STC Application Progresses With Certification Due In December

Premier Aircraft and Yankee Pacific Aerospace have secured the launch customer for their Falcon 50-4 performance upgrade program, as the FAA certification process continues at Honeywell and Premier. The program, with support from Honeywell, to reconfigure customers' original TFE731-3/3D engines to the new TFE731-4-1C specification, and to apply minor nacelle modifications and re-marked engine gauges in the cockpit, is on target for STC certification in December of this year.

The launch customer will place its aircraft with Premier for the first customer engine upgrade, while S/N 094, owned by Premier Aircraft, will act as the test bed for certification. While the total upgrade takes only seven weeks, customers may choose to rent engines from Honeywell's "Dash 3" loaner pool until the original engines are upgraded to 'Dash 4' configuration. By using the 731-3 loaner engines, the aircraft downtime can be reduced to approximately 10 days.

Flight Test Associates, Inc. in Mojave, California will undertake the airborne certification requirements for presentation to the FAA. These tests include establishment of the baseline performance characteristic of the unmodified aircraft with the TFE731-3 engines followed by flight tests with the TFE731-4 engines.

Major benefits of the Falcon 50 Dash 4 include higher climb and cruise thrust, lower specific fuel consumption, up to 26 percent greater range due to enhanced high-hot performance, reduced time to climb, and higher initial cruise altitude. The Falcon 50 Dash 4 conversion also provides further increases in durability, extended 2500/5000 hr MPI/CZI intervals, a special 3yr/1800 hr engine warranty and reduced MSP rates.

The formal STC program is using S/N 094 as its test aircraft, arriving at Flight Test Associates in late July. Installation of test instrumentation and data acquisition system was completed on August 22. Baseline flights were conducted in August, consisting of 25 hrs of testing The aircraft is currently undergoing modification to the "Dash 4" configuration and will return to flight testing in early October. The modified aircraft flight test phase will be start in early October for 6 weeks consisting of 50 hours of testing, and will establish the "Dash 4" performance and operability characteristics The STC is expected to be awarded December 22, with first customer input in December 2006

The test aircraft, owned by Premier Aircraft, is available for purchase, with delivery upon completion of the certification program.

Jim Swehla, president of Premier Aircraft, is bullish on his company's offering. "With fuel prices escalating almost unabated, the 50 Dash 4 program is gaining unexpected attention," he said. "With it, you can go farther, faster, and into more airports than before. Now that we have the launch order, we will be able to demonstrate the benefits in real time. The 50 Dash 4 really brings significant performance enhancements to the original Falcon 50 at an affordable price," he added.

FMI: www.50dash4.com