Professional Pilot, January 2016
HJ CLEARED TO GO Full certification for HondaJet FAA Admin Michael Huerta presents Type Certificate to Honda Aircraft Company President CEO Michimasa Fujino at GSO By Mike Potts Senior Contributing Editor 44 PROFESSIONAL PILOT January 2016 Certification award ceremony was attended by more than 2000 people including Greensboro government officials HondaJet dealers and aviation press members HondaJet features a 7 seat configuration including pilots position and a fully enclosed lavatory Lighting and temperature in the aft cabin can be controlled with PEDs L R FAA Administrator Michael Huerta and HAC Pres CEO Michimasa Fujino with Melvin Taylor manager of the Small Airplane Directorate of the FAAs Atlanta Aircraft Certification Office which oversaw certification of the HondaJet program State of the art HondaJet flightdeck features an allglass Garmin G3000 avionics system with dual touchscreen controllers and 3 14 inch high resolution displays that include a new 40 60 format on the PFDs O n Tuesday Dec 8 Honda Aircraft Company HAC received FAA certification for its twin engine HondaJet light business jet A day later FAA Administrator Michael Huerta presented the Type Certificate to HAC President and CEO Michimasa Fujino in an elaborate ceremony at the companys headquarters in Greensboro NC Honda began its research on light turbine powered business aircraft and jet engines in 1986 In 1993 it began researching composite fuselages and engine development started in 1995 Honda R D Americas established a research facility at GSO Piedmont Triad Intl Greensboro NC in October of 2000 to develop build and flight test the HondaJet First flight of an initial prototype featuring Hondas unique over thewing engine mount came in Dec 2003 The HondaJet was shown publicly for the first time at the EAAs AirVenture 2005 at Oshkosh The company began marketing the HondaJet at the 2006 NBAA convention where it also announced the aircraft would be powered by a GE Honda HF 120 turbofan engine First flight took place on Dec 20 2010 Honda began building regular production articles in 2014 and expects to deliver aircraft at a rate of 3 to 4 per month throughout 2016 Training for initial customers has already begun at FlightSafety Intl EASA certification has been conducted concurrently with the FAA program and European certification is expected shortly This unique over the wing engine mount configuration allows for a quieter and more spacious cabin and improves fuel efficiency
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