This week, on a Paris runway, the latest designs were on display-of aircraft, that is, rather than clothes. Sleek models, such as Gulfstream's G450 business jet, jostled for attention alongside the latest in plus-size aviation fashion, the curvaceous Airbus A380. But when it comes to attention to detail, this year's most exceptional debut was the Falcon 7X, which made its first public flight. Designed and built by Dassault, a French aviation company based in Paris, the 7X lays claim to being the first fly-by-wire business jet, as well as the first aircraft to be designed entirely in a virtual environment. This latter claim bears some dissection as it hardly comes as a surprise to learn that a new aeroplane was developed using computer-aided design, or that its various possible wing shapes had been simulated to predict airflow and performance before the craft had so much as a sniff at a wind-tunnel test.
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