First Flight Momentum Toward Certification
Honda Aircraft Company today made several announcements during its media briefing at the European Business Aviation Convention and Exposition (EBACE) in Geneva, Switzerland, that underscore progress and momentum toward certification of the light business HondaJet.
Honda Aircraft announced the first flight of its fourth conforming flight test aircraft, the "F3" and demonstrated key new product enhancements in the HondaJet’s avionics and cabin management systems. The company also shared progress in preparing for the aircraft’s entry into service with news regarding the HondaJet flight training and groundwork on its new Maintenance Repair and Overhaul (MRO) 54-acre site.
"Honda Aircraft is advancing toward certifying the HondaJet and delivering the aircraft to customers," said Michimasa Fujino, President and CEO of Honda Aircraft Company. "We are committed to deliver the world’s most advanced light jet to our customers. We continuously improve product details to exceed customers’ expectations, as today’s product enhancements exemplify. Plus our program milestones in testing and manufacturing, and our progress in preparing for entry into service, illustrate Honda’s commitment to provide an unsurpassed customer ownership experience."
Recent Certification Program Milestones
Honda Aircraft Company today announced that its fourth conforming HondaJet aircraft, referred to as "F3," successfully completed its first flight last week on May 4, 2012. The F3 aircraft, painted in a unique and striking yellow and white signature HondaJet paint scheme, began its first flight on May 4, 2012, from Honda Aircraft Company’s world headquarters at the Piedmont Triad International Airport in Greensboro, North Carolina. "The first flight of F3 shows the steady advancement on our course toward delivering to our customers an aircraft that offers not only superior performance, efficiency and comfort, but also superior quality," said Michimasa Fujino, President and CEO of Honda Aircraft Company.
New Product Enhancements
Honda Aircraft is the first manufacturer to announce and demonstrate plans for a new 60/40 display configuration on the Garmin® G3000 Primary Flight Displays for the HondaJet. This enhancement provides for pilots an easier visual scan of additional flight information in a concise format that contributes to improved situational awareness and safety. The pilot or co-pilot can select and see more information within a tile that uses 40% of the width of each of the G3000’s large 14-inch wide, high-resolution displays.
Honda Aircraft unveiled a new Cabin Management System (CMS) and updated production aircraft interior. The new available CMS enables passengers to use a wireless mobile device, such as a tablet or smartphone, to view real time flight information and to control the HondaJet cabin’s lighting, temperature, music, and window shades for enhanced comfort and productivity.
The updated HondaJet fuselage model, which uses production components and is on display at EBACE this week, showcases the new Garmin 60/40 display, the new CMS, and the latest HondaJet seating, cockpit and cabin interior appointments.
Progress in Preparation for Entry into Service
Honda Aircraft announced that manufacturing began on 7 May, 2012, on the HondaJet’s first full motion, Level D flight simulator at FlightSafety® International’s production facility near Tulsa, Oklahoma. This first simulator will be based at the HondaJet Training Center at Honda Aircraft headquarters campus in Greensboro, North Carolina, in the first half of 2013, and will play a vital role in HondaJet pilot training. FlightSafety International is the official HondaJet pilot training and maintenance training provider.
Honda Aircraft also announced it has begun the process to build the new $20 million state-of-the-art MRO facility at its world headquarters campus at Greensboro, North Carolina.
About HondaJet
HondaJet is the most advanced light business jet aircraft, with best-in-class advantages in performance, comfort, quality and efficiency. The HondaJet is the fastest, highest-flying, most quiet and most fuel efficient in its class. The HondaJet incorporates many technological innovations in aviation design, including a unique over-the-wing engine-mount configuration that dramatically improves performance and fuel efficiency by reducing aerodynamic drag. This airframe design reduces cabin noise and ground-detected noise when overhead and allows for a more spacious cabin and greater cargo capacity. The HondaJet is powered by two highly fuel-efficient GE Honda HF120 turbofan jet engines, and is equipped with the most advanced glass flight deck available in any light business jet, a Honda-customized Garmin® G3000 next-generation all-glass avionics system with a class-leading layout of three 14-inch landscape-format displays and dual touch-screen controllers. The HondaJet is Honda’s first-ever commercial aircraft and lives up to the company’s reputation for superior performance, efficiency, and value.
About Honda Aircraft Company
Honda Aircraft Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of American Honda Motors Inc., was founded in 2006 though has its heritage in more than 20 years of ground-breaking aeronautical research and development. At Honda Aircraft’s World Headquarters campus in North Carolina, the birthplace of aviation, the company’s associates work in more than 500,000 square feet of state-of-the-art R&D, Manufacturing and Administration Headquarter buildings to develop, produce, market and support the HondaJet with HondaJet dealers. The challenging spirit upon which Mr. Soichiro Honda founded Honda Motors is still alive today as Honda Aircraft fulfills one of Honda’s long-standing dreams to advance human mobility skyward.
//www.hondajet.com/
