HondaJet begins FAA certification process

It looks like a dolphin...I kinda like it!

 

80 aircraft/year production rate

HondaJet set for takeoff: Carmaker shatters tech taboos to give dream wings- Nikkei Asian Review

Sure looks strange. Ingesting a feathered friend into those engines looks like you could lose the whole engine and have an interesting CG situation.
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A pylon is a pylon. Regardless of where it is, hanging from the bottom of the wing or cantilevered sideways out of the fuselage, you just have to make it tough enough to take the loads.

 

Something about that placement just makes me think it will be in the right position to naturally suck in birds. Time will tell if there are an abnormal number of bird strikes and how the engine holds up.

As for the engine and pylon, they are designed to shear under great load. You don't
want it to rip the wing off.

 

Agreed - looks scary to me.

 

Don't birds generally have a tendency to dive? Which would make the above wing placement less likely to experience strikes.

Most likely scenario for such loads is impact with the ground. Again above wing placement not likely to see such an impact.

 

I've seen birds go up, down, right, left! It depends also on what the aircraft is doing relative to the bird(s). I don't thing I've heard of bird suicide by fan jet so they would definitely try to avoid it... That is if they know what it is and see it in time.

That gap between the nacelle and fuselage keeps drawing my eye and making me wonder about it being a bird vacuum.

 

Chance of FOD is pretty much zero, as well as water ingestion due to wheel spray. Put some low pressure tires on it and will make a nice unimproved strip airplane.

 

Birds do whatever they do. Never seen birds only dive. Some never move.

HondaJet for unimproved strips??? I don't think they've made that claim in the sales literature. Are the engines any higher off the ground with OTWEM than they are mounted to the fuselage?

 

Its not only a question of how high off the ground, but if they are in a position to ingest debris kicked up by tires. The HondaJet engine position looks pretty immune to that.

As far as birds, maybe its only ducks. Just something I recall reading. Best to just avoid regardless.

 

The HondaJet's Brand-New Engine Is Finally Approved For Flight

 

If they continue on a pace similar to the new NSX, this jet will fly in 2080.

 

getting close
Honda says FAA certification of HondaJet ?few months away? | The Wichita Eagle The Wichita Eagle

 

My only thought was that it looked cool when it was announced even though you wondered at what their background and expertize were in small aviation. Heck, Mitsubishi built war planes but Honda? All the time the jet was represented as a low cost/affordable alternative from an entry level manufacturer. They were going to revolutionize the industry. $4.5 million is not revolutionary. Sorry, Honda. The jet also looks too small for practical use as a taxi.

 

Business Insider, "Wing Mounted Engines". This is a game changer folks, glad they broke away from "nacelles".

Honda's new HondaJet debuts at Tokyo Haneda Airport - Business Insider



( somebody pick me up off the floor! )

 

The engines aren't attached to the fuselage but they are attached to the wing which is attached to the fuselage.......

All airplanes are much quieter nowadays than they were just a few years ago. In my experience, it's not the engine making the most noise.... It's the air rushing over the airframe. The faster you go the louder it gets. The higher you go the more it quiets down (thinner air).

Maybe the HondaJet is that much quieter. I'll have to ride in one to see.

 

It's not the first time engines have been mounted above the wing:

VFW-Fokker 614 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

It's nice to see you're not dead.

 

Beyond the noise I am curious about the vibration transfer to the cabin.

 

I'm meeting with some of my buddies from work tomorrow and I'm going to ask what the structures and aero guys think about this thing.

 

??

 

It is interesting to note that modern GT race cars (serious ones) attach their wings to the car from the top of the wing to leave the lower wing surface clear.

I assume this is because the lower surface of a wing is more important than the upper surface for generating down force. Would this be the same or the opposite for generating lift?
Pete

 

Would be the opposite. The GT wings with the top mounts are trying to not interrupt the low pressure air going under the wing (at least that's my understanding). Force is pushing down. On an airplane, that low pressure flow is above the wing, right where Honda has placed their engine mounts... who knows, certainly not I.

 

Your observation seems correct to me. The engine mounted on top of the wing will definitely impede airflow and therefore lift, how significantly I don't know. However, the engines may be able to counteract that with induced lift although I doubt it.

 

I saw the HondaJet takeoff in Narita yesterday. White/red paint scheme