Honda Aircraft Company announced that an FAA-conforming prototype HondaJet recorded 425 KTAS at 30,000 feet, on March 11, exceeding the company’s performance goal of 420 KTAS for production models. The jet is currently participating in system, handling and in-flight mechanical tests at the company’s world headquarters in Greensboro, N.C. Michimasa Fujino, Honda Aircraft President and CEO, said the jet has exhibited “excellent control harmony and stability” in early flight tests and the HF120 engines have shown “carefree handling.” A second conforming aircraft has already undergone multiple structural tests, while a third and fourth aircraft are currently being built. Meanwhile the company is preparing for more changes at Greensboro.
Honda Aircraft is currently building a 263,000-square-foot production facility on its Greensboro campus. That building will begin accepting equipment and personnel in pre-production preparations through the year. The aircraft’s list price is near $4.5 million, with more than 100 orders on the books and first deliveries scheduled for the third quarter of 2012. Honda believes the jet’s GE Honda HF120 turbofan engines and aerodynamics will amount to a 35-percent reduction in fuel burn when compared to jets of similar size.
