Falcon 8X performance at Death Valley's Star Wars Canyon

I can just imagine the waiting list for flight clearance there.......and given all the mil spec stuff we see, is there a minimum speed limit? Would my dads V35 have qualified?

 

I can't imagine how much fun that is!

 

This is more impressive IMOP:

 

I miss flying Falcons!

 

Very cool, and they're both impressive for different reasons.

 

My last trip in the Falcon 50 was to SMO... before the shortened the runway.

Also, while that trip is impressive, the runway at SMO isn't really 3500 feet. Really there is 5000 feet of pavement there, which at 3500 feet gives you about 750 feet of overrun at each end-- on pavement that used to be a runway. While sure, you aren't supposed to use that, it does reduce the stress quite a bit.

 

They jackhammered and removed the extra pavement a couple years ago, there still is a flacon 50 there, I think it's the Snap Chat founder Evan S but it breaks the noise restriction every time.

https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/business-aviation/2019-07-08/runway-removal-commence-smo

 

I guess there is less overrun there than I thought... from the Jepp chart, it looked like there was about 5000' of pavement.

They must have tightened the noise requirements, because the Falcon 50 used to not be an issue there. The displaced threshold actually helps, as you used to have to wait to push the power up for a few moments to avoid triggering the sensor at the end of the runway.

No mention of whether the 8X triggered the sensors or not, although they did their best to comply with the restrictions.

 

just curious, how much or little fuel can a 50 take and still get off the ground in 3500 feet on a standard temp day?

 

On a standard day, you could depart at about 33,000 pounds. On a 70 degree day (more realistic at SMO), you could depart at about 32,500. I think basic operating weight on the 50s I used to fly was around 22,000 pounds (this was a long time ago, so apologies if I'm off on that), so you could carry about 11,000 pounds of fuel with no pax, or figure maybe 10,000 pounds with 5 pax.

As I recall, that would give you 4 hours pretty easily with decent reserves, maybe a bit more. TEB might be a little tight, but anywhere west of the Mississippi would be no big deal.

 

On further thought, if you slowed down a little (M.76 versus M.80), had a reasonable tailwind, and were willing to reduce the fuel reserve a bit, I think TEB would be entirely reasonable about 60-70% of the time.