Elegant “Falcon”
The classification of business jets dimensionality is still not well established, and different terms are in use. With regard to the family of Falcon 2000 models “medium-large” or “super midsize” are most common. The main characteristics of this class of business jets that should be considered are the following: sufficiently spacious cabin for 8-12 people and the possibility to move comfortably through it at a full height (with the exception of those people who could successfully play basketball as the centre) without bending or even tilting your head. Typically, the layout of a cabin is designed for two sections of four passengers each. Pairs of seats are easily transformed into comfortable berths for four people.
Letters LX in the model designation indicate, firstly, the long range of the aircraft (L for Long range) and, secondly, its exclusiveness (X — clusiveness). “Falcon” 2000LX is a member of the “two thousandth falcons” family, which was founded in the year 1989 on the Air Show in Le Bourget, where a new model of business jet Falcon (“Falcon”) 2000 was represented. Its design was based on the previous successful model Falcon 900, but had two, not three turbofan engines CFE 738 and a slightly shorter fuselage. The aircraft posessed a design range of 3,000 nautical miles (5560 km) and a cruising speed of M = 0.80 (ie 80% of the speed of sound, which varies at different altitude).
In modern aviation breakthrough technologies are usually first mastered on battle aircraft. The company Dassault is the only aircraft manufacturer in the world, whose development of new fighters is going hand in hand with modern business jets, that is why the French designers often find themselves pioneers in implementing the latest technologies in business aviation...
…In April 2009, a certification to European and American standards of the latest model of the family Falcon 2000LX was finished. Its distinguishing feature is a specially profiled vertical wingtips, reducing aerodynamic resistance at high cruising speeds. President and CEO of Dassault Falcon John Rosanvallon has described a new modification as following: “Falcon 2000LX has the lowest operating costs in a class of business jets with large cabins, it is the ideal solution to the present difficult economic situation. It’s a plane which possess the best fuel efficiency among the large-cabin classmates, which means lower fuel costs and lower [noxious] emissions. It can take off and land at small airfields closer to the destination, which will help you to leave behind your competitors in business development.”
The range of 7400 km (4,000 nautical miles) ensures 2000LX a possibility for non-stop flight from Moscow to all European cities, Beijing, Shanghai and Bangkok. Across Russia eastward it’s possible to fly to Chita, and a few further, but for flights to Khabarovsk and Vladivostok an intermediate landing is needed. Obviously, this is more than enough range to fly nonstop from Moscow to the popular resorts of the Maldives or the Canary Islands. The brochures of “Dassault” claim the possibility of direct flights from New York to Moscow (distance about 7500 km). It is certainly true, but a transatlantic flight in the opposite direction may cause some complexities. The fact is that the Earth as is known revolves, so that at cruising altitudes above the clouds the wind is always fair when flying from west to east and always head for the flight in the opposite direction, for example, from Moscow to New York. In addition, the final part of the flight to the East Coast of the USA passes over the ocean, that does not offer a wide selection of alternate aerodromes to land on in case of negative circumstances. Flying over Europe on Falcon 2000LX doesn’t bring such complication, therefore in order to fly from Moscow to the United States an intermediate landing is necessary.
In comparison to the model 2000EX Falcon 2000LX possesses 10 ?15% higher rate of climb. The aircraft reaches the cruising echelon of 41 thousand feet (12 500 m) just in 18 minutes. As the generation of fuel cruising altitude rises up to 45 thousand feet (13,700 meters). The standard packaging arrangement of 2000LX includes a well-proven pilot cabin equiped with EASy system.
Classmates — To Compare With
The determining factor for comparing different business jets is their take-off weight. As a rule, aircraft with approximately the same mass have nearly equal flight parameters, and a similar price. On the market of business aircraft a Canadian Bombardier Challenger 605 possesses the closest characteristics to Falcon 2000LX. In 2011, a completion of certification and the start of deliveries of American Gulfstream G250 are expected. And in the year 2012 the first customers are to recieve the Brazilian Embraer Legacy 500. It is interesting to note that the “Gulf Stream” and “Embraer”, having a sufficiently broad line of business jet models, found it necessary to offer the market new models which have dimensionality practically the same to that of the Dassault Falcon 2000. The Regional Director of Falcon Jet in Russia Andrey Lebedinsky claims that all the interior details of “Falcons” undergo manual processing and adjustment. The used materials are unique, such as a root of Karelian birch. Naturally, this affects the cost — for the exclusive you have to pay. Indeed, a purchaser usually pays somewhat more for French business aircraft than for the U.S. and Canadian ones, and all the more for Brazilian business jets with comparable characteristics.
Alexander Velovich
The article is published abridged. The full version you can find in Top Flight N3 (25), 2011