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TOKYO - Honda Motor Co. will enter the aircraft production and sales business, published reports said Tuesday, amid expectations the automaker will soon sell small jets its CEO has previously called the “Honda Civic of the sky.”

The Tokyo-based company will start taking orders later this year, Kyodo News agency reported without elaborating. Kyodo did not identify how it obtained the information. Honda officials in Tokyo were not immediately available for comment.

The Wall Street Journal, meanwhile, reported Tuesday that Honda would soon announce plans to crack America’s small business jet market.

The automaker successfully tested the four- to five-passenger twin-engine Honda Jet, equipped with Honda-designed engines called HF118, in December 2003. Honda conducted its first public demonstration flight of the jet at a 2005 air show in Oshkosh, Wis.

The company has said the plane, which chief executive Takeo Fukui has referred to as the “Honda Civic of the sky,” is designed to be more fuel efficient than conventional small jets and could fly 1,100 miles before needing to refuel.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14025528/

My thoughts: are they going to use carbon fibre?

The company has said the plane, which chief executive Takeo Fukui has referred to as the “Honda Civic of the sky,” is designed to be more fuel efficient than conventional small jets and could fly 1,100 miles before needing to refuel.Me thinks Wayne smells a challenge!

Hi Tony:

:D :D :D

___Good Luck

___Wayne

I don't think pulse and glide is very safe in the air. :eek:

Chuck, you drove with Wayne right? Do you think that would stop him :).

P&G on the ground is not too bad if your momentum is underestimated - at least you don't crash. ;)

NASA uses P&G all the time - we are long way from full-throttle space travel at warp speed.

Hi Chuck:

___I have commented on an Aircraft Pulse & Dive thread in the past. Vomit comet came to mind but that is a little different situation ;) I remember it was a very high altitude aircraft designed to fly at extremely high speeds and extremely long range. It would climb like a SOB under close to full power and then shut the Jets/Rockets down and Glide for an unfathomably long distance from its extremely high altitude to a lower one and then repeat. It supposedly works just as good in the upper reaches of the atmosphere and of course space as it does on the ground? It has to be more comfortable then saying guys, pull the belts tight because we are about to enter the “Death Turn”! Tom, GreenandBlue, Terry, Cathy, and Dennis know what I mean as they now wear T-Shirts that say “I survived the “Death Turn” in Gurnee, IL.” It was not a ride at Six Flags over Great America either :D

___Good Luck

___Wayne

Ah...The Death Turn...brings back memories. For those unfamiliar with the particulars, here's a view, courtesy of Navteq and my copy of Photoshop (note the cemetery conveniently located just to the east :p) :

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/500/The-Death-Turn.jpg

Objective was to coast with ICE off from the beginning of the exit ramp all the way up the deck, across the overpass / bridge, back down to ground level and into the waiting gas station (this is the path outlined in blue - imagine straight lines, ok ? :p ) The cloverleaf, in addition to the sharp entry angle, banks right at about a 15-20% rate of elevation - a nice challenge for a 'driver' tracking a line, especially at double the rated speed or better. I always practice my own line on this and other similar off-ramps that I'm familiar with.

This is a commonly travelled route by Xcel, and he knows just where to kill the ICE in his (now-departed) Insight and I4/5AT Accord in order to coast successfully all the way to the gas station.

On this day, he was driving my (now-departed) HAH - just like his Accord, right ? ;)

The white hash marks as numerically indicated represent where:
1) Most 'everyday drivers' start coasting to the ramp (the beginning of the exit lane), and through engine braking, they're about at 25mph when they hit the ramp, staying centered between the yellow lines on each side.

2) Most 'drivers' willing to endure some g-force for improved 'driver feel' coast / downshift, and can take the 25mph ramp at 40-45 or so (umm...me, for one)

3) Porsches, Corvettes, and BMWs let up on the throttle and heel/toe to the ramp - and where Xcel shuts off the ICE and coasts...

Now...what he didn't realize (and I forgot to think of when I realized he was actually going to key-off the ICE) is that the V6 Accord is about 425lbs or so heavier in the nose...its front suspension is set up for quite a bit more plow (understeer) than the I4. So he begins the approach...and the car doesn't turn as easily / quickly as he expected.

Both Tbaleno and I thought it was going off the road (I'm in the pass. seat, so I've got the view of the front end of my 6 month old car heading for the 3' dropoff referenced above :eek:).

But - surprisingly to me, given his usual rate of speed, he reacted quickly with the brake to scrub off speed and stay on the ramp - I was impressed at his recovery, and I don't know if I would have been able to do so myself (of course, I don't know if I would take the ramp at ~ 50mph with the engine off, as well, but I digress...LOL)

Sadly, we had to restart the ICE to get up the ramp and over to the gas station. But at least we didn't arrive on the end of a wrecker :cool:

If I still had the car, I'd inquire about a "I survived the Death Turn" bumper sticker :D

I don't think pulse and glide is very safe in the air. :eek:
It's already been proposed.

Pulse & Glide in the upper atmosphere (http://firstscience.com/site/articles/hypersoar.asp)

http://firstscience.com/site/images/articles/hypersoar/skip.gif

Fine for extremely high value cargo, but maybe not so good for humans, considering the 0G to 1.5G oscilations.

Hi Mark:

___Great description with a pic! Your post placed the biggest smile on my face this morning :D

___I gave Terry, Cathy, and a Freelance Journalist out of New York named Dennis the same with a bit more success in Terry’s brand new HCH-II the other night … I now FAS from an even higher speed and a bit further back but by pulling back out a touch onto I-94 and cutting back into the turn early, my goal is to make it around, up and over the overpass, all the way up to the mall’s first turn, making the right turn at the light, still gliding all the way through the next light and having to reignite just beyond the Steak and Shake on the Mall ring road. Another 12 second pulse and I am around the mall crawling to the light on Stearns School. I can tell you that the HCH-II handles better then either of the Accords :)

___Brandon, that is the exact article I remember seeing posted and made a comment on quite some time ago ...

___Good Luck

___Wayne

Honda is making what is known as a "mini jet" - a new trend.

Supporting CNN Story (http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/biztech/07/27/little.jets.ap/index.html)

Well, my favorite VLJ would be the Javelin.

http://www.avtechgroup.com/images/photogallery/large_121.jpg

The Javelin (http://www.avtechgroup.com/aircraft.asp) only seats two, but it will cruise up to 500kts (mach 0.87, about 575mph) and can still cover up to 1150 statute miles. Plus it looks like a bobblehead version of the F-18, which is kind of cool.

Well, my favorite VLJ would be the Javelin.

http://www.avtechgroup.com/images/photogallery/large_121.jpg

The Javelin (http://www.avtechgroup.com/aircraft.asp) only seats two, but it will cruise up to 500kts (mach 0.87, about 575mph) and can still cover up to 1150 statute miles. Plus it looks like a bobblehead version of the F-18, which is kind of cool.

What if a multi-millionaire painted six of them blue (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Angels), then had them perform stunts? :D