DASSAULT-BREGUET FALCON 50

The Falcon 50 is a three-engined intercontinental business jet from 1979, with a supercritical wing and the centre engine fed by an S-duct. Three engines allowed it to fly oceanic routes under the rules of the time that restricted twins, and it crosses the Atlantic comfortably with eight passengers at 470 knots. The type certificate carries one big step inside it. From 1996 — first flight April, French and US approval in November and December — the aircraft was built as the Falcon 50EX: Honeywell TFE731-40 engines with digital control in place of the -3s, about 7% better fuel burn and more thrust, a Collins Pro Line 4 EFIS flight deck, an APU as standard and a bleed-air computer, which together took range to about 3,200 nautical miles. The certificate treats the EX as a commercial name for a Falcon 50 with those modifications, not a new model, and serials 253 to 352 (to the end of production in 2008) are EXs; most are registered as FALCON 50EX, but an aircraft recorded as a plain FALCON 50 and built after 1996 is one too. Earlier aircraft have the -3 engines and the original panel, and the engine difference is the single largest item in operating cost and residual value.

It is now among the cheapest ways to buy a genuinely transatlantic aeroplane, and the third engine is exactly why. Three TFE731s mean three Major Periodic Inspections and three overhauls rather than two, which raises maintenance cost by roughly half over a comparable twin and is the dominant fact about ownership. Fuel burn is high. The airframe itself is superb, with Dassault's characteristic slat-equipped wing and short landing distances. Buy only with all three engine programmes established and a realistic five-year budget.