Honda Jet In 1986, a young Honda engineer named Michimasa Fujino began to realize his dream when research and development into an advanced, air-borne Honda began to take off. Honda began development of the soon to become HondaJet at the Mississippi State University's Flight Research Lab. It was at this location that the initial prototype, the Honda MH02, was originally fabricated utilizing composite materials. The first HondaJet took to the air in 2003, making its public debut at the EAA AirVenture Air Chow in Oshkosh, WI in the summer of 2005. One year later, Honda returned to Oshkosh to announce the HondaJet was going into production and formed the Honda Aircraft Company to seek certification from the FAA. In 2010, Honda began manufacturing the first airframe. The first production version of the HondaJet made is maiden flight in December of 2010. The HondaJet is hybrid, utilizing an unconventional over-the-wing engine design which was originally developed decades earlier by German aircraft manufacturers Fokker and VFW. This design increases fuselage space and reduces hi-speed drag. The fuselage on the HondaJet is composite, while the wings are sheeted aluminum. A turbofan engine was developed by Honda in conjunction with GE under partnership agreement. The first HondaJet turbines were test-flown on a Cessna Citation and a modified Boeing 727. The HondaJet is equipped with a Garmin G3000 glass cockpit system; a 3-panel touch screen digital interface that monitors all aspects of flight, void of analogue systems. Honda presents the HondaJet as being up to 35% more fuel efficient that similar aircraft due to a combination of lightweight materials, advanced aerodynamics and efficient engines. The HondaJet is to be assembled at the Piedmont Triad International Airport in Greensboro, NC. This facility broke ground in 2007 and is scheduled for completion in late 2011. Certification of the HondaJet is expected to follow soon thereafter with production of the airplane beginning sometime in 2012. Honda plans to produce 70 to 100 jet aircraft each year. Click Here for News, Reviews, Images & Forums on Honda Jets ***
