Design World

  • Home
  • Technologies
    • 3D CAD
    • Electronics • electrical
    • Fastening & Joining
    • Factory automation
    • Linear Motion
    • Motion Control
    • Test & Measurement
    • Sensors
    • Fluid power
  • Learn
    • Ebooks / Tech Tips
    • Engineering Week
    • Future of Design Engineering
    • MC² Motion Control Classrooms
    • Podcasts
    • Videos
    • Webinars
  • LEAP AWARDS
  • Leadership
    • 2022 Voting
    • 2021 Winners
  • Design Guide Library
  • Resources
    • 3D Cad Models
      • PARTsolutions
      • TraceParts
    • Digital Issues
      • Design World
      • EE World
    • Women in Engineering
  • Supplier Listings

NASA Langley Research Bolstered Business Jet’s Innovative Design

By NASA | July 13, 2016

Share

It’s not unusual for designers to shape innovative, new aircraft using concepts forged at NASA’s Langley Research Center.

The center in Hampton, Virginia, has been generating waves of aeronautics understanding for nearly 100 years.

It is more unusual, at least in recent history, for a brand-new aircraft whose design was tested in one of Langley’s wind tunnels to make a visit to the center once it’s hit the marketplace.

That’s what happened Tuesday, July 12, when HondaJet — a new advanced light jet —touched down and taxied into NASA Langley’s historic hangar.

In 2004 and 2005, the Honda engineers paid to use a NASA Langley wind tunnel called the National Transonic Facility, or NTF, to refine HondaJet’s design. Employing a 1/9th scale model, they tested high-speed flight performance of the jet’s unique over-the-wing engine mount design.

So, in a sense, the HondaJet was making a return to the center.

“I have good memories of working with NASA people,” said Honda Aircraft President and CEO Michimasa Fujino, who visited Tuesday along with an example of the airplane he first envisioned in 1997. “We proved our concept by testing here at the NTF.”

At the hangar on Tuesday, hundreds of employees flocked to take a close look at the business aircraft, which is classified as a light jet, one designed to carry four to seven passengers and use very small airports.

Maria Moreno, a 20-year-old mechanical engineering intern from Georgia Tech, relished the chance to examine a HondaJet. On a visit to the hangar the previous week, she had learned about composite materials and how they improve aerodynamics by eliminating seams and rivets. The HondaJet’s fuselage is constructed of composites.

“To learn that and then see it applied so soon is pretty full circle and really cool,” Moreno said.

Aleasha Vuncannon, who manages corporate communications and marketing for Honda Aircraft Company, said 13 HondaJets have been delivered for use in the United States, Europe and Mexico. The company, headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina, has received orders for more than 100 more.

Richard Wahls, strategic technical advisor for NASA’s Advanced Air Vehicles Program,

recalled the HondaJet tests at the National Transonic Facility. “They were making use of the unique capabilities of the tunnel while it was still an experimental airplane,” Wahls said.  Honda’s engineers made subtle changes to the design because of that testing, he said.

Still, it doesn’t take an aviation expert to see NASA Langley’s impact on the airplane’s shape.

HondaJet sports upturned winglets at the tips of its wings, an efficiency innovation that comes courtesy of the late aviation pioneer Richard Whitcomb, who worked at NASA Langley for decades.

“I think every one of us does feel a link to this aircraft,” Wahls said. “There’s heritage you can see.”


Filed Under: Aerospace + defense

 

Related Articles Read More >

Ontic acquires Servotek and Westcon product lines from Marsh Bellofram
Flexible rotary shafts support thrust reverser on 150 LEAP 1-A turbofan engines
Drone-mounted inspection breaks barriers for F-35
TriStar, a misunderstood failure of design

DESIGN GUIDE LIBRARY

“motion

Enews Sign Up

Motion Control Classroom

Design World Digital Edition

cover

Browse the most current issue of Design World and back issues in an easy to use high quality format. Clip, share and download with the leading design engineering magazine today.

EDABoard the Forum for Electronics

Top global problem solving EE forum covering Microcontrollers, DSP, Networking, Analog and Digital Design, RF, Power Electronics, PCB Routing and much more

EDABoard: Forum for electronics

Sponsored Content

  • Global supply needs drive increased manufacturing footprint development
  • How to Increase Rotational Capacity for a Retaining Ring
  • Cordis high resolution electronic proportional pressure controls
  • WAGO’s custom designed interface wiring system making industrial applications easier
  • 10 Reasons to Specify Valve Manifolds
  • Case study: How a 3D-printed tool saved thousands of hours and dollars

Design World Podcasts

May 17, 2022
Another view on additive and the aerospace industry
See More >
Engineering Exchange

The Engineering Exchange is a global educational networking community for engineers.

Connect, share, and learn today »

Design World
  • Advertising
  • About us
  • Contact
  • Manage your Design World Subscription
  • Subscribe
  • Design World Digital Network
  • Engineering White Papers
  • LEAP AWARDS

Copyright © 2022 WTWH Media LLC. All Rights Reserved. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of WTWH Media
Privacy Policy | Advertising | About Us

Search Design World

  • Home
  • Technologies
    • 3D CAD
    • Electronics • electrical
    • Fastening & Joining
    • Factory automation
    • Linear Motion
    • Motion Control
    • Test & Measurement
    • Sensors
    • Fluid power
  • Learn
    • Ebooks / Tech Tips
    • Engineering Week
    • Future of Design Engineering
    • MC² Motion Control Classrooms
    • Podcasts
    • Videos
    • Webinars
  • LEAP AWARDS
  • Leadership
    • 2022 Voting
    • 2021 Winners
  • Design Guide Library
  • Resources
    • 3D Cad Models
      • PARTsolutions
      • TraceParts
    • Digital Issues
      • Design World
      • EE World
    • Women in Engineering
  • Supplier Listings