It’s been almost a week since the worldwide fleet of Falcon 7X aircraft was grounded and there is still no word on when there will be a fix to the runaway pitch trim fault that led to the emergency AD. A 7X crew experienced the malfunction May 25 while on descent. The crew was able to regain control and land the aircraft uneventfully. There are 112 aircraft affected and the fleet has accumulated 70,000 flight hours. This is the first reported incidence of pitch trim problems, the company said last week. As might be expected, there were some high-profile disruptions caused by the grounding.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy was using one of his office’s 7Xs to attend the G-8 Summit at Deauville in northern France when the AD was issued. He had to get by with a military Falcon 900 for the trip home. Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan also has two 7Xs but he also has a G550 for backup.
