If you need to own the smallest tri-jet in production, you should seriously consider this new Falcon from Dassault. The 900LX variation on the French-built corporate jet beautifully incorporates high-mach blended winglets, creating quite possibly the most versatile aircraft in the world.
For a medium-sized business jet, the 900LX packs a lot of punch in a beautiful package that could only come from the French. Cruising at a certified altitude of 51,000 feet, it can fly high above weather, airliners, and pretty much everything else. It can travel 5,400 miles without refueling and still land on runways as short as 2,500 feet.
The tri-jet configuration used in the 900 series is a development upon the Falcon 50 that first flew in the mid 1970s. The current 900LX is the baby brother in the French family of tri-jets from Dassault. These include the massive Falcon 8X and the slightly smaller 7X. The spanking new 900LX is the latest variation in a long line of successful 900s with the most significant advancement in this release being updated design of the wings and addition of winglets. The aerodynamically clean wing as well as the high-mach blended winglets give it a claimed 50-60% better fuel economy than its competitors. The leading edge slats and trailing edge fowler flaps create a positive slow speed handling characteristics. This allows for approach to landing speeds as low as 125 mph which drastically reduces landing distance that in turn opens up a wealth of additional airfields.
The addition of winglets along has extended the range enough to bring it near the top if its class competing with the Embraer Lineage 1000, Bombardier Global 5000, and only Gulfstream's G500 flies farther. The 900LX can take you non-stop from New York to Moscow, Paris to Beijing or Mumbai to London.
Unless you're a arabian oil sheikh, you most likely will never get to fly on one, let along buy the $40 million flying villa. Its still a fascinating airplane to keep an eye out for and its still cheaper than a Gulfstream. Check out this detailed cutaway image to get an inside look at the inner workings.
Photo: Dassault
Chris is a pilot who loves airplanes and cars and his writing has been seen on Jalopnik. Contact him with questions or comments via twitter or email.