Premier Jet Aviation’s Kris Ziegler reporting from the 2012 EBACE convention, Geneva Switzerland.
Honda Reveals More HondaJet Details at EBACE
The HondaJet fuselage displayed this week at EBACE was a production article with the
production interior and cockpit. Some changes are evident in the cabin, notably the removal of flip-down displays above each passenger seat. Cabin electronics technology is changing so fast, according to Honda Aircraft president and CEO Michimasa Fujino, that it made sense to remove the displays and let passengers use mobile devices to access cabin entertainment and systems functions, which include electrochromatic window shades.
Honda Aircraft has also adopted split screens for the Garmin G3000 avionics, with 60 percent of the 14-inch PFD devoted to flight information, including synthetic vision, and 40 percent to pilot-selectable information such as system synoptics, maps and so on. The next key milestone for the HondaJet is icing testing of the GE Honda Aero HF120 engine this month or next. After that, Honda Aircraft should be able to begin Type Inspection Authorization flight-testing. This summer, Honda Aircraft will receive the first production parts and begin assembling the first production HondaJets, Fujino said, “so we can deliver the first aircraft at certification [next year].” Fujino explained that the HondaJet may be certified with flight into known icing a pending item, depending on whether the company can complete icing tests this year or will have to delay tests until next winter.