Welcome to the first 2022 episode of Dwayne’s Aviation.
The best-selling private jet in the market today is the Embraer Phenom 300, primarily
because of its elegant design, cutting-edge technology, and efficiency, which makes it one
of the most cost-effective aircraft in terms of cost per available seat mile, making it perfect
for owner-operators due to its dependability. But you can’t compare the performance of the Phenom
300 to the versatility of the Pilatus PC-24, which is a multi-purpose powerhouse that can
take you from gravel to grass. Similarly, you can’t compare the versatility of the PC-24
to the speed and range of the Syberjet SJ30, which gave up comfort for a transcontinental range. Then
there is the Vision Jet, which is a master of economics with no jet-like performance.
These jets are of different sizes and performance, but here is one thing they all share in common;
they can all be flown by one pilot, and they can’t fly transcontinental distances.
To fly a distance of 2500 miles, like from New York to Los Angeles,
you need to make at least one fuel stop in any light jet currently in production.
The Syberjet can fly such distances nonstop, or even fly across the North Atlantic from New York,
but you can’t have more than two passengers on board, and besides, when you look at the
inside of the SJ30, haha, your guess is as good as mine. Those who don’t want a small
jet but want to fly long distances resort to either settling for fuel stops here and
there or simply go for medium-sized jets like the Gulfstream G280 or the Bombardier Challenger 300.
These jets are slightly larger (well, large enough that you can stand inside them),
but they need two pilots to fly, and they in no way match the efficiency and economics of
their single-pilot friends. But Honda wants to change that. Honda wants to prove that a jet can
carry up to 10 passengers, fly fast and much farther, while remaining a single-pilot jet.
To better understand how they intend to do that, let’s look at the current business jet market.
The lower end of the light jet market, previously known as the entry jet segment, has three main
contenders: the Cessna Citation family, Embraer’s Phenom family, and the Honda Jet.
A strong case can be made that Cessna popularised the small business jet field with the prolific
success of its Citation Jet models, but then the Eclipse 500’s role cannot be underestimated, and
Cirrus took a step further with the Vision jet. But then, Honda aircraft came along. Started as a
top-secret research project in Japan in 1986 when they saw huge potential in the light jet industry.
It wasn’t huge from the beginning, they had just a team of four engineers led by Michimasa Fujino.
The team developed two experimental aircraft, the MH-01 turboprop,
and the MH-02 twin-engine light jet. Fujino used what he learned from these projects
to develop an entirely new aircraft, which would become the Honda Jet.
The Honda Jet is a truly fantastic and visionary aircraft, and it can
be flown comfortably by a single pilot. It measures 42 feet 7 inches in length,
with a wingspan of roughly 39 feet 9 inches, and it stands 14 feet 11 inches tall. The two
GE Honda HF120 turbofan engines it is equipped with produce around 2000 pounds of thrust each,
allowing for a maximum take-off weight of about 10,700 pounds, and it is highly efficient, if you
fly at 420 knots, you'll burn about 999 pounds per hour at 33,000 feet, but if you fly at 360 knots
at 43,000 feet, you'll burn about 542 pounds per hour. Any location up to 1650 miles away
may be reached without refueling, which makes this jet ideal for travels like
Los Angeles to Texas, London to Barcelona, New York to Atlanta, and Toronto to Chicago.
You'll also soar above the clouds thanks to the Honda Jet's 43,000-foot service ceiling.
One of the most striking features of this jet's exterior is that the engines are not positioned
beneath the wings, nor are they exactly mounted on top of the wings; instead, they are installed
on pylons over the wing, a configuration known as Honda Aircraft's Over-The-Wing Engine Mount.
By reducing the construction required to put engines on the back of the fuselage,
this design maximizes cabin space. Separating the engines from the plane's body is a unique
design future Michimasa Fujino wanted because it provided a lot more space within the cabin
and made the jet quieter than competitors. In the fall of 2021, at the NBAA business
aviation convention and exhibition, Honda aircraft presented what is going to be a
revolution in the single-pilot jet market; the Honda Jet 2600. The concept is ambitious.
It has twice the capacity and performance of the current HA420 Honda Jet, a transcontinental range,
a capacity of up to 11 people, unique aerodynamics, and an excellent economy.
Honda is not just bringing another light jet into the market to give buyers more options to choose
from, they are bringing a master of economics and efficiency. The new Honda Jet will be above
the HA420 Honda jet, topping the league of bigger lights like the Cessna Citation CJ4,
Embraer Phenom 300, and Pilatus PC24. Like I said before, Honda is not here to
just introduce another light jet similar to the existing ones; they are here to dominate.
The Honda Jet 2600 has the same external resemblance to the original Honda jet,
but it is widely different in immeasurable ways, and the development is going to be daunting,
primarily because; with the new requirements, a simple modification of the existing HA420 Jet
will not be enough. The new Honda jet measures 57 feet in length,
56 feet in wingspan, and stands 15 feet tall, weighing 17,500 pounds.
The most daunting part is the design of the fuselage. Despite that it is similar to that
of the original Honda Jet, it has a slightly different shape and is much longer, which is very
noticeable from the outside as it has six windows instead of the three you see on the HA420 Jet.
It will be fitted with Honda's signature design: the over-the-wing engine mount design, without it,
it is not a Honda jet. We don’t know what engine it will be fitted with, maybe another
Honda engine, just like in the HA420, or something from Pratt and Whitney, or Williams International.
During the presentation, Honda emphasized the aircraft's economy and how it will be good for
the environment, without mentioning their engine choice. Honda's first jet was a tremendous feat,
and it was and will continue to be the jet with the least pilot workload on the market.
With a targeted 450-knot cruise speed, a range of 2,625 nm, and a ceiling of 47,000 feet,
it is clearly above the class of its fellow single-pilot friends like the Phenom 300
and the PC24. The closest competitor would be the Cessna Citation XLS Plus,
which has the same seating capacity, a cruise speed of 440 knots, and a range of 2,100 nm,
despite that the new Honda Jet flies further, Cessna’s world-class service center network
and the long-term success of the product would make it tough to face off against.
The interior of this jet measures 25ft in length, 5ft wide, and 5ft high, making it one
of the biggest in its class. The 5 ft height is achieved by a deepening in the passage.
Despite the little trick they did there, anyone taller than 5 ft will still have to bend to get
to their seat, which is the same thing you find in other light jets, but the length of the cabin
is great; it accommodates 11 people including one pilot comfortably, and the configuration options
of the cabin are flexible, from simple ones would be a double club, executive and divan,
which features a side-facing couch. The footrests on the club seats fold up to provide a flat
platform on which to put a light mattress for those who want to take a nap in the back.
Because of the composite construction of the fuselage, the cabin can be pressurized to 6000 ft,
which is particularly better than what you find in some other jets in its class. This,
along with the quietness and comfort offered by the cabin design, will allow occupants to
arrive at their destination with less fatigue. Now the most important part of any passenger plane
(the part most travelers can’t trade for anything); the lavatory, is located in the
tail section behind the cabin, it is about the same thing you will find in the Honda Jet elite.
And because the engine is not mounted on the fuselage, there is a lot of space at the back
of the plane, the extra space at the back does not only add to the cabin space but also cargo space.
Unlike the HA420 Honda jet, the 2600 doesn’t have a cargo compartment on the nose, but that doesn’t
stop it from having one of the largest cargo compartments, which measures about 120 cubic feet.
Honda’s love for automation, redundancy, and simplification of piloting is evident in the
new jet, the core of avionics is the Garmin G3000 system, which will be highly customized for the
specific aircraft. The primary goal of all this is to reduce the pilot workload because the Honda jet
2600 is going to become the fastest, largest, and longest-range single-pilot business jet
ever. The 2600 model name means 2600 miles of flight range; which is specifically 2625 miles
of range with four passengers and one pilot on board, or 4862 kilometers, which is a lot more
than what you get in other jets in its class. This range is more than enough to fly from New York to
California nonstop, or to any part of the United States except for Alaska and Hawaii, but if you
are taking off from Los Angeles instead of New York, Hawaii, and Alaska in accessible nonstop.
Despite its bigger size, it doesn’t need a lot more runway to take off and land,
take-off and Landing distances are at the same level as the little brother;
1006 meters or 3300 feet for take-off, and 762 meters or 2500 feet for landing.
This jet will be able to fly many routes previously occupied by larger aircraft while being
40% more economical than midsize jets, and it should be 20% more economical than its classmates.
All these performance numbers are still only on paper, we don't even have a flying prototype yet,
even the name; Honda jet 2600 is most likely conceptual
because Honda might decide to give the production model a different name.
We don’t know when the new jet will be on the market, but since it is a successor of
the line and not the first serial aircraft of the company, we can be sure it is coming soon.
So, what do you think of the new Honda jet? Let us know in the comment section.
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