On April 27 Dassault hosted a formal ceremony at its Bordeaux facility to celebrate FAA and EASA certification of the Falcon 7X. Before the event took place, some industry observers believed it would be merely a public relations forum at which the airframer would proudly wave the paperwork it had received several days earlier. However, the planned ceremony coincided with the actual certification. In fact, certification remained a question until the 11th hour; the day before the long-planned ceremony, a representative of the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) hinted to a Dassault employee that he was still reviewing some documents, adding, “It should be OK.”
At the late-April event Dassault CEO Charles Edelstenne accepted the type certificates from EASA executive director Patrick Goudou and FAA director of aircraft certification services John Hickey. These certifications cleared the way for first delivery last month, likely after the EBACE show, to a European customer. The approvals concluded a six-year effort.
More In Aircraft
