Honda Aircraft, pilots group stand behind HondaJet following runway excursions

In the wake of a May 18 HondaJet runway excursion and subsequent fire at Summerville Airport in South Carolina, HJOPA announced to its members it was already in the process of performing safety analyses of the incidents and reminded pilots not to jump to conclusions as they study the data. All occupants escaped the May 18 incident without injury, though the jet was substantially damaged by impact with a rocky berm, and a subsequent fire, according to an NTSB preliminary report.

The pilot told NTSB investigators that the aircraft behaved abnormally under braking after landing on a wet runway, and he was considering a go-around when the left brake "grabbed." While the pilot was able to use the rudder pedals to keep the aircraft on the runway through a series of left and right skids, the aircraft continued off the end of the runway and down an embankment. 

The incident, the latest in a series of runway excursions, coincided with the apparent collapse of fractional ownership company Jet It, which announced it was grounding the HondaJets in its fleet soon after the incident. Within days, Jet It was reported to have ceased operations altogether and informed its staff they no longer had jobs.

In a video sent on May 21, Julie Hughes, executive director of HJOPA, encouraged members to continue flying their HondaJets, but reminded pilots of the importance of proper planning, training, and landing procedures. 

Jet It did not respond to AOPA’s questions about the current status of the company and its fleet. 

“A safety stand down is different than grounding the fleet,” HJOPA board member Tim Solms said. “Grounding the fleet means we think we have a problem with the platform. Our message was, we think we have a problem with pilotage, training, and aeronautical decision making, and we wanted to make sure we were very clear and distinct on this issue. We don’t see a problem with the platform and we’re staying in very close communication with Honda Aircraft Company on that issue as well.”

Yiyi Cui corporate communications lead at Honda Aircraft said the company is “actively supporting” the investigation into the May 18 incident, and that their “engineering and analysis supports our product as a safe aircraft to operate.”

Agreeing with HJOPA that Jet It’s decision to ground that firm's HondaJet fleet was “made independently by Jet It,” Cui continued, “Neither Honda Aircraft Company nor any aviation authority has recommended this grounding. Therefore, we have no comment about the decision by Jet It to ground its fleet. Honda Aircraft Company and the rest of the HondaJet fleet will continue its normal operation.”

Solms said the Citation Jet Pilots Association (CJP) has been supportive as the owners seek to understand the runway excursions, and prevent further occurrences: “They had this issue about four years ago where they were having runway over-runs, and they implemented some practices and procedures that I personally think are industry standards.”

The Citation pilots group also developed what they call their safe to land program as well as an optional flight operations quality assurance program that, when opted-in, monitors flights 10,000 feet and below and offers postflight analysis as well as sharing that information with CJP.

Solms said HJOPA is following a similar approach to figuring out why these runway excursions are happening by looking at things like crew, location, airport elevation, time of day, runway length and condition, weather severity, available public data, and the version of HondaJet involved in each incident. Four of the five HondaJet variants have been involved in these incidents.

HJOPA added that FlightSafety International and Garmin are also contributing data to their analysis.

Though the analysis is far from complete, Solms said, “We’re definitely seeing some trends but want to be cautious about identifying a root cause before we’ve done the full analysis.”  

When asked about early assumptions, Solms said, “It’s interesting, [whether the operation was conducted under] Part 135 or [Part] 91 doesn’t seem to matter, what seems to matter is a stabilized approach, flying V^REF, understanding the landing conditions and doing your performance planning, and the willingness to use a lot of control in crosswind situations after touchdown.”

To help pilots and owners, HJOPA has invited its members to attend a safety webinar this month hosted by Honda Aircraft as well as attend HJOPA’s annual convention taking place September 28 to October 1 in Austin, Texas, where they will have an increased focus on safety.

Continuing the collaboration, Volato, an Atlanta-based fractional jet ownership and charter company that primarily utilizes HondaJets is opening its safety-summit in Denver to outsiders, including HJOPA and Jet AI Aviation.

Honda Aircraft is offering fractional owners impacted by Jet It's cessation of operations free parking for their aircraft at its headquarters in Greensboro, North Carolina, for up to 90 days, which includes the offer of pilot services to relocate the aircraft to the facility.

“We understand the challenges faced by fractional owners who have been impacted by the suspension of their aircraft management after being released from contract by Jet It, and are now seeking alternative arrangements,” Honda Aircraft Chief Commercial Officer and Vice President of Customer Service Amod Kelkar said. “Consistent with our dedication to customer satisfaction, we have developed and established this assistance plan for those HondaJet owners in need of additional support during this transition period.” 

Kelkar continued, “The HondaJet remains a reliable and safe aircraft to operate and we reaffirm our confidence in the aircraft’s safety through our engineering and analysis.”

Affected fractional owners can learn more about the customer assistance and inquire about eligibility by email.