Mercury 100

See also: Mercury

The Mercure 100 was a Avion manufactured by Dassault.

Between 1973 and 1980, the market research reveal the existence of a market potential of 1.500 apparatuses short mail from 130 to 150 passengers.

The Mercure program is officially launched in April 1969.

The manufacture, carried out under the control of work of Dassault Aviation, is distributed between FIAT (Italy), the CASA (Spain), ADAP (Belgium), the federal Fabrique of planes FW of Emmen (Swiss) and Canadair (Canada). The final assembly is carried out by the Dassault company, with Mérignac for the prototype and, with Istres, for the production aircraft in a factory especially built for this purpose. It is the first great European program of civil aeronautics co-operation which precedes the future great operations of co-operation like that of Airbus.

To allow construction in series, the Dassault company creates, at the request of the DATAR, four new factories: Martignas, Poitiers, Seclin and Istres. The prototype of Mercury 100 constructs its first flight with Mérignac, the May 28th 1971, with a crew made up of Jean Coureau, Jerome Résal and Gerard Joyeuse. The June 2nd, four days after its first flight, it is presented to the Paris airshow.

The January 30th 1972, the airline company Air Inter order 10 apparatuses. The first production aircraft makes its initial flight the July 19th 1973. Civil certification DGAC is obtained the February 12th 1974.

In spite of the interest granted by several American airline companies, the sale of the apparatus is limited to the only Air French company Inter. The program does not start, it is victim of the conjunction of the oil crisis, of the devaluations of the dollar, inflation in Europe and the preference of the airline companies for a general-purpose plane mail short-means. The plane is also penalized by its motorization: the engines Pratt & Whitney which equip it are relatively old, they are noisy and consume too much. For the remainder, Mercury 100 is similar to the Boeing 737 but faster.

Finally, only ten Mercury 100 are manufactured. The assembly line is stopped the December 19th 1975. Dassault will try during a few years to start again the project, by contacting American firms to propose to them to produce the apparatus under license, and especially while launching the project Mercure 200, which was to have a lengthened fuselage and engines CFM56 much more effective. The project was never concluded, but according to certain rumors the plans were yielded to Aérospatiale and inspired more or less the design of the Airbus A320. The July 11th 1983, Air Inter, satisfied with the exploitation of its Mercury and eager of an additional plane, orders the setting with the standard of the prototype Mercure 02 which had accomplished its first flight the September 7th 1972. It is delivered to Air Inter the March 8th 1985 and becomes the eleventh apparatus of its fleet. The April 29th 1995, the two last of the eleven Mercury in service on the network of Air Inter carry out their last vol.

It was also the first plane entirely managed by a female team, during a flight Paris-Lyon in 1985.

External bonds

Page of the site of Dassault Aviation devoted to the programs of commercial aviation
technical Description of the Mercury 06 preserved with the CAEA

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