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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dassault_Falcon_50

Falcon 50
Dassault Falcon 50M of the French Navy
Role	Business jet
Manufacturer	Dassault Aviation
First flight	7 November 1976
Produced	1976 - 2008[1]
Number built	352
Developed from	Dassault Falcon 20
Variants	Dassault Falcon 900

The Dassault Falcon 50 is a French-built super mid-sized, long-range corporate jet, featuring a three jet engine layout with an S-duct central engine. It has the same fuselage cross section and similar capacity as the earlier Falcon 20 but is a completely new design, with as well as the third engine, a more advanced wing design and conformance with the Area rule.

The first prototype flew on 7 November 1976, with French airworthiness certification on 27 February 1979, followed by US Federal Aviation Administration certification on 7 March 1979.

The Falcon 50 was later replaced by the Falcon 50EX, the first of which flew in 1996, and the last of which was delivered in 2008. The Falcon 50EX features improved engines and other enhancements to give further range improvements to an already long-legged jet. It remains a very popular corporate jet for its long-range, luxury, and for the recognition of status for owning a fast three-engined jet.

Successors of the Falcon 50 are the Falcon 7X and the Falcon 900 featuring a larger fuselage and the same three-engine arrangement.

Dassault and Aviation Partners Inc. have announced that High Mach Blended Winglets are being developed for the Falcon 50 as a retrofit kit.

Operators

Military operators

•  Burundi
•  Djibouti
•  France
•  Iran

Yugoslav Government Falcon 50 at Basle in 1984

•  Iraq
•  Italy
•  Jordan
•  Libya
•  Morocco
•  Portugal
•  Rwanda
•  South Africa
•  Spain
•  Sudan
•  Switzerland
•  Venezuela
•  Yugoslavia (Former)

Accidents and Incidents

The late Rwandan President, Juvenal Habyarimana, was aboard a Dassault Falcon 50 when his plane was shot down over Kigali airport on 6 April 1994, an event which triggered the Rwandan genocide.

Specifications

Data from Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1988-89

General characteristics

• Crew: Two
• Capacity: 8 to 9 passengers
• Length: 18.52 m (60 ft 9¼ in)
• Wingspan: 18.86 m (61 ft 10½ in)
• Height: 6.97 m (22 ft 10½ in)
• Wing area: 46.83 m² (504.1 ft²)
• Empty weight: 9,150 kg (20,170 lb)
• Max takeoff weight: 18,500 kg (40,780 lb)
• Powerplant: 3× Garrett TFE731-3-1C turbofan engines, 16.5 kN (3,700 lbf) each

Performance

• Maximum speed: Mach 0.86
• Cruise speed: Mach 0.82
• Range: 6,480 km (3,500 NM, 4,025 sm)
• Service ceiling: 14,935 m (49,000 ft)

See also

Related development

• Dassault Falcon 20
• Dassault Falcon 7X
• Dassault Falcon 900
  

Comparable aircraft

• Raytheon Hawker 800
  

Related lists

• List of civil aircraft
  

External links

• Dassault Falcon 50 official website
• Airliners.net

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Published in July 2009.

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