HondaJet engine positioning

[Gingerbread Man]

Can anyone explain to me how Honda work out the best position for the engines on the HondaJet? According to their website, mounting the engines over the wing reduces drag at high speeds, but I can't work out why.
I was under the impression that the engines had to be positioned such that the fuel tanks are not ruptured if any blades fail - is this not true?

Thanks for any help people can provide.

Ginger ;)

[henry crun]

I cannot answer your first question re drag, but if you look here http://world.honda.com/AircraftEngines/images/jet_spec.gif
it seems the engines are clear of any wing tanks.

[ICT_SLB]

About the only other aircraft with a similar engine position was the VFW614. The reason given at the time was that the wing acts to cut flyover engine noise. My experience was that the MTUs on the 614 still screamed.

The over wing position also allows much shorter gear (compared with conventional under wing mounting), has advantages for FOD and provides some wing unloading relative to the usual rear mounted engines on the majority of biz jets.

[barit1]

According to their website, mounting the engines over the wing reduces drag at high speeds, but I can't work out why.

It appears to be an application of the "area rule" attributed to Whitcomb, e.g.
Convair 990 (http://oea.larc.nasa.gov/PAIS/Concept2Reality/area_rule.html)