Honda Launches Mini Jet

Link to original article @ TCC

Honda Motor Co. will begin taking orders for a new jet this autumn as it caps off a 20-year effort to get into the aviation business.

Satoshi Toshida, senior managing director of Honda Motor Co., Ltd., said the Japanese builder of cars, motorcycles, and watercraft plans to build the new aircraft in the United States and hopes to deliver its first finished aircraft to customers in 2009 or 2010 at the latest. The delivery date depends on the Federal Aviation Administration's approval process. The company is now looking at a number of potential sites for the aircraft plant, Honda officials said.

The starting price for the seven-passenger aircraft will be about $4 million.

Toshida said Honda is entering into a business alliance with New Piper Aircraft Inc. of Vero Beach, Fla., which plans to help sell, service and certify the new HondaJet. Piper is one of the best-known names in general aviation and has a broad sales and service network.

"Aviation has been an important dream of Honda for more than four decades," said Toshida. "Our goal is consistent with the philosophy of other Honda products - to provide convenient and efficient transportation that will make people's lives better. We are excited now to enter a new dimension of mobility."

"Honda is a company with a rich heritage of bringing high-quality, innovative products to market," said James K. Bass, president and CEO of Piper Aircraft, Inc. "This business alliance is a perfect fit given the commitment both Piper and Honda have to providing our respective customers with world class products and services. Piper is very excited about this alliance and the way it complements our vision for the future." -Joe Szczesny

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I was actually excited to hear rumors circulating about a year or so ago about Piper getting into the VLJ market, but I thought it would be with an indigenous design. Oh well...

I wonder if you can wash it out with a garden hose?

This jet is supposed to have many features (& better mileage) that put it above current offerings in its class. Only time will tell, not sure if there are companies like Road & Track that do jet comparisons, lol :AH-HA_wink:

Here is a much larger article with specifications and more information.

This jet is supposed to have many features (& better mileage) that put it above current offerings in its class. Only time will tell, not sure if there are companies like Road & Track that do jet comparisons, lol  :AH-HA_wink:

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You can bet Flying will. I really can't wait for that issue. VLJ Shootout!

The VLJ market is going to get very crowded very quickly with no less than eight entrants besides Honda slated to recieve certification before 2009. The success of the entire field depends heavily, IMO, on how the FAA handles type certification and integration of point-to-point 'air taxi' style jet flights into the current air traffic control enviroment. Its a challenge. Most of the VLJs on the market today, including the Citation Mustang and Eclipse 500, outrange the HondaJet and does so at half the price. Embraer and Cessna have the brand cache and some, like the ATG Javelin...

...speak for themselves and are at least a mil cheaper than this proposed cost. The Adam A700 seats the same as the HondaJet, but again, undercuts it by about $1.5mil.

I hope for Piper's sake this pays off. They have good experience with turbines and God knows they don't need another bankruptcy.

As far as the "patented over-the-wing engine-mount configuration," color me confused because this has been done many times before with Soviet rough-field transports and the German VFW-614 regional jet.

I'll shut up now.

You can bet Flying will. I really can't wait for that issue. VLJ Shootout!

The VLJ market is going to get very crowded very quickly with no less than eight entrants besides Honda slated to recieve certification before 2009. The success of the entire field depends heavily, IMO, on how the FAA handles type certification and integration of point-to-point 'air taxi' style jet flights into the current air traffic control enviroment. Its a challenge. Most of the VLJs on the market today, including the Citation Mustang and Eclipse 500, outrange the HondaJet and does so at half the price. Embraer and Cessna have the brand cache and some, like the ATG Javelin...

...speak for themselves and are at least a mil cheaper than this proposed cost. The Adam A700 seats the same as the HondaJet, but again, undercuts it by about $1.5mil.

I hope for Piper's sake this pays off. They have good experience with turbines and God knows they don't need another bankruptcy.

As far as the "patented over-the-wing engine-mount configuration," color me confused because this has been done many times before with Soviet rough-field transports and the German VFW-614 regional jet.

I'll shut up now.

173978[/snapback]

Well I don't claim to know a thing about aircraft. I was just wondering if there was a company like R&T that does "road tests" for these jets. It sounds like there is, which is good. I don't think Honda's reputation is going to help that much when trying to sell their airplanes (unless they have VTEC ), so the planes are going to have to do considerably better than the competition to make people switch.

It certainly looks nice, but it should since it's new.

saw this a while back. the selling price is what interested me.

You can bet Flying will. I really can't wait for that issue. VLJ Shootout!

The VLJ market is going to get very crowded very quickly with no less than eight entrants besides Honda slated to recieve certification before 2009. The success of the entire field depends heavily, IMO, on how the FAA handles type certification and integration of point-to-point 'air taxi' style jet flights into the current air traffic control enviroment. Its a challenge. Most of the VLJs on the market today, including the Citation Mustang and Eclipse 500, outrange the HondaJet and does so at half the price. Embraer and Cessna have the brand cache and some, like the ATG Javelin...

...speak for themselves and are at least a mil cheaper than this proposed cost. The Adam A700 seats the same as the HondaJet, but again, undercuts it by about $1.5mil.

I hope for Piper's sake this pays off. They have good experience with turbines and God knows they don't need another bankruptcy.

As far as the "patented over-the-wing engine-mount configuration," color me confused because this has been done many times before with Soviet rough-field transports and the German VFW-614 regional jet.

I'll shut up now.

173978[/snapback]

For reference, the VFW-614:

The Russian BE-200:

-RBB

I dunno, I've never liked aircraft witha high wing-mounted engine set up like that. Give me something more "traditional" like a Citation or a Lear.

Pylon-mounted overwing jets make sense for certain applications, mostly rough field operations like the AN-72/74 would conduct since intakes mounted that high are less likely to suck in debris - or seaspray in the case of the Beriev posted above.

Now that agree with, but how many times are you going to land your VLJ at a grass-strip, unprepared runway, unless you're a very trendy bush pilot.