An ancient axiom of aviation is that a company that sets out to design a brand new airframe and wrap it around a brand new engine design had better have a vast pool of money, expertise and patience or an excellent team of bankruptcy attorneys. The aircraft manufacturing world is littered with the remains of companies and concepts that simply could not get through the astronomical combination of variables and issues that must be identified and subsequently solved when absolutely everything is new. With the financial backing of an automotive giant, Honda Aircraft pulled it off, although it took nearly 20 years.