Speaking of Yak-40 and STOL capabilities; here is a Yak-40 at ESMH in 1968, grass strip of around 800 metres:
Look at those tundra tires! :)
Ultimate bushplane.
Why??
Airborne_Again wrote:
Why??
Interflug, the former airline of the former German Democratic Republic donated this plane to the airfield of Stölln as a museum piece when they retired it. Instead of trucking it there in pieces, Heinz-Dieter Kallbach, then chief pilot on the type, had it lightened as much as possible and flew it there himself.
Donating old planes to airports seems to have been common practice in the DDR because one can still see old Russian built airliners at almost every east german airport (Dresden, Leipzig, Schönefeld, Erfurt, …) turned into restaurants or exhibitions. Stölln is of some historic relevance as it is some kind of “first airfield” in Gemany. Otto Lilienthal did many of his flights there and also had his deadly accident at Stölln.
I really like the design of the Honda Jet. Real Japanese industrial design, and with a strong focus on “form follows function”. Much less noise in the cabin due to the engines not mounted to the fuselage, more space in the back of the fuselage than comparable Cessnas or Lears. And the build quality is … well, Japanese ;-)
Alexis wrote:
Much less noise in the cabin due to the engines not mounted to the fuselage…
Why would that be?
Alexis wrote:
…more space in the back of the fuselage than comparable Cessnas or Lears.
Why would that be? In “typical” business jets, the frame on which the engines are mounted is behind the pressure bullkhead. They have their baggage compartment there whose size is not affected by the engines at all.
From an engineers (which I was in my previous life) point of view the only advantage of wing mounted engines is that their weight is carried close to where the lift is generated. This (in theory at least) would allow for the wings to be built a tiny little bit lighter. Anyway, strong believer in Darwinism which I am, this is only the second aircraft with that configuration in 114 years of powered flight. If that way to mount engines would have clear advantages, every aircraft would be built like that. Since 50 years.
I got a very good tour of the airplane by engineers of Honda, and this is how they explained it to me: The engines have no direct connection to the fuselage and this is (according to their explanation) the reason for less noise. Also the structure of the engine mount in classic twin engine jet takes away a lot of space, especially for the baggage compartment.
And about your last argument: Aircraft buyers in this class are VERY conservative and for the most part they do not want exotic designs. This killed the Starship partly aswell and is the reason why Canards (in the smaller class) never became very popular, although they have many advantages.
Alexis wrote:
Also the structure of the engine mount in classic twin engine jet takes away a lot of space, especially for the baggage compartment.
No, it doesn’t. The two fuselage frames which hold the engines are a little bit thicker ( * ) than the other ones, that’s all.
And about the noise I can only say that the most quiet airliner I have ever flown in is the Fokker 100. But of course Honda needs to come up with reasons why people should choose their beautiful creation over those of the competition.
( * ) Like 1 1/s inches instead of 1 inch. To give you an idea. Hardly “a lot of space”.
Most of all: Japanes do not make stuff that will not make sense engineering-wise, at least that is what I think. It is also possible that I do not remember the space issue correctly (five years ago), but I am very sure that they explained to me that the noise is much lower and that there is very little vibration transmitted from the engines to the fuselage.
Have you every sat in one? I was very impressed, but then again I only know about three other bizjets wel and have flown in two only …
RobertL18C wrote:
There used to be a YAK 40 three holer abandoned on the west side of Milano Linate for years and years, now finally gone. Apparently they are good STOL aircraft, relatively speaking.
They are but their range is not impressive. Apart, 3 engines and at least a 2 man crew and not a lot of folks who can service it. Not a very practical personal jet…
There are several parked at Sofia, former Hemus Air planes, which I reckon you can take away for very few if any money…
