A Honda That Goes Like A Jet

[cabinetman]

I don't think this was an inspiration in my wife picking out a new car. But it is really a streamlined way to travel. At $3.65 million, I wonder what kind of warranty Honda offers.
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[Uncle Cracker]

I'm not totally sure I'd want to fly in a plane built by the same company that built my lawnmower...

[Tom Slick]

Honda even builds the engines for their jets!! they have a joint venture with GE and build them in the USA.
beautiful plane.

[dpaton]

I'm not totally sure I'd want to fly in a plane built by the same company that built my lawnmower...

After driving close to a million miles in Hondas, and having flown some commercially produced light planes (Cessna and Piper single engine prop jobs), I'd take one made by Honda any day of the week. I got a chance to touch and smell the HondaJet at Oshkosh last summer, and it's as much the real deal as a Lear or a Cessna Citation or a Gulfstream.

[Uncle Cracker]

And if your Honda car breaks down, you pull it over and get out. I still have to be skeptical of anybody's first plane, fit and finish aside, especially if they also built the engine. And I'm not a stick in the mud... I flew in Beech's first StarShip. But I also watched as the most beautiful plane I ever saw went down and killed three of my best friends. So I'm a bit of a cynic.

[jackellis]

I'd fly in any airplane built by Honda or Toyota (especially the latter). Both are known for building quality into their products.

I own a 28 year old Cessna 182 and one of the publications I receive monthly has a list of the service bulletins and airworthiness directives for all Cessna piston airplanes. The new C172, C182 and C206 airplanes coming off the line at Independence, MO have a disappointing number of serious defects - missing fasteners, incorrectly installed parts, etc. As old as my airplane is, at least it's past the "infant mortality" stage of its life.

No airplane is perfect. For all the testing Boeing, Airbus (and formerly Douglas and Lockheed) did on their big birds, problems do appear once an airplane is being beaten up on a daily basis. However, I think the Japanese really understand what it means to build quality into their products and processes rather than inspecting for it. American firms are not quite so obsessive.

[Tom Slick]

I wouldn't worry about the engines, they are partners with GE. Aside from lightbulbs, GE built the engines for the first jet powered plane in the US during WW2. My guess would be that Honda builds what GE has designed.

[Uncle Cracker]

Absolutely nothing wrong with a bird with some age, provided the maintenance history is meticulous and verifiable. The problem with new stuff is usually that workmanship and quality often suffer in the name of profit. A hundred thousand moving parts, each built by the lowest bidder. Not encouraging. But on the subject of the Japanese vs. Boeing and Airbus, it looks like the Japanese are themselves committed to buying and flying the established brands, not trying to compete with them. That's rare air up there, and although we see a Honda exec. jet, I think it'll be a long time before the big boys will need to look over their shoulders. I think you'll see the Japanese take a stab at the military market first, but they're quite a ways from even that, methinks.

[leehljp]

Absolutely nothing wrong with a bird with some age, provided the maintenance history is meticulous and verifiable. The problem with new stuff is usually that workmanship and quality often suffer in the name of profit. A hundred thousand moving parts, each built by the lowest bidder. <snip>

Japanese are not famous for taking the lowest bidding, and many go to jail today for not doing that in public bidings, but rather awarding a contract to a friend or the one with the best "kickback". In the MIDST of this old and outlawed method is reliability in delivery and quality.

They are also known for all to often putting all their eggs in one basket rather than diversification so that they can control quality better. The downside is that an earthquake or destruction of a parts plant can cripple the entire industry, as happened last week. I heard from the US side (on this forum) that Toyota Motor ceased production for a few days because a parts plant in the earthquake 300 miles from here was shut down.

Toyota MC is known for its quality driven production and so is Honda. That doesn't mean that they are perfect but they are driven to make sales through their quality control, not profits percentage. Their belief is that profits will be up if sales are there, and sales will be there if the quality is there. Also there is the belief that "quality" sells better than salesmen do.

IF I had the money, I would "look" at a Honda personal jet.

[jackellis]

Absolutely nothing wrong with a bird with some age, provided the maintenance history is meticulous and verifiable. The problem with new stuff is usually that workmanship and quality often suffer in the name of profit. A hundred thousand moving parts, each built by the lowest bidder. Not encouraging. But on the subject of the Japanese vs. Boeing and Airbus, it looks like the Japanese are themselves committed to buying and flying the established brands, not trying to compete with them. That's rare air up there, and although we see a Honda exec. jet, I think it'll be a long time before the big boys will need to look over their shoulders. I think you'll see the Japanese take a stab at the military market first, but they're quite a ways from even that, methinks.

Both Kawasaki Heavy Industries and one of the Mitsubishi companies are exploring regional jet projects that would compete directly with Bombardier (Canada) and Embraer (Brazil). The largest regional jets currently also compete with the smallest airplanes made by Boeing and Airbus.

Honda is unlikely to simply manufacture a GE design. The large high-bypass engines GE makes are a much different animal than the small ones Honda is proposing to build.

[mater]

I found out Honda made a good automobile when my daughters started driving. I bought 3 and didn't have a problem out of any of them.

[gsmittle]

I'm confused....Where's the seat and handlebars?

g.