Posted on June 15th, 2011
Dassault has begun sending Falcon 7X modification kits to its service centers to fix the potential runaway pitch trim issue that caused the grounding of the entire fleet since May 26, a company spokesman told AIN today. All the kits will have been sent by Sunday, he said. Meetings with the EASA are planned for the coming days as the next step toward flight reauthorization. In addition to the service centers (both authorized and factory-owned), retrofit lines have been set up in Bordeaux and Istres, France, and in Little Rock, Ark. Dassault expects the first modifications to be completed by late this week. The modification Dassault has developed adds automated protection to that already built into the horizontal stabilizer trim circuitry. “It involves software and hardware changes, which have been tested and validated on a test bench,” Dassault said late last week. The incident that sparked the grounding took place aboard a Falcon 7X approaching Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on May 25. Since May 30, ferry flights have been allowed.
