Story ID: 4102213alerts
Honda Hopeful of 2014 HondaJet Certification
By: AIN Staff
Caption: 
Word Count: 209
Honda Aircraft president and CEO Michimassa Fujino said yesterday at NBAA 2013 that the HondaJet would be certified by the end of 2014, as long as the HF120 engine was certified by the end of this year. Terry Sharp, president of GE Honda Aero Engines, said this timeline is doable–“We have completed all the certification testing on the engine and last week we submitted the final two reports to the FAA. Our confidence is high that we will have the type certificate by the end of this year.”
  
Meanwhile at Honda Aircraft Co., “The HondaJet program continues its steady progress toward certification, and we anticipate receiving FAA type inspection authorization in the next few months,” said Fujino. “Entering this phase of flight testing will be a significant milestone toward certification.”
  
Among recent accomplishments are the first flight of the fifth FAA-conforming aircraft on May 16, the completion of “wet runway” water-ingestion tests in July, and cold-weather testing. To date, HondaJet test pilots have flown more than 4,000 test points.
  
Fujino also announced at NBAA that Honda Aircraft Co. and American Honda Finance Corporation (AHFC) intend to offer term-loan financing for customers in the U.S. AHFC is a subsidiary of American Honda Motor Co.