End of career for the SAFIRE Falcon 20

After 20 years of good and loyal service for scientific research, the CNRS Falcon 20 operated by Safire made its last flight on February 23, 2022, between the Safire base in Toulouse-Francazal and Toulouse-Blagnac airport.

The weather conditions were perfect so that the veteran could fly and greet a historic site of French scientific research, the Pic du Midi Observatory. It was the occasion of a memorable flight, which fixed, for posterity while evolving in a grandiose site, the images of the beautiful white bird of French Research.

The Falcon 20GF F-GBTM joined the fleet of French laboratory aircraft in 2002 when it was purchased by the CNRS to replace its predecessor, the Mystère XX F-BMSS. Like the latter, it was first operated by IGN at its Creil airport on behalf of CNRS-INSU. It joined Toulouse-Francazal in 2008 in order to be operated by Safire until 2022, when it was retired from service. This laboratory aircraft, one of the rare jets of this category in Europe, has placed French Airborne Research at the forefront of the world rankings. During nearly 2000 hours of flight, its missions on all continents within Safire concerned many areas such as the better understanding of the atmosphere and its environment, but also the calibration-validation of space missions, aeronautical research and technology without forgetting more occasionally other themes such as astronomy for example. These many campaigns are listed on the "Scientific projects" page of our site.

A page is turned with a bit nostalgia, but now the efforts of Safire together with Météo-France, the CNRS and the CNES, and of course the entire French scientific community of airborne research are focused towards the project of a new jet of greater capacity, flying higher and further, longer.

To : The very last flight of the Falcon 20