Dassault unveils new fuel-saving flight planning tool

Dassault Aviation introduced a new flight planning tool to allow Falcon pilots to find the most fuel-efficient routes and reduce the amount of excess fuel carried by using global wind data, optimization and performance model-specific algorithms. FalconWays will be offered as a flight app on Dassault's FalconSphere iPad electronic flightbag. The new tool is compatible with Jeppesen and Universal flight planning tools. Falconways was evaluated over a campaign that entailed long flights between the U.S. and Europe as well as across Asia and in simulations. While in use on flights, crews were able to reduce fuel consumption up to seven percent thanks to FalconWays. "Our new FalconWays flight app is part our company's broader commitment to sustainable flying" Chairman and CEO Eric Trappier said. "It will help Falcon customers reach a new level of operational efficiency while reducing aviation emission levels." The new application will allow pilots to download global wind information and combine it with imported operational flight plans, in-house performance tools and vertical, lateral and mach number optimization data to recompute flight plans. Falcon aircraft equipped with SATCOM are able to update the database while on long flights to optimize trajectory. The vertical and lateral optimization will be carried out before or during flights. Dassault will roll out FalconWays on the new Falcon 6X extra widebody twinjet, which will enter service in the coming weeks. The new app will be available on the Falcon 8X next year, on the 7X before the end of 2024 and on the 2000LXS/S by early 2025. FalconWays is an app for pilots, designed in-house by Dassault Engineering and flight operations teams. The team's efforts have led to seven patents and the creation of many advanced algorithms for improving flight efficiency. These are implemented across the Falcon fleet and the app will bring about significant fuel savings ad thousands of tons of CO2. The app will be demonstrated on the Dassault static display at NBAA-BACE on Oct. 17-19.