This year’s Paris Air Show at Le Bourget provided an opportunity for me to see Dassault’s new Falcon 7X up close before I got my chance at the left seat, alongside Dassault 26-year veteran senior test pilot Yves (Bill) Kerherve, who has since retired from the company. A former French Navy fighter pilot, Kerherve flew the ultra-quiet 7X through a series of maneuvers for the crowd on the opening day of the show. Although the 7X is a large-cabin business aircraft, its maneuverability made it clear that Dassault designers had not forgotten the Mirage and Rafale fighters that came before.
While the flight demonstration itself would probably not convince anyone to write a check on the spot for a 7X, my guess is that after watching those 86-foot-span wings carry the 7X through some incredibly tight turns with ease, people would take a closer look. Dassault currently has orders for more than 165 copies of the recently certified, $40.6 million aircraft. The company is currently building three a month, and the next delivery slot is late 2011 or early 2012.
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