While holding for release yesterday at KICT the HondaJet took the runway right in front of me and departed. I looked carefully and saw no "experimental" markings on the plane only a regular N number. But it did look lik eN420HM featured in the brochure I coincidentally received yesterday.

It is a beautiful airplane!

The letter I got with the brochure said they are building customer's aircraft and expect to begin deliveries in second quarter 2015. That's tomorrow!

They received their provisional type cert. yesterday. How did that funky nose look in person? The only guy I know that ever made any money in aviation signed up to be a dealer after touring their facility and sitting in the airplane, so there must be something there...

http://corporatejetinvestor.com/article ... icate-215/

Big day then for Honda! I thought the nose looked fine. Even the engine mounts look better in person. One thing is for sure red and white on an airplane look awesome.

I wish them success. However, I still think they got it wrong. Wing would have looked better on top with engines below.

I saw a HondaJet on the ramp at Banyan KFXE last month and took these pics. No experimental markings on the plane but it had a test aircraft interior with various equipment in the back.

It looks more like the cousin of a Phenom 100 then a Citation. If it has reliability and performance it will be a real competitor.

Do we have a price, yet?

$4.5MM

It's a nice plane. I toured it last NBAA with a sale guy. It has the same issues as all small jets. Not enough range or payload but a nice plane non the less. I hope it does well.

I predict Honda will sell a lot of airplanes. The Japanese are so patient, and work hard to get everything "right". I think they've done the same with their airplanes. (This plane has been in development since 1997...18 years!).

I think it looks great actually. Feels like a fresh take on the tried little jet design. But as Jason said, the range just isn't enough as it is now. Also don't think it's available with a lavatory.

But I wish them the best of luck. Maybe they can add aux tanks in the future.

Looks like bleed air deice? If so that's a huge plus to me.

I am sure Honda does not plan on having only one model to sell. No doubt Honda has two or three models on paper with stretched cabins and more range. They are likely targeting the Phenom 300 and PC 24.

This one was at Cutter in Albuquerque on Friday.

This feels like a marketing tour, with brightly-colored shiny airplanes.

Line person said this one was a test plane full of instruments and no PAX seats. It did have a very long pitot tube/ probe coming off the nose.

These are probably the F&R (function and reliability) test aircraft. The FAA requires some number of flight hours be put in exercising the aircraft before certification is granted.

For example:

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/HON12/history

The long tube is an air data system to collect data and calibrate the aircraft instruments.

Mike C.