Story ID: 030
Falcon 20: Je Suis Une Légende
By: Mark Huber
Caption: The transformational Dassault Falcon 20 turns 60 this year and pioneered a number of technologies found today in business jets of all types. 
Word Count: 1124
With used prices that start as low as $176,000, the eight-to-nine passenger (executive) Dassault Falcon 20 twinjet (FA-20) was the first civil aircraft to fly on 100 percent biofuel (2012); the first and only business jet to fly with an afterburner, albeit experimentally (1988); and it formed the initial fleet for Federal Express in 1973 (now FedEx).
Designed in 1961 to military specifications with an unlimited-life airframe and components, the Mystère 20 has reached its 60th anniversary since its first fight on May 4, 1963. It was test-flown to Mach 1.
A division of Pan American Airlines initially distributed the aircraft in the U.S., placing orders and options for a total of 160 between 1963 and 1968 at the behest of one Charles Lindbergh. With more than 500 FA-20s delivered between 1965 and 1985, it provided the template for both smaller and larger Dassault aircraft, the Falcon 10 and 50 models, respectively, and remains relevant today.On May 4, 1963, Charles Lindbergh (4th from right) viewed Mystére 20-01 just before its first flight. (Photo: Dassault)
In 1973, FedEx’s Falcons, designation FA-20-DC, cost $1.2 million each and were modified with a 55-by-74.5-inch forward cargo door with independent power supply, higher mtow, reinforced floor, plugged windows, and bigger brakes. FedEx began service with a fleet of 14 cargo-configured aircraft—which eventually grew to 33—that flew up to 2,000 hours each per year and thus laid the foundation for today’s $4.9 trillion annual world of e-commerce. Get an Amazon package today? In a way, you can thank an FA-20. (On its first day, FedEx delivered 189 packages; by 1983 it posted $1 billion in annual revenue; and today it delivers 16.5 million packages daily.)
The FA-20 also delivered for the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG), with the HU-25 variant providing the USCG with rapid interdiction and rescue capability. The service amassed a fleet of 41, flying them between 1982 and 2014. It was the Coast Guard that experimented with bolting afterburners onto the back of an FA-20 modified with a titanium build-up of critical surfaces to withstand the heat, using a Garrett (now Honeywell) TFE731 Model 1042, increasing thrust by one-third. While the tests were successful, the modification was scrapped after being deemed cost-prohibitive.
Today, contractor Draken’s fleet of 15 FA-20s, replete with under-wing hardpoints, provides military operational readiness training in the UK. On any given night, a handful of U.S.-based freight expediters fly cargo-converted FA-20s in support of businesses reliant on just-in-time logistics, including the American auto industry, from decidedly unglamorous places. Some of those aircraft originally flew for FedEx and continue to fly hard, up to 1,500 hours each per year.
Compared to contemporary business aircraft, the FA-20 is faster than a Bombardier Challenger 350 with a wider cabin than a Cessna Citation Sovereign—aircraft that were designed three decades later. The FA-20 cruises at up to 484 knots. The passenger cabin yields 587 cu ft, measuring 73 inches wide, 67 inches tall, and 24 feet long. Baggage volume is 86 cu ft—large for its day—but 60 cu ft of that is internal. Common cabin layouts include forward galley and closet, four-place club followed by another or a two-place club opposite a three-place divan, followed by an aft lav. The pressurization system maintains a sea level cabin to 21,000 feet.
Like all Falcons, FA-20s have hydraulically boosted flight controls. In the event of failure, the aircraft can be hand-flown with mechanical pushrod backups. The trailing link landing gear can smooth out the most inept landings. Pilots characterize it as relatively easy to fly with benign stall characteristics (mush versus break), and its rakish ramp presence continues to turn heads. Balanced field length in most situations is less than 5,000 feet and mtow is 30,325 pounds. (Early passenger models had a mtow of 25,300 pounds.) Of interest is that maximum landing weight is very close to this figure, 28,800 pounds, which gives an idea of how well the landing gear is built.
Dassault continued to refine the aircraft during its production run, so range performance varies based on the dash number and related engines. Beginning in 1989, Honeywell began offering the TFE731-5AR/BR retrofit engine option for the aircraft that pushed range out to nearly 2,450 nm, an increase of slightly more than 1,000 nm over models equipped with noisier, gas-guzzling GE CF700 engines, which limited the midsize cabin airplane to shorter legs. Hitting a headwind from Teterboro, New Jersey, to Chicago meant a fuel stop in Ohio. Under those conditions, you could fly home faster nonstop in a King Air 200. GE-engined FA-20s are distinctive due to their bypass air inlets and high-pitched whine. Dash 5 AR models increase engine thrust to 4,500 pounds and the subsequent BR mod to 4,750 pounds with a mtow boost of 850 pounds.
Falcons of various vintages have received the Dash 5 mod, which was sometimes done concurrently with an EFIS avionics retrofit, either Collins Pro Line 4 or 21 or the 890R upgrade from Universal Avionics. Aircraft so modified contain a Dash 5 after the model designation (C-F) and command a price premium. One in excellent condition with newer paint and interior can sell for prices around $1.5 million. Re-engined FA-20s are Stage 3 noise-compliant, have a 12 percent shorter takeoff roll, can climb 500 fpm faster, and climb to higher altitudes directly on their way to a max altitude of FL420.
When first offered 30 years ago as part of a comprehensive retrofit including the engines, new avionics, paint, and interior, tailcone baggage addition, and thrust reversers, the mod rang the register at $6 to $8 million plus the airplane ($3.8 million for the engines a la carte.). The additional baggage pushes capacity to 103 cu ft. More than 20 percent of the FA-20 fleet has received the Dash 5 mod, and their engines can be enrolled in programs such as Engine Assurance, Honeywell MSP, and JSSI.
Aside from the Dash 5 mod, Dassault kept the aircraft relevant over the years with a variety of improvements including full-span leading edge slats, optional APU, and additional fuel capacity. Dassault produced a follow-on aircraft, the Falcon 200 between 1983 and 1988. The 200 shared the 20’s fuselage but had the better cabin, more powerful and efficient Garrett ATF3 engines, a tweaked wing, and first-generation glass cockpit avionics. But the 200 never gained the 20’s popularity and production was halted after a mere 33 were manufactured.
Ultimately, it is the Falcon 20’s iconic impact that is recognized inside the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center just outside Washington, D.C. There, a retired FedEx FA-20 is parked next to a Concorde supersonic airliner. Aside from their differences in size and speed, the two aircraft are separated by this distinction: the Falcon 20 actually made its operators money.
You’d expect nothing less from a legend.