The Falcon 20 and 200 family remains Dassault's most successful business jet program thus far, with more than 500 built. Charles Lindbergh discovered the original Falcon 20 prototype on one of his visits to Dassault in the early 1960s. He knew that Juan Trippe, Chairman of Pan Am, was looking for a business jet to market in the U.S. Working with Pan Am engineers, Dassault installed brand new GE CF700 fanjet engines that produced 4,150 pounds of thrust. These were the first fanjet engines on a business jet and the prototype was called the Falcon 20C. They built 177 of these aircraft and the first GE-powered 20 flew on New Year's Day in 1965.
Normal seating is for nine passengers. Four seats are in a club arrangement forward and five seats aft with three on a side-facing divan. There is a full-size galley with a separate full-sized lavatory in the aft section.
The Falcon 20F is the fourth version of the original Falcon 20. It has full span leading-edge high-lift devices on the wings, a little more fuel, 4,500-pound thrust CF-700 engines, and a higher gross weight.
In 1989, Garrett Aviation working in cooperation with Dassault Aviation, earned an STC to re-engine the Falcon 20 series with modern, fuel-efficient Honeywell TFE-731-5 power plants. The new engines greatly improved overall performance and increased range by 50 percent. This version was now known as the Falcon 20F-5B.
