Honda HA-420 HondaJet

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Honda Aircraft Company's HondaJet HA-420 is the first aircraft developed by Honda Aircraft Company. The light business jet was designed in Japan and then developed and manufactured in Greensboro, North Carolina in the United States.

Video Honda HA-420 HondaJet

Development

Honda began to study small sized business jets in the late 1980s, using engines from other manufacturers. The Honda SHM-1/MH01 turboprop tested laminar flow wings, and the Honda MH02 was fabricated and assembled at Mississippi State University's Raspet Flight Research Laboratory in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The MH02 was a prototype using carbon fiber/epoxy composite materials and was the first all-composite light business jet to fly. Flight testing on the MH02 continued through 1996, after which the aircraft was shipped to Japan.

Designer and company founder Michimasa Fujino sketched the HondaJet in 1997, and the concept was locked in 1999. Testing in the Boeing windtunnel indicated a valid concept in 1999.

A proof-of-concept (but not production-ready) version of the HondaJet first flew on 3 December 2003 at Piedmont Triad International Airport in Greensboro, North Carolina, United States. Honda approved commercial development of the HondaJet in 2004. The HondaJet made its world debut on 28 July 2005, at the annual EAA AirVenture Oshkosh airshow. At the following year's Airventure, Honda announced that it would commercialize the HondaJet.

The first FAA-conforming (built to Federal Aviation Administration rules) HondaJet achieved its first flight on 20 December 2010. The first flight of the first production HondaJet occurred on 27 June 2014, and it was displayed at that year's AirVenture on 28 July. Four HondaJets had test-flown 2,500 hours as of 2015.

The HA-420 aircraft program itself was plagued by delays. The initial planned certification date was "Late 2010", but in Spring 2009 was delayed by a year. In May 2010, the projected certification date was late 2012. The program was incrementally delayed several more times.

The HondaJet was awarded "Provisional FAA Certification" in March 2015, enabling continued production and demonstration flights, but not customer delivery. The aircraft received its FAA type certificate in December 2015. A HondaJet toured Japan and Europe in 2015, and the type received European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) certification in May 2016. The HondaJet is also certified in Mexico, Canada and Brazil.

Certification

• December 2015. United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)Type Certification
• March 2016. Civil Aviation Safety Authority of Mexico Type Certification
• May 2016. European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) Type Certification
• June 2017. Transport Canada Type Certification
• August 2017. Brazilian National Civil Aviation Agency Type Certification

Production

The production aircraft are built at Piedmont Triad Airport. Construction of the factory began in 2007 and was completed in late 2011. In early 2015, there were 12 aircraft in final assembly and five more in earlier stages of production. Twenty aircraft were in production by May 2015. Honda estimated it would produce 40 aircraft in the first full year and up to 60 each year after that. The engine factory achieved certification in March 2015.

Honda delivered the first customer aircraft on December 23, 2015 at its world headquarters in Greensboro, North Carolina. The first delivery of a HondaJet to a European aircraft dealer took place in April 2016. About 20% of the approximately 100 aircraft on order are destined for European customers as reported in April 2016.

Honda plans to ramp up production to 80 units per year after March 2019. Sixteen aircraft were delivered in the first three quarters of 2016, reaching a 36 per year production rate. In 2017, 15 were produced in the first quarter, and the annual target is between 55 and 60 aircraft. HondaJet finished 2017 as the year's most delivered business jet in its category with 43 aircraft delivered around the globe.

Maps Honda HA-420 HondaJet

Design

The HondaJet is a low-wing monoplane with an unconventional structure; it has a mainly composite fuselage and an aluminium wing. The aircraft is powered by two GE Honda Aero Engines HF120 turbofans mounted on pylons above the wing. It has a retractable tricycle landing gear with both main and nose landing gear single-wheeled.

The HondaJet's overwing engine mount configuration was designed to maximize cabin space, and achieve lower wave drag at a high Mach number. The nose and wing are designed for laminar flow, and the main fuselage has a constant profile, making an eventual stretch easier. The combination of engine placement, wing and fuselage was achieved using computer simulations and wind tunnels. Honda claims that the combination of lightweight materials, aerodynamics and efficient engines gives the HondaJet up to 20% better fuel efficiency than similar aircraft. When cruising at 43,000 feet, the jet is said to consume just 339 litres (89.5 gallons) of fuel per hour.

Honda began developing its own small turbofan engine, the HF118, in 1999. This led to the HF120, developed with GE Aviation under the GE-Honda partnership. The HF120 was test-flown on a Cessna Citation CJ1. The engine features a single fan, a two-stage compressor and a two-stage turbine. The GE Honda HF120 received FAA type certification on 13 December 2013, and production certification in 2015.

The passenger area is 5.43 m (17.80 ft) long and has an enclosed lavatory. The semi-round cabin is 3.69 m (12.1 ft) long, 1.52 m (5.00 ft) wide, and 1.46 m (4.80 ft) high.

The aircraft is equipped with a touchscreen 3-display Garmin G3000 glass cockpit system. Most of the cockpit readouts are presented on flat-panel displays.

Michimasa Fujino received the 2014 International Council of the Aeronautical Sciences award for leading the design, as well as a Living Legends of Aviation Industry Leader of the Year award.

The HondaJet is the recipient of several awards, including Flying Magazine's first Flying Innovation Award in 2017, the 2014 'Best of What's New' title by Popular Science magazine and AIAA's 2012 Aircraft Design Award .

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Specifications

Data from Aviation International News

General characteristics

• Crew: 1 or 2
• Capacity: 4-6
• Length: 13.0 m (42.6 ft)
• Wingspan: 12.1 m (39.8 ft)
• Height: 4.5 m (14.9 ft)
• Empty weight: 3,267 kg (7,203 lb)
• Max takeoff weight: 4,808 kg (10,600 lb)
• Powerplant: 2 × GE Honda HF120 turbofan, 9.1 kN (2,050 lbf) thrust each
• Bypass ratio: 2.9

Performance

• Maximum speed: 782 km/h; 486 mph (422 kn) max cruise
• Cruise speed: 682 km/h; 423 mph (368 kn) long range
• Range: 2,234 km; 1,388 mi (1,206 nmi)
• Service ceiling: 13,000 m (43,000 ft)
• Rate of climb: 20 m/s (4,000 ft/min)
• Fuel consumption: 0.41 kg/km (1.46 lb/mi)
• Take-off distance: 3,934 feet (1,199 m)
• Landing distance: 3,047 feet (929 m)
• Fuel capacity: 2,850 pounds (1,290 kg)
• Cabin altitude: 8,000 feet (2,400 m)

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See also

• Very light jet

Related development

• Honda MH02

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration and era

• Cessna Citation M2
• Eclipse 550
• Embraer Phenom 100
• Embraer Phenom 300
• SyberJet SJ30

Related lists

• List of business jets
• List of very light jets

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References

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External links

• Official website
• "HondaJet Specifications". Honda. 
• "Hondajet". Honda worldwide. 
• "GE Honda Aero Engines". GE Aviation & Honda Aero, Inc. 
• Haines, Thomas B. (August 2005). "Behind the curtain" (PDF). Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association. 
• "Honda Jet Operating Costs" (PDF). Aircraft Cost Calculator. August 2014. 
• "Video: HondaJet Production Aircraft". AVweb. August 13, 2014. 
• Fred George (May 26, 2016). "Pilot Report: Flying The HondaJet HA-420". Business & Commercial Aviation. Aviation Week. 
• Matt Thurber (July 4, 2016). "Pilot Report: HondaJet HA-420" (PDF). Aviation International News. 
• Flying the New HondaJet. Aviation International News. August 18, 2016. 

Source of the article : Wikipedia