Honda's Horse Enters the Race

Today the Honda Motor Co. officially announced the commercialization of their new light business jet and a partnership with Piper Aircraft. The partnership will develop a certification program for the airplane and manufacture several test aircraft that will go through this program. It is a long process. Honda estimates three to four years. (I predict that Honda will find a way to compress this.) Last year at this time Honda unveiled a prototype aircraft. They flew it to the 2005 AirVenture for one day. As every aviator knows AirVenture is the huge Oshkosh, Wisconsin air show that attracts hundreds of thousands of pilots and everyone who ever dreamed of flying. Honda is back this year for a full week with a large exhibit.

I had the pleasure of watching this exciting new jet as it grew from an embryo to a full test aircraft. All the early design and testing work on the prototype was done in Skunk Works like secrecy. Just over a year ago two of my close associates and I were treated to a tour of this top secret facility.



(Keith Garner, Don Godwin, Michimasa Fujino, Al Blackburn, and yours truly enjoy the afterglow of our simulator flight.)

We were able to inspect and even touch the aircraft. I discussed the finer points on the hangar floor and during lunch with Michimasa Fujino, the plane's chief designer and engineer. Perhaps the highpoint of the day was when Fujino offered me an opportunity to fly the Honda Jet simulator in the hangar next to the airplane. The same group of engineers that designed the Honda Jet designed and built the simulator. The same building that housed the Honda Jet and the simulator was also home to a flight following arena that looked like what you see at NASA during the launch and recovery of the space shuttle. Telemetry transmits all the real time flight test data back to this room in Greensboro, NC, and to Japan.

Watch this aircraft carefully. It may not have been the first horse out of the gate in the VLJ race, but it is a serious contender. I will have much more to say about the VLJs and the many commercial ventures being built around this new class of aircraft. Stay tuned.