Dassault has completed the first C-check on a Falcon 7X, thus gathering useful experience for future overhauls on the type. The C-check is the largest maintenance event on the Falcon 7X and is due every eight years or 4,000 cycles, whichever occurs first.

“The first customer aircraft is to undergo a C-check from this December so we decided to conduct a demonstration C-check on a Dassault Falcon Service-operated Falcon 7X earlier this year,” Pierre Thiélin, Falcon customer service v-p, told AIN. The company-owned aircraft entered the Le Bourget airport maintenance workshop in June. Seven years old, it had logged 3,000 flight hours and 1,340 cycles.

The event was also an opportunity to ensure the 150 maintenance tasks were well documented and all the tools were available and suitable. Dassault engineers also found room for optimization of the maintenance tasks. “We can reorganize the tasks by area and reduce the total to 120,” Thiélin explained. Moreover, instead of removing some cabin interior components, these areas can be inspected by using borescopes, making inspections easier and lessening wear and tear.

At the end of the check, “we found no problem and especially no corrosion issue,” Thiélin said. Therefore, some inspection intervals may be lengthened. “With Messier-Bugatti-Dowty, we hope to make landing gear inspections less frequent, from eight to 16 years, thanks to further studies on the aging process,” he added.

The first customer Falcon 7X C-check will take place at Jet Aviation's Basel, Switzerland maintenance facility. The aircraft was delivered in 2007 to Gilbert Chagoury and had previously served one year in the development program.