I wonder how the bean counters view this new aircraft, given the obvious comparison is the EC120? Since the R66 arrived, the EC120 production rate has dropped to about 10/year, while Robinson produced 191 R66s in 2012. Not forgetting the 480, of course. I am not a supporter of any particular manufacturer or model, but purchase price and operating cost are key, and Bell are going to need some magic numbers to make a dent in this market now (plus a few years to get it certified). Perhaps the plan is to produce it in China or Mexico or Poland etc to make it more competitive?
The silver stripe over the nose in the computer-generated images makes it look sad
Just as a comparison, here's the 4-blade 5-seat "JRX" proposal from a few years ago....
