Falcon 50 Advice Needed

[Gulfstream 200]

Great info everyone. Keep it coming!

I talked with my boss this evening about the pax loads. The nine people would include his 3 small children. My boss is about 5'8", 160 lbs. and he's the biggest of the "adults". We would only have a full boat on rare occasions. Still, do you think the 50 is too tight for HI and Europe with 4 or 5 pax (remember, we're currently flying the cavernous Astra)?

We would LOVE to get a 900B or old GIV but I think they're out of our price range.

Gotcha. Our wish list and reality are sometimes just a few million apart!!!
A few trips to Europe in that 50 and they will be on Vigin Atlantic Sleeper Class!

 

[ultrarunner]

Great info everyone. Keep it coming!


The 50 is a great airplane. One of the most versitile airplanes out there for range/perf/ speed.

Airplanes in the range of 160 and less, somewhere in there, were all steam guage planes. Then you got EFIS 85. Somewhere in the 170's you got EFIS 86.

MANY early airplanes have been converted, as your research has indicated. There are only a few Proline 21 conversions that have been done, and I would not put that high on my list.

As others have pointed out, -D moded engines are the biggie. DEEC's are likely to already be on, as Honeywell is replacing all the analog computers on the entire 731 family. If you run across a non-DEEC airplane, you'll just put them on.

Most birds will have the UNS 1 units in them. If I were shopping now, I'd make sure I would have a WAAS compatible unit in there, or one that was upgradable. Universal can upgrade most UNS-1 units to Super FMS.

For some reason, Dassault put on starter-generators built by Yugo. The have a very hight failure rate if operators do not adhere to frequent brush changes. Buying a well maintained plane will minimize this issue.

Other than that, stay away from the high airframe time/high cycle airframes/damage history airplanes. It will bite you when you got to sell it. Spend a bit more now for a lower time airframe.

Have fun.