HondaJet Hits Car, Five Dead

Five people died in the collision of a HondaJet with a car in Mesa, Arizona about 4:40 p.m. on Tuesday. The plane was reportedly taking off from Falcon Field when it overran the runway and crashed into the car on street bordering the airport. There were five people on the aircraft but it's not clear if all the victims were on the plane or if any were in the car. This is a developing story that will be updated as more details are released.


This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://www.avweb.com/aviation-news/hondajet-hits-car-five-dead

Takeoff with parking brake set?

Could be related to their FBW brake issues, if it was a rejected takeoff

Not familiar with the HondaJet, but IF the ADS-B data is to be believed, 133 Knots in a VLJ should be more than fast enough for rotation. Unless there was some other major failure, such as maybe the pilot realizing he forgot to remove the control lock? Remember the Gulfstream in KBED a few years ago.

That’s just useless speculation. There’s not yet enough information to even hint at the cause.
133kts is a very high speed abort.

2 Likes

That is NOT a useless speculation. Its perfectly plausible and fits the accident circumstances. Of course we don’t know the actual cause yet, this is just a discussion forum.

1 Like

Thank you very much!

Speaking as an instructor on another bizjet type, I agree completely with bbgun06 on both counts.

Ok. So am I. Do you really want to go down this road? WE are not the NTSB. And a look back at historical data points and incidents is always useful.

Blancolirio is reporting that the pilot survived. If true, I’m sure he’ll shed some light on what happened.

According to the report only an 18yo survived from the aircraft. Not likely the pilot. Blancolirio gets his facts wrong so often that I rarely watch anymore.

133 kts in 3400 feet is pretty good acceleration and not likely hindered by brakes. Stopping in the 1600 feet left from that speed was going to be impossible. No reason to abort unless you absolutely know that the aircraft won’t fly. Mistrim, control lock, ???
The investigation should find the cause pretty quickly.

Ah… Appreciate the clarification.

Initial reports indicated it was the pilot who survived. Later television news reports said the 18-year-old son of the aircraft owner was the sole survivor, but did not say whether the owner was the pilot.

Well that depends, does anyone know if the Honda jet has leading edge slats? That would determine if 130 knots is “fast” or not,

Negative. It’s got a “hard” leading edge. Not every jet uses them. It’s a design choice driven by wing design vs. desired field length performance. Leading edge devices cost weight and take up internal volume that can be used for fuel. As examples no Lear, Challenger, or Gulfstream designed air frame uses them. Juan Browne quoted from an AOPA flight demo which I checked out on their web site. It lists V1 as 110 Kts. and Vr as 115. I am going to assume those speeds were for that particular flight since they vary with weight and elevation/atmospheric conditions.

I will add that I agree with Juan’s comments regarding the speed brakes. They are a tailcone mounted device which split open to create drag. Not uncommon in the jet world. However, they do little to help on landing. Specially since no VLJ have Thrust Reversers to save weight. Wing mounted Spoilers and/or a lift dump system a la Citation Jet series or Hawker HS-125 are much more effective, since they would place more weight on the tires making braking much more effective.

1 Like

Completely agree with Bill B. according that most of the times the so called Blancolirio is unworthy to be seen (I seldom see it).

Had the Hondajet not collided with the car, it would likely have been slowed down gradually enough by the orange grove to not have catastrophically exploded. The city would like to see every bit of the perimeter of the airport developed and the orange groves torn out. In that case aircraft in trouble would end up in a strip mall or warehouse. That is the case in almost every airport in Phoenix. Safety areas are luxuries it seems.