From a distance, the exterior of the Dassault Falcon 900LX–F-WWFB–reminded me of a lady caught without her makeup when I saw her sitting on the ramp outside Epps Aviation at Atlanta's Peachtree Airport (PDK). The LX had just completed the ferry flight from the Merignac, France assembly facility in time for NBAA 2010's static display and was still painted pewter gray with odd patches of the green primer that adorns jets when they arrive at the paint shop. My goal this sunny afternoon was to put the 50,000-pound aircraft through its paces to learn how it compared to the earlier Falcon 900EX.
The 900LX's winglets–the same ones used on the 2000LX–are the only noticeable difference between the LX and EX and allow the new Falcon to fly 4,750 nm (about 5 percent farther than a standard equipped 900EX and 12.5 percent farther than the earlier 900DX). Maximum takeoff weight of the LX remains at 49,200 pounds. After July, though, the decision on which 900 to purchase was made easy, since arrival of the LX means the end of the production line for the 900EX.
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