Dassault Aviation’s Falcon 5X ultra wide body twin-engine bizjet made its first flight on 5th July, embarking on a limited number of preliminary flight tests before the commencement of the full fledged flight test campaign, scheduled to begin next year.

The aircraft took off 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 engines, because design issues have delayed the power plant development four years beyond the initial timetable.

Dassault CEO Eric Trappier said the preliminary flight tests were part of an effort to limit the consequences of the development delay.

This early flight test campaign will serve to collect a certain amount of airframe and systems data that could not be generated during a ground test campaign undertaken earlier this spring. The ground campaign included ground runs as well as low and high speed taxi tests.

The purpose of the present flight test campaign, which will last only a few weeks, is to help streamline the development process. Flight validation and certification tests will be performed next year, once Safran delivers certifiable engines meeting Dassault’s specifications.

The Falcon 5X is scheduled for entry into service in 2020.