The seven- to eight-seat aircraft has a composite fuselage and an aluminum wing and is powered by two GE Honda HF120 turbofans unusually mounted on pylons above the wing. It can cruise at 420 kn (780 km/h), and has a 1,400 nmi (2,600 km) range. The HondaJet has received several aeronautic design and innovation accolades.
Honda began to study small-sized business jets in the late 1980s, using engines from other manufacturers. The Honda MH01 turboprop used an all-composite construction, and the Honda MH02 was fabricated and assembled at Mississippi State University's Raspet Flight Research Laboratory in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The MH02 was a prototype using carbon fiber/epoxy composite materials and was the first all-composite light business jet to fly. Flight testing on the MH02 continued through 1996, after which the aircraft was shipped to Japan.
Designer and company founder, Michimasa Fujino, began sketching the HondaJet in 1997, and the concept was solidified in 1999. According to Fujino, design of the HondaJet nose was inspired by Salvatore Ferragamo shoes. Testing in the Boeing windtunnel indicated a valid concept in 1999
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Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era
The Bf 108A first flew in 1934, followed by the Bf 108B in 1935. The Bf 108B used the substantially larger, 12.67 litre displacement Argus As 10 air-cooled inverted V8 engine. The nickname Taifun (German for "typhoon") was given to her own aircraft by Elly Beinhorn, a well-known German pilot, and was generally adopted
Development of the type continue and in 1935 the Bf 108B appeared with the fin and rudder having undergone modifications.
Conceived as a competitive aircraft the Bf 108 would take part in the 1936 Berlin Olympics.