Spotty plane-spotters shed a tear

[Taro Toporific]

YS-11, only domestically built passenger plane, makes last flight
Japan Today - Sunday, October 1, 2006 at 06:21 EDT
KAGOSHIMA---The YS-11, the only Japanese-built passenger aircraft, made its last flight Saturday, ending its history of 41 years in service in Japanese skies.
The last flight of the turboprop plane was from an airport on Okinoerabu Island to Kagoshima airport, both in Kagaoshima Prefecture, and drew crowds of aviation fans ...more...

[GuyJean]

The YS-11, the only Japanese-built passenger aircraft, made its last flight Saturday, ending its history of 41 years in service in Japanese skies.

Gboothe brought it up in this thread, but I still wonder why Japan doesn't get into the airplane production business.. I guess they can't make planes out of concrete so there's really no interest..

GJ

[dimwit]

Had never heard of that aircraft, but it seems to have been somewhat of a success.

http://www.airliners.net/info/stats.main?id=287

[Blah Pete]

I rode the YS-11 a few times inter-island in Hawaii years ago. Seemed to be a good plane for that type of flight.


[quote="GuyJean"]Gboothe brought it up in this thread, but I still wonder why Japan doesn't get into the airplane production business.. I guess they can't make planes out of concrete so there's really no interest.. ]

There are companies here that do sub-assembly for Boeing. one area they are good at is the part where the engine attaches to the wing (don't know the tech term). This part is hard to make and has tough specs.
I guess no J-firms think they can turn a profit on it.

Back in the bubble days I am surprised no J-firms tried just to push their "Japan is better than everyone else" ideas.

Interesting how that Brazilian company has managed to sell a few aircraft.

[Buraku]

[quote="GuyJean"]Gboothe brought it up in this thread, but I still wonder why Japan doesn't get into the airplane production business.. I guess they can't make planes out of concrete so there's really no interest.. ]


Building exportable aircraft is a very difficult business, airbus, boeing aeroflot are the only guys that bring home any kind of bucks. Apart from Nippon's Mo'Concrete solutions the Japanese are only really good at mass production of small objects, cell phone gadgets and playstation gimmicks.

The Japanese military once made an attempt at building a copy of the 3 decade old f16 but government waste and Japanese bureaucracy couldn't make a single F16-copy cost less than 30 stealth bombers.
Aside from fancy buildings, profitable large scale productions are very much a wonder of the Western world

http://www.fuckedgaijin.com/forums/images/vbimghost/9934514a908b3d4b.jpg
Although the Chinese are catching up fast don't expect an aircraft company in China to be dominating sales around the world.

[dimwit]

The F-2 was a failure not because it was obsolete but because it was ridiculously overpriced due to sheer number of companies involved in essentially producing the same components, which I suspect is probably true in civil aviation as well.

A far better example of an obsolete fighter would be the Chinese Shenyang Finback J-8 which when produced in the 1980's was comparable to an F-4.

[Buraku]

The F-2 was a failure not because it was obsolete but because it was ridiculously overpriced due to sheer number of companies involved in essentially producing the same components

So what's going to happen the F2 now ?

PS

Soviet Superme Aircraft spotted in Afghan land
[yt]6a8BZR8rRk0[/yt]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6a8BZR8rRk0

[vince]

Japan was prohibited from manufacturing aircraft as part of the surrender deal from WWII...

"The existing economic basis of Japanese military strength must be destroyed and not be permitted to revive.

Therefore, a program will be enforced containing the following elements, among others; the immediate cessation and future prohibition of production of all goods designed for the equipment, maintenance, or use-of any military force or establishment; the imposition of a ban upon any specialized facilities for the production or repair of implements of war, including naval vessels and all forms of aircraft"

http://www.ibiblio.org/pha/policy/1945/450906b.html

[FG Lurker]

Soviet Superme Aircraft spotted in Afghan land
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6a8BZR8rRk0

Too bad your buddies only had enough cash to build one of those planes, not to mention the failed shuttle project that it was built to carry.

[FG Lurker]

[quote="GuyJean"]Gboothe brought it up in this thread, but I still wonder why Japan doesn't get into the airplane production business.. I guess they can't make planes out of concrete so there's really no interest.. ]
Honda will start (or maybe already has started) to take orders for their new jet. Yes, Honda. http://world.honda.com/HondaJet/

[yt]5qWFH5Eb8ek[/yt]

[GuyJean]

Japan was prohibited from manufacturing aircraft as part of the surrender deal from WWII... http://www.ibiblio.org/pha/policy/1945/450906b.html

Ah, yes.. I think I remember reading that somewhere.. No planes; just expoding rockets.

GJ

[Tsuru]

Honda will start (or maybe already has started) to take orders for their new jet. Yes, Honda. http://world.honda.com/HondaJet/

... which is essentially an American aircraft, designed and built by Honda USA The only thing Japanese about it is the name.

[American Oyaji]

Honda Jet is moving forward.
Cincinatti office just opened and the South carolina office is being converted.

[FG Lurker]

[quote="Tsuru"]... which is essentially an American aircraft, designed and built by Honda USA ]
Honda is a multinational corporation so it is hardly surprising that they have design and manufacturing in multiple locations.

Honda paid for the R&D, Honda will take the profits or cover the losses.

[Tsuru]

Honda is a multinational corporation so it is hardly surprising that they have design and manufacturing in multiple locations.

Honda paid for the R&D, Honda will take the profits or cover the losses.

What I mean is the aircraft was designed by American engineers, it's built in the US and I think that makes it American, no matter who pays for the damn thing. If I had financed the bird, and called it a "Fokker" it still wouldn't be a Dutch jet would it? I would still have been designed and built in the US.

The company that owns Airbus (EADS) is incorporated and headquartered right here in Holland, yet Airbuses are considered European aircraft as the parts are engineered and made all across Europe and final assembly takes place in Toulouse, France or Hamburg, Germany.

[FG Lurker]

I see your point as well, but with a project as large as a jet financial backing is just as important as design and manufacture. We're not talking about 2-cent widgets made in China.

[Taro Toporific]

Here's an interesting quote about the YS-11 and Japan Inc's love of burning government money.

....[SIZE="3"]The turbo-prop YS-11 entered service in 1965 with a series of 182 planes produced by a special semigovernmental corporation, Nihon Aircraft Manufacturing Co., until 1973. The manufacturer did not gain any net profits--it amassed about 36 billion yen in losses.[/SIZE]

[INDENT]

Can the METI-Mitsubishi Heavy jet take off?
The Daily Yomiuri, The Yomiuri Shimbun, Oct. 2, 2006
Manufacturing a passenger jet of its own is a long-cherished ambition of Japan's aircraft industry. To reach that goal, the government and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. are joining hands. But they must clear a number of hurdles before a project to develop the jet airliner, dubbed the MJ for Mitsubishi Jet, can get off the ground....
...both the government and the industry have held a strong desire to develop a new passenger aircraft--the first of its kind since the development of the YS-11.
The government has invested about 9 billion yen in the MJ project so far...The company also has to find a solution to the problem of development costs. Estimates now place costs at 120 billion yen--double the original estimate of 60 billion yen.
MHI admits that the government and the main contractor cannot afford to take all the risks on their own. As a result, the company is now approaching trading houses and banks to set up a special-purpose company for the development of the jetliner.
However, negotiations have been slow and little progress has been made on the establishment of the proposed special-purpose company.....more...[/INDENT]

[Buraku]

Japan was prohibited from manufacturing aircraft as part of the surrender deal from WWII...

Perhaps this was a good idea, safety standards in aircraft never meant much to a bunch of kamikaze suicide bombers -

their Ohka was literally a flying bomb !!!
but of course their are still LDP idiots who can go worship these kamikaze designed planes Ohka pilots and members of the Jinrai Butai or Thundergods Corps are also enshrined at Kanagawa and at Yasukuni in Tokyo....is it any wonder Japan was prevented from manufacturing more suicide planes ?