Dassault Aviation is moving quickly to avoid the growing thinking that private flying is an ecologically easy target among some population segments. The OEM is Introducing “FalconWays,” a new flight planning tool that allows Falcon pilots to select the most fuel-efficient route and reduce excess fuel carried using updated global wind data, optimization, and performance model-specific algorithms. As this video demonstrates, Dassault’s Falcon Jets are famous for their performance.
The new tool, FalconWays, is a flight app on Dassault’s FalconSphere iPad electronic flightbag compatible with Jeppesen and Universal flight planning tools. FalconWays was evaluated over a campaign of long flights between the U.S. and Europe and across Asia and in numerous simulations. During actual FalconWays flights, crews reduced fuel consumption by up to seven percent.
“Our new FalconWays flight app is part our company’s broader commitment to sustainable flying” said Chairman and CEO Eric Trappier. “It will help Falcon customers reach a new level of operational efficiency while reducing aviation emission levels.”
The new application allows pilots to download worldwide wind information and combine it with imported operational flight plans, in-house performance tools, and vertical, lateral, and mach number optimization data to recompute the flight plan. Falcons equipped with SATCOM can update the database enroute on long flights to further optimize the trajectory. Vertical and lateral trajectory optimization can occur before or during the flight. EFB users have been able to do this by exploiting in-flight WiFi. In many ways, this use of in-flight WiFi may be the most valuable part of aircraft connectivity.
The company will roll out FalconWays on the new Falcon 6X, set to enter service in the coming weeks. The app will be available on the Falcon 8X early next year, on the 7X before the end of 2024, and on the Falcon 2000LXS/S by early 2025. The app will be demonstrated on the Dassault static display at the NBAA Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition on October 17-19.
FalconWays is a pilot-dedicated application designed in-house by Dassault Engineering and flight operations teams. Dassault Engineering generated seven patents and led to the creation of several advanced algorithms for improving flight efficiency. Implemented across the Falcon fleet, the app permits significant fuel savings of thousands of tons of CO2.
This is the crucial point Dassault wants the news media to trumpet to get the message out that private jets are not toys for rich (and uncaring) people. We expect other business jet OEMs to offer their solutions in short order. Nobody in the industry wants this again.
