Dassault Aviation · Business jet
Dassault Falcon 7X/8X
Is the Dassault Falcon 7X/8X safe? It is not ranked yet: with no fatal accidents counted in about 490,000 flights since 2008, its record is too short to place it among the others: its score could be anywhere from 40 to 100.
Likely range 40 to 100
How the score is built
- Fatal accidents
- 0 in 0.49 million flights
No fatal accident in the data (ASN database to 3 November 2026).
- Full-loss equivalents
- 0
Each counted accident adds the share of people on board who died (1 = no survivors). This is what the score is based on.
- Flights flown
- 0.49 million
Estimated flights of all kinds. Flights of all kinds (private, charter, corporate, cargo, training and other civil use) 2008 to 3 November 2026: OpenSky 2022 flights of the type under any call sign (US military aircraft left out), re-weighted to World Bank departures country by country, carried to other years by the type's flights counted each year by FAA traffic flow management (TFMSC). Flights before 2008 are not used, like the accidents. About 111 flights per aircraft per year (fleet with a median service life of about 27 years). Uncertainty roughly ±30%.
- Technology generation
- Modern business jet (type first flew from 1990)
Small fleets are pulled toward the record of the other types of their generation: 0.84 full-loss equivalents per million flights over 30.2 million flights. Weight of this family's own record: 58%.
- Likely range
- 40 to 100
The score is 90% likely to lie in this range, given how few accidents a type has and the error in the estimate of its flights.
- Last fatal accident
- None
No counted fatal accident.
- Hull losses
- 1
Civil aircraft destroyed or written off from all causes, including non-fatal accidents, cargo flights and attacks; airframes flown by air forces on military operations are left out. ASN gives no fate for some damaged aircraft, so this can be a little low (context only, not in the score).
Compared with everyday risks
One flight on the Dassault Falcon 7X/8X carries about the same risk of death as the activities near it below.
- An hour's walk1 in 14 million
- Driving 100 miles (160 km)1 in 5.9 million
- One flight on the Dassault Falcon 7X/8XThis aircraft1 in 2.9 million
- An ordinary day: accidents and violence1 in 1 million
- A day of skiing1 in 830,000
- A scuba dive1 in 500,000
- Cycling 100 miles (160 km)1 in 430,000
- Running a marathon1 in 290,000
- A skydive1 in 250,000
- A general anaesthetic1 in 100,000
- Riding a motorbike 100 miles (160 km)1 in 83,000
Accident history
No fatal accident counts toward this score.
The Falcon 7X and 8X have no fatal event in our data up to 3 November 2026. The record is real but short: about 490,000 flights from 2008, the period the score covers, to now. Even a type with the average record of modern business jets could well get through that many flights with no fatal event. So the clean sheet fits an average jet as well as an exceptional one.
What makes the 7X different?
Its flight controls. The 7X was the first business jet with digital Fly-by-wireA flight control system in which the pilot's inputs go to computers, which then move the control surfaces. Many such systems also stop unsafe manoeuvres.More in the glossary: computers sit between the pilot's sidestick and the control surfaces and keep the jet away from a stall or an overspeed. Airbus airliners have used the idea since the 1980s. Our data cannot show its effect on this family yet.
Dassault Aviation's large-cabin, long-range trijet first flew in 2005 and entered service in 2007. The 8X is a longer-range development in the same family. About 420 have been built and about 400 are in service. A typical cabin seats about 12, and two pilots are the required crew. Owners, corporate flight departments, charter operators and fractional programmes fly them. Our method files the family with the modern business jets.
What has gone wrong without injuries?
ASN holds four records for the family, from three events. All happened on the ground, and no one was hurt:
- 24 November 2016, London City: on the apron, the right winglet of one 7X touched the nose of another. The AAIB gave a late turn directed by the marshaller, who did not see a wing walker's stop signal, as the cause, with wing growth near the tip as a factor.
- 27 December 2017, Malta: an unoccupied 7X rolled off its stand in a gale gusting to 35 knots, went through the perimeter fence and hit a building. The Maltese investigator found the wind started the move and said better checks and communication might have prevented it.
- 3 March 2020, Nashville John C. Tune: a tornado blew a parked 7X off the ramp. No one was on board.
None of these says anything about how the jet behaves in flight.
Does a clean record prove the 7X is safer?
Not yet. Confidence in the score is low, and the family is not ranked yet: its likely score range is very wide, and one fatal accident would move the result a lot. Our flight count is a model estimate, good to about 30%, and the method counts every civil flight of the type, whatever its purpose.
Booking a 7X or 8X charter
- Ask which company holds the air operator certificate, and check it with the national aviation authority.
- Ask whether both pilots are type-rated on the 7X or 8X, and when they last trained in a simulator.
- Look for an ARGUS or Wyvern audit and check its date.
- For a private flight, ask the owner or the management company about the crew.
Compare the Falcon 900 and Falcon 2000 from the same maker, and the large-cabin Gulfstream G650. On a flight tracker or flight plan, look for FA7X or FA8X.
Questions people ask
Is the Falcon 7X safe?
No one on board has died in a 7X or 8X in our data up to 3 November 2026. With only about 490,000 flights since 2008, the period the score covers, the family is not ranked yet and its likely score range is very wide, so treat the result as low confidence. The operator and crew matter more than the model.
Is fly-by-wire on the Falcon 7X safer?
It adds protection against stalls and overspeeds, and that helps in theory. Our data cannot yet show the effect, because the family has no fatal events and few flights. Treat it as a design point, not as a measured result.
Is the Falcon 6X part of the Falcon 7X family?
No. The 6X is a separate twin-engine design. This page covers the three-engine 7X and 8X only, and we do not rate the 6X yet.
How can I tell if I am on a Falcon 7X or 8X?
The ICAO type codes are FA7X for the 7X and FA8X for the 8X. Both have three engines: two on the rear fuselage and one in the tail.
Sources
- 1.ASN record: Flying Lion's Falcon 7X, unmanned roll-away in a gale, Malta-Luqa, 27 December 2017 (opens in a new tab) · Aviation Safety Network
- 2.ASN record: Shell Aircraft Falcon 7X, apron wingtip collision, London City, 24 November 2016 (opens in a new tab) · Aviation Safety Network
- 3.ASN record: Private Falcon 7X, tornado damage, Nashville John C. Tune, 3 March 2020 (opens in a new tab) · Aviation Safety Network
- 4.SafetyScorer exposure model: OpenSky Network flights 2022 (all operators), World Bank departures, FAA TFMSC (opens in a new tab)Flights of all kinds (private, charter, corporate, cargo, training and other civil use) 2008 to 3 November 2026: OpenSky 2022 flights of the type under any call sign (US military aircraft left out), re-weighted to World Bank departures country by country, carried to other years by the type's flights counted each year by FAA traffic flow management (TFMSC). Flights before 2008 are not used, like the accidents. About 111 flights per aircraft per year (fleet with a median service life of about 27 years). Uncertainty roughly ±30%.