| TOKYO - Honda has revealed
that it developed an experimental jet plane and
two turbo-fan engines as part of a research
project into future technologies for general
aviation. The
twin-engine plane - the first all-composite small
business jet - has a unique, forward-bent,
high-wing design with superior low-speed
performance for operation from short runways.
The plane uses light
carbon-fibre reinforced epoxy resins in all the
structural elements, ranging from main and tail
wing crossbeams and ribs, to fuselage frame and
outer panels.
Honda said the plane first
flew more than four years ago after seven years
of research in co-operation with Mississippi
State University. It achieved 170 hours of flight
tests under U.S. Federal Aviation Administration
rules before the test-flight programme concluded
in August 1996.
Honda said it had no plans
to put the plane into production. However, the
turbofan engine project is on-going.
Research and design of
Honda's first turbofan engine, the HXF-01,
started in 1991. The first ground test was done
in Japan in 1993 and more than 70 hours of tests
were done at high altitude in California from
1995 to mid-1996.
The second engine, the
HXF20, is in prototype stage. Ground testing will
be done before test flights begin in two or three
years. The engine comes as the next step in
research for further reductions in fuel
consumption and noise levels together with
improved serviceability. Development work is
progressing to achieve a take-off thrust of
1000kgf and a fuel consumption of 0.44 kg/hr/kgf.
Honda has no plans for
commercialisation at this stage, but will both
remain abreast of trends in the industry and do
market research.
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