www.privateairny.com
Private Air New York | Summer 2014
32
AVIATION
ne of the most
advanced jets on
the market to-date
has achieved the first phase of its birth
by completing its inaugural flight in
June of this year – no doubt an historic
event. Honda Aircraft Company
President and CEO, Michimasa
Fujino said, "Today's celebration is the
culmination of extensive engineering
and production efforts, and this is an
important achievement in bringing
the world's most advanced light jet
to market." Truer words were never
spoken. Fascinated by flight at an
early age, Fujino has been passionately
devoted to fulfilling Honda's dream
to take personal mobility skyward and
designed, built and sold his concept
for the HondaJet. is writer has
seen many a jet, but this is the most
awesome little baby of an aircraft I have
seen in a long time.
e introduction of a brand new jet
requires thousands of hours of design
testing not only of parts, but also of
the jet as a flying entity. e first 84-
minute flight was as smooth as silk in
takeoff and landing, and as magnificent
as a Verdi grand opera - reaching
15,500 feet at 348 Knots True Airspeed,
although the HondaJet flies at a
maximum cruise speed of 420 knots
and a maximum altitude of 43,000
feet. Spacious seating for up to five
passengers in a standard configuration
allows for most comfortable travel at
an NBAA IFR range of 1,180 nautical
miles or 1,357 miles. Lucky test pilot
Warren Gould was at the helm for
the inaugural flight. He and his crew
completed all the checks during the
flight and pronounced the "baby" ready
and fit take to the skies.
