A VERY DIFFERENT KIND OF HONDA PILOT
COMPANY EXPANDING: Latest edition to automaker’s vast fleet of machines touches down north of Toronto
Automobiles, motorcycles, weed-whackers, lawn mowers, generators, scooters, outboards, snowblowers, robots, water pumps, tillers … Honda is the world’s biggest manufacturer of engines. When you’ve seemingly left no stone unturned, where do you go? You go up. With the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) stamp of approval in December 2015, Honda’s entry into the aviation industry has taken a bold and definitive step with the HondaJet. The inspiration came from Honda Aircraft Co. president and chief executive Michimasa Fujino; he’s been with Honda Motor Co. since 1984 and developed the jet from his own sketch in 1997 through to fruition in 2015.
He rose to vice-president of Honda R&D Americas, Inc. before creating and selling his jet design to them.
The concept is clear: A totally fresh design to reinvent the light jet market.
The HondaJet’s Over-The-Wing Engine Mount was key to developing a jet that would go higher (maximum cruising altitude is 43,000 feet) and faster (maximum cruising speed is 486 m.p.h.) using less fuel than anything else in its class. The fact the design also hands back more interior cabin space is also important; we’re talking million-dollar seats here and nobody should have to fight over comfort or storage space.
As numbers go, it’s not a huge market. Perhaps 150 units a year are sold worldwide with current major competitors being the Embraer Phenom 100 and the Cessna Citation M2. Principally owned by companies and rich folk, the jets are used for short hops of about 480 to 1,600 kilometres. While light business jets in this class cart an average of 2.6 people around, the HondaJet features four seats facing each other in the main cabin, a bathroom at the back, another seat opposite the door and two in the cockpit. Because of its ability to be flown with a single pilot, I highly recommend grabbing that front seat if the occasion arises. But be prepared to fold yourself up like an origami swan to get in and out of that seat — it’s for the nimble.
The main cabin is a different story. Tons of leg room and fully automatic seats that come with a surprise swivel feature to allow you to float up and away from the original seating position. Broad shouldered? No problem. They are also awesome for chair dancing if the spirit strikes you.
The HondaJet is agile and birdlike in its aerodynamics and its appearance and the engine placement seems so logical you wonder why it hasn’t been done before. Honda Aircraft promises a quiet ride. And while it wasn’t available for test flights, I can’t imagine anything but an improvement over the many bucket o’ bolts tiny planes I’ve flown in. It’s hard to imagine something with a carbon-fibre cabin just 5.5 metres long by 1.5 metres wide climbing at nearly 4,000 feet a minute, but Honda didn’t get the reputation it has in so many other industries by compromising, so it won’t be starting here.
The HondaJet starts at US$4.85 million and the first 50, built in Greensboro, N.C., are being delivered right now. With a capital investment of $160 million and more than 1,700 employees, Honda has plans to dominate the market within two years, selling 100 units annually. It is currently awaiting Canadian aviation approval to begin servicing Canadian customers.