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Type (Muster)
Very light business jet (ultraleichter Geschäftsreisejet)
Country (Land)
Japan / USA
Manufacturer (Hersteller)
Honda Aircraft Company
Piedmont Triad Airport
Greensboro, North Carolina
USA
Internet: http://world.honda.com/HondaJet/
General data (Allgemeine Angaben)
Crew (Besatzung): 1 or 2 in the cockpit
Passengers (Passagiere): 5 or 6 in the cabin plus one in the cockpit. Private lavatory possible.
Baggage: compartments in the nose (0,25 cu m) and behind the cabin (1,61 cu m)
Power plant (Antrieb): 2 x GE-Honda HF118 turbofan with FADEC
Thrust (Schub): 2 x 8,35 kN (1880 lbs) for take-off
Fuel consumption (Kraftstoffverbrauch): 3,3 km range per kg of fuel. or 0.75 lbs/hr/lbs was claimed early in the programme
Dimensions (Abmessungen)
Length (Länge): 12,71 m
Height (Höhe): 4,03 m
Span (Spannweite): 12,15 m
Cabin length (Kabinenlänge): 5,43 m between pressure bulkheads
Cabin height (Kabinenhöhe): 1,51 m
Cabin width (Kabinenbreite): 1,52 m
Weights (Massen)
Max. take-off weight (max. Startmasse): 4173 kg
Performance (Flugleistungen)
Max. speed (max. Geschwindigkeit): 778 km/h (420 kts)
Rate of climb (Steigrate): 20,2 m/s
Service ceiling (Dienstgipfelhöhe): 12500 m (41000 ft)
Take-off distance (Startstrecke): 950 m
Landing distance (Landestrecke): 760 m
Range (Reichweite):
- 2185 km (1180 NM) at 389 kts at 41000 ft with IFR reserves, one pilot and three passengers
- 2593 km (1400 NM) at VFR rules with maximum fuel and 290 kg payload
Price (Kosten)
The price for the HondaJet was set at 3,65 million US-Dollars for the official sales start on 17 October 2006 during the NBAA convention in Orlando.
Customers (Kunden)
Honda reported more than 100 orders during the first days of the NBAA convention in Orlando in October 2006.
Remarks (Bemerkungen)
Honda claims that new technology in its HondaJet leads to fuel efficiency over 40 per cent better than conventional aircraft and offers remarkable cabin space. Prominent features of the design are:
- engines positioned on the upper surface of the main wing. This is claimed to reduce drag at high speeds and also benefits the cabin space (30 per cent larger than in conventional aircraft), as there are no structures to mount the engine onto the rear fuselage
- fuselage made of lightweight co-cured carbon composite/honeycomb sandwich, offering more interior space
- wing featuring skin panels made from single sheets of aluminium. It has a proprietary SMH-1 laminar airfoil, which is relatively thick but achieves low drag at high speed
- fuselage nose shaped to generate laminar flow
- state-of-the-art Garmin G1000 glass cockpit with 3 displays. Integrated avionics system
- HF118 turbofan engine featuring a single fan, a two-stage compressor and two-stage turbine. It has a fan diameter of 0.44 m, is 1,38 m long an weighs 178 kg. Bypass ratio is 2.9.
History (Geschichte)
Honda began research into compact business jets in 1986, using engines provided by other manufacturers. Details of the work were never released.
Development of the HF118 engine began in 1999 and it had accumulated 110 hours of flight test on a Cessna Citation by the first flight of the HondaJet.
The wing shape of the HondaJet was flight tested on a T-33.
The HondaJet (N420AH) made its first flight on 3 December 2003 at Piedmont Triad Airport in North Carolina, USA. It is the first Honda-developed aircraft outfitted with a Honda engine. The fact was released by Honda on 16 December, together with some data.
The jet was scheduled to undergo approximately 200 hours of flight-testing to demonstrate and verify the performance characteristics. It was not clear whether the HondaJet will go into production, but at the end of 2003 there were rumours that Honda wants to buy an existing US-based aircraft company to bring the programme forward.
With a demonstration flight that included several flybys and a perfect landing in front of a packed crowd of aviation enthusiasts, the experimental HondaJet made its public world debut on 28 July 2005 at the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) AirVenture 2005 in Oshkosh, Wis. By that time, the HondaJet had completed more than 156 hours of flight-testing since December 2003 and achieved an altitude of 43,000 feet as well as a speed of 393 knots (at ISA+8 degC condition). At Oshkosh, Michimasa Fujino, HondaJet project leader and VP of Honda R&D America Inc., told the crowd: "Of course we are very interested in future (aviation) business," Fujino said in answer to a question, "but at this point we have no formal business plan."
On 25 July 2006, Honda announced plans to enter the HondaJet in the growing very light jet market, with the process of accepting sales orders expected to begin in the U.S. in fall 2006. Toward this goal, Honda planned to establish a new U.S. company to hold FAA type certification and production certification. Honda's goal was to complete type certification in about 3-4 years, followed by the start of production in the U.S. Making the announcement at the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) AirVenture 2006, Honda also revealed plans to form a business alliance with Piper Aircraft to collaborate on sales and service, and to explore opportunities in engineering and other areas within general and business aviation. Until July 2006, the prototype had completed more than 240 hours of flight-testing since December 2003. So far, the HondaJet had achieved an altitude of 43,000 feet and a speed of 412 knots.
On 8 August 2006, Honda Motor Co., Ltd. announced that is has established a wholly-owned subsidiary, named Honda Aircraft Company, which is responsible for the further development, sales promotion and production of the HondaJet. The new company is be based in a facility at the Piedmont Triad International Airport in Greensboro, North Carolina, where the prototype HondaJet was assembled and flight tests have been carried out for more than 3 years. Michimasa Fujino, the chief engineer who has led development of HondaJet and spent the past 20 years in Honda's aviation activities with Honda R&D Co., Ltd., was assigned as the president and CEO to prepare for the full operation start of the new company from October. Honda Aircraft Company was to begin taking sales orders for HondaJet in the fall of 2006, with the goal of delivering the first mass production HondaJet in 2010.
HondaJet will be produced by the Honda Aircraft Company at a dedicated manufacturing facility in the United States. Toward this end, on 11 October 2006, Honda submitted its application for type certification of HondaJet with the Federal Aviation Administration. A sales network incorporating five regional sales groups in the US was established, operating 14 offices.
Honda officially began sales activities for the HondJet on 17 October 2006 during the NBAA convention at Orlando. Two days later it reported well over 100 individual customer orders with deposits.
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