Taking the Dassault Falcon 6X to the Limit: A Test Pilot’s Perspective

EBACE Convention News 2023

Taking the Falcon 6X to the Limit: A Test Pilot’s Perspective

With certification of the Falcon 6X at hand, chief test pilot Philippe Duchateau explains what goes into the flight test program.

Dassault chief test pilot Philippe Duchateau explained that the Falcon 6X’s journey to certification began years before the jet’s first flight in February 2021. (Photo: David McIntosh)

By James Wynbrandt • Contributor - Business Aviation

May 24, 2023

The flight tests are complete, the paperwork submitted, and certification of the Falcon 6X, Dassault Aviation’s flagship-in-waiting, is expected “in the coming weeks,” CEO Éric Trappier said this week at EBACE. But the twinjet's journey to service entry began well before its first test flight in February 2021, as Philippe Duchateau, chief test pilot on the program, explained aboard the outfitted 6X on the EBACE static display (AD_02) in Geneva.

The test program begins “in the development phase, with a lot of work on the ground before even getting to the flight line,” said Duchateau. Flight-test pilots first meet with engineers to “discuss what the aircraft should be like” in terms of flight control response, handling, and cockpit ergonomics. Engineers then create a basic simulator to mimic the desired characteristics and “we go and test it” to refine the controls, said Duchateau, a former French Air Force test pilot.

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