Page 10 - Volume 15 Number 9

one for each system being tested on any given flight. The HondaJet, in test mode, is wired with telemetry. The autopilot alone is monitored on 100 parameters; the flight controls, over 120. With 18 air sensors and 12 GPS channels on the test airplane, everything – more than 1,000 parameters – can be monitored in real time. Engineers can spot divergent trends in their specialty, and relay information to the pilots or immediately modify the test, as necessary. Live in-cockpit cameras show the pilots’ moves on the touch- screen panels and the console.
Routine things make a big difference, too. In the HondaJet Design Center, nothing is “routine.” For example, the crew and passenger seats reflect their missions. The crew seats are optimized for three hours’ sitting, and have features like a seatback that not only tilts, but it has a firm lumbar support – and it moved up and down, to accommodate a wide variety of physical specimens. The passenger seats tilt, too – and they position fore and aft and laterally on ball- bearing sliders, with the positive locks lacking on the seats we’re all used to using.
The huge, empty (for the moment) production building, into which equipment is just beginning to be installed, has paint-prep rooms and two sophisticated paint booths, with all-around lighting, downdraft air flow, and elevators that can raise or tilt the airplane, to get the perfect finish. As with automotive practice, the HondaJet gets a base, topcoat, and clear coat; and paint is mixed “on the fly,” according to Jim Horonica, the final assembly manager, a veteran of Honda’s automotive division. This means that there is no “pot life” issue for painters, who, using traditional methods, might see the paint change spray characteristics, or even shift color.
The main “assembly line” area has a clear flat floor, with the electric
MAINTENANCE
• All scheduled and non-scheduled maintenance by our friendly, experienced technicians
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Avionics
• Legacy: partial and full glass cockpit completions
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• XM Weather, traffic and mode S upgrades
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www.northeastair.com Portland Jetport (KPWM) Maine
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8 • TWIN & TURBINE
SEPTEMBER 2011