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PHOTO COURTESY OF GENARO SANCHEZ
(L-R) Rich Pickett; Michelle Hoover; Peter Kriegler.
space – a great feature for tight ramps. It takes just a short time to adjust to the electric steering’s sensitivity then you appreciate its usefulness. After takeoff, Phoenix Departure Control was very helpful with our test flight request, and I quickly flew the jet up to FL370 toward Tucson, reviewing several of the systems on our climb. Hand flying the plane was enjoyable, with it exhibiting stable handling even at the higher flight levels.
Peter informed me about a nice feature with the HondaJet Elite called Cruise Speed Control (CSC). CSC could be described as a simple autothrottle except it uses the FADEC. Once engaged at speed, the FADEC will make slight adjustments to control speed within a narrow range. While not useful for major changes in pitch, I found it useful to accommodate the small speed changes with high altitude wave conditions or speed restrictions. With a max altitude of FL430, a top speed of 422 KTAS, a fuel burn of 1090 PPH at FL310, the Elite is the fastest in its class. Often in the real world, pilots fly much higher and at FL410, and mid-weight, I calculated the speed at 403 KTAS/0.70M burning 724 PPH. This is a few knots faster than the original model and faster than the M2 or Phenom 100EV.
After descending below FL180, I continued to explore the flight envelope with stalls and steep turns. I was also able to test one of the new stability enhancements integrated into the Elite’s G3000 system by purposefully banking more than 45 degrees. You can feel the subtle resistance to remind you to reduce bank. It isn’t strong enough to prevent you from banking further, but it is a useful reminder when hand flying. The stall recoveries were simple and so smooth that even our passengers didn’t notice.
The flight went by quickly, and it was soon time to return to Sky Harbor. We were assigned the PINGG 1 arrival. The descent planning was easy, and I used some of the new features including the useful profile view on the MFD that also displays altitude restrictions. The TOLD data capability for landing was easy to use with all of the required information readily accessible. I also tried the sectional chart MFD overlay which had amazing clarity. I flew the visual to runway 25L, finding the airplane to be very responsive at the lower speeds and landed smoothly. A testament to the great design produced by Fujino’s team.
Performance Improvements
Due to the various aerodynamic changes, the HondaJet Elite operator will see a slight increase in cruise performance, 200 nm additional range, reduced runway requirements and improved climb performance. The runway and climb performance im- provements are especially significant. In calculating the impact of the upgrade for a departure at Aspen, Colorado (KASE), we looked at two scenarios, one at 19C and the other at 27C. At 19C, both models can depart at their MTOW, however, the Elite will
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January 2019
TWIN & TURBINE • 13