Story ID: 
Honda Aircraft Inaugurates Echelon Jet Test Facility
By: Matt Thurber
Caption: Testing will inform further refinement of the next Honda business jet
Word Count: 234
Honda Aircraft has achieved a key step in the development of the Echelon light jet: inauguration of the advanced systems integration test facility (ASITF) at its Greensboro, North Carolina headquarters. The ASITF is a development simulator, replicating many aspects of the aircraft with actual hardware components and computer hardware and software.
According to the company, “There is a lot that goes into it, but it is important to stress that this is a development simulator. That means that, while it uses some real aircraft hardware and flight computing systems, it is built to a unique set of specifications for a unique purpose...to facilitate the maturation of the HondaJet Echelon systems.”
To build the flight model for the ASITF, Honda Aircraft engineers used wind tunnel data derived from the initial Echelon design. “These models are continually refined and updated as the maturity of the Echelon design increases,” the company explained.
As the Echelon program progresses, Honda Aircraft engineers will conduct “system development testing, system integration verification, and certification testing of flight controls, mechanical systems, and electrical components. The primary mission of the ASITF is to increase the maturity of aircraft systems and to find any issues as early in the development program as possible. This helps HondaJet to reduce development costs and accelerate the development cycle for the Echelon aircraft before the official flight test campaign.”