated for steep approach (obviously, if the required modification is installed). From my memory, the LCY case is a bit different as every aircraft sub-type has to prove that the specific LCY noise limits are not exceeded.

So what would be the range of the F8X departing from LCY, maybe not it's max range?

Aha that's interesting! Thanks