New Honda corporate jet
 

Seems like Honda has decided that the corporate aeroplane market is in need of more choices. Thus we have the new HondaJet twin - a 5/6 seater with numerous innovative ideas in design, in particular the oddball-looking engine placement.
Well, I guess the upside is, you do save some serious powerplant damage, if you just happen to forget to lower the undercarriage... :E

http://hondajet.honda.com/aboutus/index.aspx

This one off has been around for quite a few years, i saw it up close at Airventure 08 and it was expected to have it's FAA approval in 09. seems more of a promotion tool.

Just a baby rehashed/updated version of the VFW614

Merlinxx - Well, if a totally new fuselage shape, totally new wing shape and design, and a totally new tail design ... all means, just a rehash.... then, you're correct... it's just a rehash... :E

To me, the only thing the Hondajet shares with the VFW-614 design, is engines above the wings... :rolleyes:



http://i26.tinypic.com/2v0ygzp.jpg

http://i25.tinypic.com/1e8ge9.jpg

Really its very different, composite fuselage, much higher and much faster. It will be interesting to see where Honda goes with this.

Unfortunately not 'NEW'

Made its maiden flight in 2003, it just seems to taking a long long time to hit the corporate world.
Lots of photos via google and videos via youtube.

Ugly little bugger init :eek:

I cannot get excited about it I must confess :eek:

Technically its a great little aeroplane - but its not pretty and that will kill it. The SJ30 was pretty but that died. On the technical front, you also wouldn't want to take a jump into the unknown with engines that are unproven with no global support network in place in the early days.

Sadly even the big boys have a hard time surviving. Any new guys on the block have no hope for several years - unless you are Embraer which is steam-rolling the market with good value products.

If it don'r look right and it's ugly, you've lost 80% of the prospective private buyers out there - only hope is light jet charter but even there the risks for the operators taking a punt on a new bit of kit like this is way too high.

Premier 1's have had a a rough introduction into the market after a decade and that's got similar technology and had the backing of a whoppping great corporation like Raytheon. Honda can show off their technology with the Hondajet but they will never, ever make a penny out of it.

One day some execcutive will say enough is enough and it will go the same way as numerous new designs. You need a billion up front to make it a goer and then the nerve to stick in there for 15 years from drawing board to profitablity - if you are lucky.

clean sheet designs don't make money in this economic environment - they may in a ddecades time, but who knows?

Saw him many years at EBACE... only models, never a "Real" acft...

I would suggest to Honda to let the space for other manufacture and remain in the Car/Motorbike market only...

Anyway...they were giving nice cap and bags as gadget :}

Geez, you blokes are so negative! Look at the sales features of this beautiful machine... let alone the curvaceous styling! :cool:
If you're a little forgetful and do a wheels-up landing, there's no powerplant damage! :E
Then there's the interchangeability with other low-cost Honda parts! There'll be at least 2000 interchangeable components between the Hondajet, the Honda Accord, the Honda Civic, and the Honda Goldwing! :D
The Hondajet will have a multitude of safety features, derived from their long design experience... such as Active Resistance to Stall Engineering (ARSE) .. Centrally Located Operating Wishes Networking (CLOWN) .. Flying Under Clouds Kinetic Uplift Program (F*CKUP) .. as well as a myriad of passive safety features. :)
All this will mean that anyone with minimal flying experience and skills, will be able to climb into the left seat of this machine... and never get into trouble, no matter how many stupid moves he makes with the flight controls! :eek:
Add in the low, low, finance % rate of HondaFinance, the well known high resale value, and reliability of Honda products... and you're laughing all the way to the airport! Just sign here!!... :suspect:

The difference being, Honda had no contender in british motorcycles, them being slower, less powerful, essentially just 2 cylinder available (th 750 triples don´t count), had reliability issues throughout their careers, were leaky, plagued by the price of darkness (LUCAS) and suffered from the british inability of the time to put anything right.

I drove the 750 Four (best bike build ever IMO), I had several Triumphs and I still drive a Triumph. Cause they have a character.

Now BTT, the competitors are Hawker, Embraer and Cessna. Their products work. Is there anything the HondaJet does really better? The specs on theirs page do seem to be fairly normal....

Thats a huge difference to your motorcycle comparison...

What a waste of time....another CJ like plane, that has no range, no speed, and doesn't carry more then two couples....generally too cheap to hire two pilots..thus needs to be flown single pilot...but alas no one has the balls the fly in the soup single pilot anymore.....oh yes...that's right...the owner pilot....he's got a few million to burn so he's coming out of his Cessna 182 to fly his shiny new jet with 200 hours of flight time.....sure.....

http://hondajet.honda.com/pdf/tech_p..._SHM_1_NLF.pdf
Some writing about the aerodynamics of the Hondajet, check it out

What Part of Honda Dont We Understand ?
 

Slow, ugly - like the original Honda Accord, S600, Civic, Element, Ridgeline
Unproven engines - like the Honda V-TEC, Honda 750, CBX, Gold Wing
Capacity too small - like the Honda 50, S2000,
No new ground - like Acura

If Honda decides to make it work, it will work. But they'd be crazy to decide, just buy someone else.

First production/test flight aircraft N420HJ made it's maiden flight yesterday. First of three test aircraft. The original prototype N420HA first flew in December 2003.

Honda Achieves First Flight of FAA-Conforming HondaJet | Business Wire

Click on photo on left side for high resolution photo of N420HJ in flight.

SJ30 Only To Rise Again
 

The SJ30 - the worlds fastest light jet - is in the midst of Chapter 11. According to court dockets bids are due on the company Friday Jan 14. Look for a large company buying the company and production resuming - finally. It's a great aircraft. Just look at the few flying to see how well it performs especially in comparison to its competition. View www.flightaware.com in the US to see two of the four cusotmer aircraft in action. Regular flights from Van Nuys to NY,NY - nonstop.

SJ30 - Great when the wings fit....

They lost a lot of credibility with that fiasco......Just how did it happen?

Fast & Far but a teeny weeny cabin

Are Marshalls still the dealer for the Hondajet in Northern Europe? The dealership was based out of their Birmingham facility which has recently been sold to the Rigby Group and has been re-branded as the XLR Jet Centre. Are they now operating from their Cambridge HQ?

FC

Depends on where you are based, Marshalls cover North of UK,

The English counties of Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, BedforShire, Cambridgeshire and Suffolk and all English counties to the north.


TAG for South.

The English counties of Somerset, Wiltshire, Berkshire, London, Hertford and Essex and all English counties to the south