• 07 Jan 2025 09:13 AM
• 0

Honda to Begin Subscale Flight Tests

On Oct. 29, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) granted an experimental special airworthiness certificate to Honda to begin test flights with a subscale model of its eVTOL aircraft. Honda announced its plans for developing an eVTOL in April 2021 but was fairly quiet about it until this year. In May, the company’s US-based Honda Research Institute opened a new facility in San Luis Obispo, California. According to FlightGlobal, the FAA’s approval letter calls the aircraft a research and development “subscale model test vehicle N241RX” heavier than the FAA Part 107 limit of 55- lb (25-kg). The hybrid-electric Honda eVTOL aircraft design is equipped with eight vertical lift propellers and two ducted propellers for propulsion (see the VFS World eVTOL Aircraft Directory for more details).