HondaJets Must Be Flown all The Way To the Ramp

I own and fly a HondaJet and have been a pilot for 52 years and a jet pilot for forty of them. I have flown my HondaJet safely for 600 hours.

I have publicly disagreed with the “new” HondaJet landing procedure you have quoted extensively from. It is contrary to every training experience I have ever had and against the procedures of every one of my logged 3800 landings.

The HondaJet can be flown safely using the same techniques that pilots learn from the time they started flying. Using REF as the approach speed is computed automatically by the airplane, but in the event of windshear, adding 5 to 10 knots is important and can easily be bled off on short final.

Landing purposely hard is a mistake and itself can cause loss of control. Adding full upwind aileron on touchdown is a mistake and can cause the upwind wing to tuck under, adding to the difficulty to control it and requires much more opposite rudder to keep the airplane straight than using normal crosswind techniques.

The HondaJet does not require maximum braking on most runways unless power is kept on too long. Power should be off at 50 feet because keeping it on will add 1000 feet to the landing roll, and a wet runway, depending on the condition of the tires and whether they are grooved, can add significantly to the required runway length.

My HondaJet has a crosswind limitation of 20 knots for good reason. The engines out there on large pylons are like sails that catch the crosswind and require full attention on landing and takeoff to counter. Gusty crosswinds are especially challenging for the same reason.

In all the jet aircraft I have flown and all the hours I have flown the HondaJet, I have never needed to add full upwind aileron, never needed a hard touchdown, and never landed on a wet runway where the landing distance available was marginal.

Every airplane has its quirks, and the HondaJet is no different. The wheels are small and close together, the wing is low to the ground, and the pylons are large. The nosewheel steering is very sensitive, and later models have reduced that sensitivity, which will likely be available for retrofit.

Since this new procedure has been adopted and advertised, there have been too many runway excursions, just like there were before it was adopted.

Here’s what I do, and there is no guarantee it won’t happen to me. I fly periodically with experienced retired airline pilots, and so long as you leave your ego on the ground, you can learn a lot. None of them accept this “new” procedure as making any sense.

I admit that the HondaJet, like any other jet airplane, can be a handful in a gusty crosswind, maybe more so, but the reason they call you captain is because you are expected to bring your experience and skills to bear on each flight. The problem I see is that coming out of, say a Cirrus, and getting a type rating

in a HondaJet doesn’t make you a jet pilot; it just makes you legal to fly a jet. Humility in the cockpit and respect for the consequences of your acts doesn’t change because you got a type rating.

The HondaJet is a phenomenal airplane, and the folks who support it in Greensboro are a unique group of dedicated people. Recommending to pilots that they abandon the lessons of their decades-long training is in my judgment and experience, unwarranted.

Nonetheless, the POH is what pilots are required to follow, and I would be remiss if I didn’t emphasize that it should be followed exquisitely. Just don’t leave your common sense in your flight bag. The HondaJet, like all other jet aircraft, should be flown all the way to the ramp; just use the runway and taxiways to get there.

The Wolk Law Firm

Arthur Alan Wolk

6/9/25