The Dassault Mercure (French: "Mercury") was an airliner produced by the Dassault company in France. It ultimately became a major flop, one of the largest flops in aviation history, by failing to attract almost any interest from the marketplace at all. Eventually, only ten aircraft were sold.

Development

Dassault, generally known for their military airplane productions, wanted to produce a jet airliner to compete against Boeing and their latest creation, the Boeing 737, during the middle to late 1960s.

Since the Mercure program itself was too large for Dassault to support it 100 per cent, the company needed outside help to go ahead with plans, and the French government provided a loan to support about 59 percent of the Mercure's production costs. Other important airplane manufacturers, such as CASA, SABCA and Canadair also helped finance the project.

The Mercure's first prototype had its first flight on May 28, 1971. By the mid 1970s, production had been stopped, after a proposition to build an improved version of the aircraft along with McDonnell Douglas failed to gain interest.

Target companies

Dassault had hoped to get orders from many airlines around the world, precisely because the Boeing 737 had become a major success, and, with the 727 and 737 success, it became clear that airlines wanted short range airliners, as communities in such large countries as Mexico, Russia, India, Brazil, China, Venezuela and the United States, to name a few, had many cities with smaller airports and airline passengers from these communities wanted the safety associated with jet airplanes as compared with turboprop aircraft. Thus, the Dassault company's desire was for the Mercure to become a significant competitor in the short range jets field, as smaller jets began to be used as feeders between cities with smaller airports and the large cities that had big, international airports, as well as for short distance international flights.

Failure

Ultimately, some important factors led to the Mercure's failure: for example, it was Dassault's first intervention in the commercial airliners field. The aircraft was designed to carry more passengers than the Boeing 737 using the same powerplant of two Pratt & Whitney JT8D engines, and as a result its maximum range was a pitiful 470 miles. Over such short ranges, the jet had no advantage in block time over turboprop aircraft, which unlike jets could fly at full speed at low altitudes.

Secondly, the Dassault company hoped that Air France, France's flag carrier, would boost the program by buying many of the Mercures, which might have helped convince other airlines from around the world to adquire the type. This did not happen, however, and, although Dassault had 50 orders for the airplane, only ten of the jets were put into service, by domestic French airline Air Inter , which ultimately began to retire the airplane from service in 1995. Air Inter had only been able to operate the expensive aircraft at all due to an annual subsidy from the French government to keep the Mercures in the air.

Specifications (Mercure 100)

General Characteristics

• Crew: two, pilot and co-pilot
• Capacity: up to 162 passengers in two classes
• Length: 34.84 m (114 ft 3 in)
• Wingspan: 30.56 m (100 ft 3 in)
• Height: 11.37 m (37 ft 4 in)
• Wing area: 116 m² (1,248 ft²)
• Empty: 31,800 kg (69,960 lb)
• Loaded: kg ( lb)
• Maximum takeoff: 56,500 kg (124,300 lb)
• Powerplant: 2x Pratt & Whitney JT8D-15, 68.9 kN (15,000 lb) thrust each

Performance

• Maximum speed: 925 km/h (578 mph)
• Range: 756 km (470 miles)
• Service ceiling: m ( ft)
• Rate of climb: 1,006 m/min (3,300 ft/min)
• Wing loading: kg/m² ( lb/ft²)
• Thrust to weight:

Related content

Related development:

Comparable aircraft: Boeing 737

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