Tag: HondaJet

The HondaJet: How One Engineer’s Dream Project Became a Reality

Keynote speaker: Michimasa Fujino, president and CEO, Honda Aircraft Co.

by Hannah Godofsky, AIAA Communications

It’s rare in the modern world that any manufactured vehicle is the dream project of only one engineer. Huge teams of people working with large companies design most aircraft. But the HondaJet has been the pet project of Michimasa Fujino since 1997, when he first sketched out a design.

Nearly 20 years later, his dream is finally a reality. Fujino is now president and CEO of Honda Aircraft Co., an aircraft manufacturer headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina, where the HondaJet was awarded FAA certification and is being produced at a rate of two per month. Fujino said there are plans to double that this year.

“Honda serves as a mobility company,” Fujino said June 14 at AIAA AVIATION 2016 in Washington, DC, as he showed how Honda had gradually scaled from motorcycles to automobiles and, now, to aircraft. “It is a big jump from motorcycles.”

Fujino explained that he studied aeronautical engineering in schools but that in Japan, opportunities for the field were limited. He said he decided to join Honda because the company offers more options for young engineers.

“I saw some opportunity to design, build and sell,” he said.

The light-jet market is ideal for Honda because the planes are less expensive, and there is room to improve over existing products. The HondaJet spans less than 40 feet and is just shy of 43 feet long. Fujino said it’s smaller than existing business jets yet has more cabin space and is the fastest jet in its class.

Honda has taken full advantage of automation and computing in HondaJet’s manufacturing process, according to Fujino. The technicians who work on the final product have tablet computers that show CAD models of what they are working on, and robots paint the planes, he explained.

“Robots give us a very consistent surface,” Fujino said, showing images of HondaJets rolling off the production line.

The HondaJet has over 3,000 flight hours testing in more than 70 locations in the U.S.; customers throughout North America, South America and Europe have taken delivery of the final product; and a single HondaJet flew a 26,000-nautical-mile trip on a world tour without a single dispatch issue. It’s an engineer’s dream come true for Fujino.

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All 2016 AIAA AVIATION Forum Videos

Michimasa Fujino to Receive the 2024 Daniel Guggenheim Medal for Design and Development of the HondaJet

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

February 8, 2024 – Reston, Va. – Michimasa Fujino has been awarded the 2024 Daniel Guggenheim Medal for technical innovation and leadership in conceiving, designing, and bringing HondaJet to a leading position in the business jet market. Fujino will receive the prestigious award during the 2024 AIAA Awards Gala on Wednesday, 15 May, at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts*, Washington, DC.

The Daniel Guggenheim Medal was established in 1929 to honor innovators who make notable achievements in the advancement of aeronautics. Its first recipient was Orville Wright. The medal is jointly sponsored by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), SAE International (SAE), and the Vertical Flight Society (VFS).

“It is an honor and a privilege to nominate Mr. Fujino for the Daniel Guggenheim Medal. His visionary leadership and meticulous engineering have created the most advanced very light jet in the world. His innovative Over-the-Wing Engine Mount design has set a new standard for performance and efficiency in the aviation industry. Mr. Fujino is a true pioneer and a deserving recipient of this prestigious award,” said Mark Ofsthun, Senior Manager, Methods & F&DT, Honda Aircraft Company, and nominator.

Michimasa Fujino, retired founding president and CEO of Honda Aircraft Company, was responsible for the design and development, certification, production, sales, and service of the HondaJet. Fujino joined Honda R&D in 1984 and led aeronautical research of aircraft configuration design, aerodynamics, flight control, avionics system, advanced composite structure, and aeroelasticity. He became project leader of HondaJet in 1997 and developed HondaJet with advanced technologies. In 2006, Fujino founded Honda Aircraft Company and focused on the dual tasks of obtaining type certification of the new aircraft and creating a new company and organization for aircraft development, certification, and manufacturing. He also established a worldwide sales and service network for HondaJet. With his aeronautical breakthroughs, Fujino’s clean sheet design was proven to enhance aircraft performance and fuel efficiency and provide exceptional comfort for passengers. HondaJet became the best-selling business jet in its class.

Fujino has received international recognition for his pioneering contributions to aeronautical research and design. He has been the recipient of numerous international awards and distinctions, including the Elmer A. Sperry Award, AIAA Reed Aeronautics Award, ICAS Award for Innovation in Aeronautics, SAE Clarence L. (Kelly) Johnson Aerospace Vehicle Design and Development Award, AIAA Aircraft Design Award, Prime Minister Award of Japan Industry and induction to the Living Legends of Aviation. In addition, Fujino has been recognized in the industrial design field and received the Good Design Gold Award and the Japan Industrial Designers’ Association Design Museum Award. His extensive research and theories on aircraft configuration design, advanced aerodynamics, and aeroelasticity have been published in technical and academic journals, and he holds several patents for aircraft design.

Fujino holds a Bachelor of Science and Doctorate in aeronautical engineering from the University of Tokyo. He is a Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), SAE International, and the Royal Aeronautical Society (RAeS). He is also an international member of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE).

Past recipients of the Guggenheim Medal are some of the greatest names in aerospace, including Holt Ashley, Lawrence Bell, William Boeing, James Doolittle, Donald Douglas, Charles Stark Draper, Hugh Dryden, Robert Goddard, Jerome Hunsaker, Theodore von Kármán, Charles Lindbergh, Glenn Martin, Frank Robinson, Burt Rutan, Igor Sikorsky, and Walter Vincenti, among many others.

For more information about the AIAA/ASME/SAE/VFS Daniel Guggenheim Medal, contact Patricia A. Carr, Guggenheim Secretary, at [email protected].

*Note: This event is an external rental presented in coordination with the Kennedy Center Campus Rentals Office and is not produced by the Kennedy Center.

AIAA Media Contact: Rebecca B. Gray, [email protected], 804-397-5270

About AIAA
The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is the world’s largest aerospace technical society. With nearly 30,000 individual members from 91 countries, and 100 corporate members, AIAA brings together industry, academia, and government to advance engineering and science in aviation, space, and defense. For more information, visit aiaa.org, and follow AIAA on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram..

About ASME
ASME helps the global engineering community develop solutions to real world challenges. Founded in 1880 as the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, ASME is a not-for-profit professional organization that enables collaboration, knowledge sharing and skill development across all engineering disciplines, while promoting the vital role of the engineer in society. ASME codes and standards, publications, conferences, continuing education and professional development programs provide a foundation for advancing technical knowledge and a safer world. For more information visit www.asme.org.

About SAE International
SAE International is a global association committed to being the ultimate knowledge source for the engineering profession. By uniting over 128,000 engineers and technical experts, we drive knowledge and expertise across a broad spectrum of industries. We act on two priorities: encouraging a lifetime of learning for mobility engineering professionals and setting the standards for industry engineering. We strive for a better world through the work of our philanthropic SAE Foundation, including programs like A World in Motion® and the Collegiate Design Series™. For more information visit www.sae.org.

About The Vertical Flight Society 
Founded as the American Helicopter Society in 1943, the Vertical Flight Society today advocates, promotes and supports global vertical flight technology and professional development. For 80 years, the Society has provided leadership for the advancement of vertical flight. For more information, visit www.vtol.org or follow us on Twitter at @VTOLsociety.

HondaJet Echelon Officially Launched at NBAA-BACE

Aviation Week reports that Honda Aircraft formally “launched the HondaJet Echelon Model HA-480 light jet program during NBAA-BACE, announcing it has signed more than 350 letter[s] of intent and providing additional details about its design.” With a transcontinental range “of 2,625 nm with one pilot and four passengers, the aircraft offers midsize performance in a light jet, says Hideto Yamasaki, Honda Aircraft Co. president and CEO.” Honda Aircraft “unveiled the design as a concept aircraft at NBAA-BACE in 2021.” Since June, when the company “announced its decision to commercialize the program, it received additional letters of intent numbering more than 50, officials say.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)

 

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HondaJet Echelon
(HondaJet; YouTube)

HondaJet Elite II Awarded FAA Certification

Aviation Today reports, “The HondaJet Elite II aircraft, revealed during the 2022 NBAA Convention and Exhibition in October, just received type certification from the Federal Aviation Administration on November 2.” The jet had two major upgrades – a range of 1,547 nautical miles and increased fuel capacity of more than 200 pounds. Each figure is an improvement from the previous Elite S variant.
Full Story (Aviation Today)