Oshkosh Diary: Garmins Big Year

As a stage for new airplanes and products, EAA Air Venture at Oshkosh is nothing if not brightly illuminated. Everyone comes here expecting to be dazzled and sometimes the people charged with the dazzling-the manufacturers-actually succeed. And sometimes not. AirVenture 2006 proved as much surprising as dazzling.

In our estimation, the three biggest unexpecteds were a surprise showing of Cessnas proposed new “next gen” airplane, Hondas announcement that it will, after all, enter the light jet market and the rollout by Garmin of two new EFIS products for the aftermarket, something we didnt expect to see for several years.

Of course, for every dazzler, there’s a yawner, too. If you cant see the forest for the trees at Oshkosh, its probably because the view is obscured by clouds of light sport aircraft, with even Cessna getting into the act with its own LSA design this year. While everyone we talk to is warm to the idea of LSAs, few harbor any illusions that the market will be big enough to support all the would-be comers to this new field.

The same could be said of very light jets. Two more advanced closer to market, both of which weve known about but didnt expect to see this time around. The surprise was Hondas major show presence and the announcement that it will put its jet into production, partnering with Piper, who will apparently handle sales and support. We first saw the Honda at AirVenture last year, where it had the distinct whiff of a trial balloon, much like Toyotas piston single which appears to be in hibernation.

No, Honda said at AirVenture this year, theyll go forward, promising a seven-seat cabin-including crew-and a 420-knot maximum speed with a range of 1100 nautical miles. Interestingly, Honda says it will team with New Piper to market the jet, with the Vero Beach company presumably providing marketing and support for the HondaJet. (Both companies were light on details about this.) Just to stir the pot more, New Piper will pursue its own light jet product, as if there arent enough choices already.

For the HondaJet, power will come from two GE-Honda HF118 engines mounted on those quirky reverse pylons atop the wing that drew many a curious comment last year. Honda developed the engines-ultimately 2000 pounds per side-and brought GE in as a partner to lead the certification effort. GE says the engine will be certified by late 2007. Although Honda is taking orders for a three- to four-year aircraft certification project, no firm prices were provided.

Prices have been announced on Diamonds new D-Jet, which also made its debut at AirVenture. We werent surprised that the initial $850,000 price is now a more realistic $1.38 million. Eclipse did the same thing when it introduced the 500 in 2000, prompting us to wonder why companies continue to lowball the jet numbers when anyone with passing knowledge of airplanes knows that the under-$1-million jet is a pipe dream.

The D-jet will uniquely share the lower flight levels-say the mid-20s-with yet another jet project just in the conceptual stages, the Cirrus jet. Its months away from taking flight, but Cirrus CEO Alan Klapmeier concedes it will be the lowest and slowest of all the jets and thus the perfect step-up for the billion or so pilots buying his popular SR22 piston cruiser. And like the smaller Cirri, it will have a ballistic parachute.

D-jet buyers will have a similar leap forward from the Star and Twin Star aircraft, both strong sellers. Although neither of these jets are as fast as the Mustang or Eclipse and probably the HondaJet, the turtles may yet beat the hares, since both are designed to cruise economically in the 20s, where the rest of the big dogs don’t run. And speaking of big dogs, the ostensible Alpha pooch of light jets, the Eclipse 500, officially crossed the certification finish line and was awarded its conditional type certificate at Oshkosh. Cessnas Mustang is close behind.

And behind Cirrus-maybe quite a bit behind-is Cessnas “next gen” airplane, which made a surprise flyby early in the show. There was no advance announcement and most showgoers missed it. From the photos, it looks like a strutless Centurion done over by Pinin Farina.

The wings are forward swept, the fuselage is curvy and slick looking, with at least three doors and the powerplant is believed to be a Lycoming, possibly an IO-580. But Cessnas Jack Pelton told us a diesel powerplant hasnt been ruled out. (Could it be the one Lycoming had in its booth?) Pelton said the next gen airplane flew in June and that we’ll learn more later this year.