VC10 in Manchester the other night.

The style and looks of the old bird put others to shame.

Long may she fly on.

I agree, under normal conditions aircraft will exceed the cert requirements.

But unless grossly over engined, all aircraft end up WAT climb limited at some point. And that's when the cert minima come into play.

That min performance case is also likely to be when you care most about your performance - "plenty" and "more than plenty" are both fine, "just enough" and "not quite enough" is another matter

Mad Scientist - no great secret there, squire, twins will certainly climb better than tri-s with all engines turning.

But with 2-engines out, the tri flies better ;)

DA50pilot - agreed! The 50 and the 900 are magic machines. And on a dark stormy night over the Atlantic or Pacific that 3rd go-lever used to give me such a warm fuzzy feeling. :) :)

As my piston twin instructor put it - the Falcon has three engines - because it can't fly with two ..

This aircraft is not in a FAR category where ETOPS is an issue.

It is a beautifully designed aircraft - DASSAULT should be making commercial jet liners rather than Le brand- X.

The PRATT comment is typical from a company that has been resting on their laurels - recall these were the same guys who said GE should stick to lightbulbs - Pratt will have to exit this business if they dont quit making "buggy whips"

used2flyboeing,

"DASSAULT should be making commercial jet liners rather than Le brand- X"

They tried it once - can you say <<Mercure>>? and they were NOT a success.

When DASSAULT rolls out a product it is spot on - AIRBUS - it is redesigned while it is in production ..

Because for numerous reasons in the corporate market segment these jets are designed for...3-small is better than 2-bigger...so be happy you have the choice...;) ;) :ok:

and what's with the windshield?
 

looks like adapted from caravelle, number of windows at least...

you mean 727 ??

nope, 27 has the standard 2-pane windshield, falcons seemed to have stuck with the 3-pane design of yore reminiscent of caravelles and comets...it's flat of course so it's probalby also noisier on top of restricted visibility

Two stories which circulate at FSI:

The Fed's made a stop at Aspen the other day and checked all departing IFR traffic. And guess what, the only aircraft to fly legally out of Aspen IFR are tree-engine Falcons. All other twin jets departing IFR got busted for vioaling the FARs. Cuz there´s no way they could have managed the required engine out climb gradient. Maybe under certain condition they might be able. But I reckon they checked on a hot summer day.

Oh, and the Falcon 900 is the only airplane which can legally fly between St Moritz and NY non-stop. Now that must be quite convenient for some individuals with deep pockets.

I am sure there are a lot more examples which prove the flexibility of three-engine Falcons.