Dassault last month spectacularly bridged the gap between virtual reality and reality when it unveiled the first assembled Falcon 7X business jet at its Bordeaux Mérignac factory in southwest France. The February 15 event highlighted the fully digital design and manufacturing processes (see page 50) of the 5,700-nm-range trijet. It also marked the beginning of the ground test phase, which will lead to the first flight in the second quarter of this year.
The French manufacturer now has firm orders for 51 copies of its new $37 million flagship. Although customers in 16 countries have placed orders for the 7X, some two-thirds of the airplanes ordered thus far are destined for U.S. operators. Europe accounts for about 60 percent of the non-U.S. orders placed to date. Deliveries of the airplanes ordered so far will run between late next year and late 2008.
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