328 Design awarded supplemental type certification for Falcon 50EX upgrade

German certification company 328 Design (328DO), has secured supplemental type certification (STC) for a Dassault Falcon 50EX cabin upgrade. The STC is the first to be issued by the US Federal Aviation Administration under the FAA/EASA bilateral agreement and was awarded on the back of an extensive refurbishment project on a privately-owned, 2001-build 50EX

“This project was driven by the owner who wanted the opportunity to sell the aircraft into the US market at a later date," says Jörg Gorkenant, chief operating officer and head of 328DO. The award also paves the way for the Sierra Nevada-owned subsidiary to offer the upgrade to other owners of the legacy trijet, which Dassault stopped building in 2007.

Duncan Aviation

The venture was undertaken in collaboration with US completions and engineering company Duncan Aviation, and included a complete cabin revamp, a flightdeck upgrade to the Rockwell Collins Pro Fusion system and an external repaint.

“This latest STC marks our 21st collaboration with Duncan in the four years the companies have been working together,” says 328DO, based in Oberpfaffenhofen, near Munich

These include EASA STC's for the Bombardier's Challenger series; Global Express; the Falcon 7X, 900EX and 2000; and the Cessna Citation Excel.

Duncan Aviation

Dassault delivered the final Honeywell TFE731-40 powered 50EX – s/n 352 – in early 2008 after a production run of nearly 30 years. Flightglobal’s Fleets Analyzer database records an in-service fleet of 322 of the type, including the first-generation Falcon 50.