Dassault Aviation’s all-new Falcon 5X has made its first flight as part of a limited number of preliminary flight tests before the fully fledged campaign begins next year.

The aircraft took off on 5 July from Dassault’s Bordeaux-Mérignac final assembly facility with test pilots Philippe Deleume and Philippe Rebourg at the controls. The two-hour flight was performed with a preliminary version of the Safran Silvercrest engine, because design issues have delayed the power plant development four years beyond the initial timetable.

“We have had some frustrations with the programme because of the engine development delay,” says head of global communications Vadim Feldzer. “The 5X is now scheduled to enter service in 2020 when it had been scheduled to enter service two years before. The Silvercrest engine has faced some technical issues, which was unfortunate, but this has now been solved and the engine should be very efficient. The purpose of the 5 July flight was to streamline the development programme on our side and check that the airframe and systems are performing well. We have ferried the aircraft to Istres, where we have a lot of high performance testing and monitoring equipment and real- time data analysis, all of which is not available in Mérignac.”

Safran anticipates certification of the latest Silvercrest, a different version from the one on the test flights, in spring 2018. Despite the frustration, Feldzer does see an upside: “By the time the 5X enters service in 2020, the market will most likely be in better shape. We must be positive. Times are still very tough, but we will ensure that this programme is successful.

“We anticipate the 5X arriving in the market at the perfect time. Since it was announced it has been met with great enthusiasm from customers and operators.”