Story ID: 0990April19
Dassault Expands Certifications for FalconEye
By: Matt Thurber
Caption: More Dassault Falcon models are now approved for lower approach minimums when equipped with the FalconEye HUD.
Word Count: 290
The FAA and EASA have granted certification for operational credit for low visibility approaches to 100 feet in Dassault Falcon 900LX, 2000LXS, and 2000S jets equipped with the FalconEye combined vision system (CVS). The 100-foot credit was certified last year on the Falcon 8X.

The FalconEye CVS, the first such system to be certified, allows both infrared and low-light camera-based enhanced vision system (EVS) and database-driven synthetic vision system (SVS) imagery to be displayed at the same time on the head-up display (HUD), but the images are not overlaid. FalconEye allows the pilot to adjust a horizontal split line between EVS and SVS, moving the line up or down the HUD combiner depending on the particular outside environment. An EVS conformal runway clear zone around the airport always remains visible to the pilot, even if the airport is within the SVS split region.

The FalconEye system consists of an Elbit HUD with a large field of view of 40 degrees horizontal and 30 degrees vertical and 1,280 pixels horizontal and 1,024 pixels vertical resolution. The EVS side of FalconEye consists of an uncooled, six-sensor Elbit camera mounted on top of the airplane’s nose. The camera’s visible-light sensors also can “see” LED lights, which are increasingly found at airports around the world.

Dassault expects to received certification of a dual-HUD FalconEye configuration next year, and this will enable EFVS-to-land capability. This new capability allows pilots to fly an approach and land solely by viewing the runway environment through the HUD, without using natural vision to see the runway.

The FalconEye HUD is optional on the Falcon 2000LXS, 2000S, 900LX, and 8X and will also be offered on the 6X when it enters service in 2022.