Honda Jet .. Oshkosh 2011

[Jay Beckman]

They flew the Honda Jet as part of the pre-airshow showcase on 25 July...

On The Roll


Rotate


Nice Photo Pass


Dirty and Slow




Rolling Out


Face Time With The Masses


All shot with: 1DMkIV + 300mm f/2.8L IS .. 1/750 @ f/6.7 ISO 100

[Joe Copalman]

Good stuff, Jay.  Most of the shots I've seen make it look like the engines are blended into the fuselage, but your front-oblique shows they're clearly not.  Pretty cool.  Like a hybrid of the Phenom and the old VFW 614.

[Jay Beckman]

The engines remind me of the Skyflash missile rails that used to mount above the wing on Jaguars (?)

I think they borrowed a page from the A-10 designers to help avoid FOD and make maintenance easier.  It also lowers the stance of the jet quite a bit so they don't need a complex entry door.

[Joe Copalman]

Yeah, the Jag and the Lightning both had overwing pylons for fuel tanks, but I think only the Jaguar used it for missles (AIM-9s only though, as I don't think the Jaguars were cleared for radar-guided missiles.  Also, the Sparrow/Skyflash was dropped before the engine ignited, rather than rail-launched like the Sidewinder). 

Here's a shot of the VFW 614 if you haven't seen one before.  Pretty cool-looking, actually: http://www.fortunecity.com/meltingpot/portland/971/images/models/vfw-614-1.jpg

[Jay Beckman]

I knew you'd straighten me out on the Skyflash thing...

Linky no Workie by the way.   

[Ryan Keough]

The other reason for the wing pylon mounted engines instead of fuselage mount is to reclaim the aft part of the fuselage for a fully enclosed lavatory and more baggage space.  Light jets of the same size with fuselage pylon engines also have a lot of passthrough vibration and noise that is significantly less on the HondaJet.  Keep in mind that the engines on N420HA are the earlier testbed HF118 engines while the conforming prototype (the silver and white one) has the production GE/Honda HF120 engines that provide the promised performance and efficiency that HJ has always set as a benchmark. 

A brief but good overview on the general design rationale of the HondaJet from J. Mac McClellan can be read at: http://mac.fltplan.com/2011/01/07/hondajet-fights-engine-drag/

Great shots Jay!

[Jay Beckman]

Thanks for the added info Ryan.  The whole aft fuselage pass through thing makes perfect sense.

Personally, I was just glad to see it in the air rather than sitting in a tent where it's been the previous two years!

[cpasley]

I wonder if they are going to come out with an "Si" version, maybe with afterburners...........