AS355 N Questions

[aerotune]

Hello,

Can I can get some feed back overall about the AS355N
Pro's/Con's
Fuel Burns at Max Con, particularly SL-2000'
External load capability
Maintenance Costs/ Reliability

Cheers,

[I-IIII]

Hi
In my opinion is very good light twin,you can use about 220Lt/h,sea level,on the hook normaly I sling with 630Kg,30% fuel oat 38 C at about 2000Ft,empty 1580kg.

[RVDT]

Probably need a spare engine on hand.

S-L-O-W when heavy.

[AnFI]

Probably need a spare engine on hand.

S-L-O-W when heavy.

errr I thought it was already carrying one spare engine on board

[fadecdegraded]

You will need the spare engine on hand to change out with the one that s#%ts it's pants why? Cause they just do

[I-IIII]

You dont need any engine spare
if you are familiar with the 355N you shold know

[xtremalsound]

I flew one year ago 355N in west Africa and we didn't have any problem with the engines but we changed a couple of fuel controls...
It may be for landings in the bush in areas with plenty of sand everywhere...

We loading maximum 700 kg and the oat was between 30-40 degrees Celsium almost of the days..

[I-IIII]

I think we were togheder:8
ciao ciao

[Mark Six]

I don't agree with a couple of the negative comments and would be interested to hear what they are based on. I have several thousand hours experience on the 355N and have found it to be a great little all round light twin. Good CAT A/ single engine performance, very versatile and reliable. Lots of STC's for camera mounts, etc. A great option if you're looking for a relatively cheap light twin with PC1 capability.

[AnFI]

err but look how it compares to the single (twice the payload and more margin for all the other critical components) , looks ridiculous to carry your spare engine with you everywhere for the whole life of the helicopter 'just in case'. Too much safety 'theory'.

[I-IIII]

Cannot compare a single with a twin
is a different filosofy.If you talk about power ofcourse I will choose a B3 for sling,but fly over the forest or open water I will choose the 355N.
I just say that the 355N is very good twin and you can also sling with a decent power and you can compare like a B2.In OEI is very good and give you a good margins.

[xtremalsound]

We all know a single engine like B3 is better for sling but we have to meet the clients requirements and if they require a light twin, as355n is the best..

[AnFI]

"We all know a single engine like B3 is better for sling but we have to meet the clients requirements and if they require a light twin"

Then tell the client that requiring the twin is not bright. If a twin has to make 2 trips instead of 1 then there is more exposure, 4 engine trips and 2 times the exposure of other critical components to achieve the same thing payload transfer.

Twin mania needs to tone down.

The OEI performance of a single is not as bad as people make out, it just means you have to land imediately, its rare and the outcome is also rarely bad enough to justify the downside of the twin. (and we have already seen that 2 engines does not make the need to land immediately 1x10-9 rare, nonsense untrue maths)

anyway if you really had to be in a twin (for some reason) the 355n is a good machine, i do agree

[Nubian]

Anfi,

Then tell the client that requiring the twin is not bright

What's that about being bright?!?


The OEI performance of a single is not as bad as people make out, it just means you have to land imediately, its rare and the outcome is also rarely bad enough to justify the downside of the twin

Ever seen what the outcome of an engine failure in a single over 150ft rainforest looks like??? Well, there are still a number of missing aircrafts around the Amazon from that reason.

You have to understand, that there are some places you just can't ''land immediately''. Some places you crash, and then you fall the 50 odd meters to the ground after going through the canopy.... in those cases I'd rather punch off the load (if externally) and pull back on the power and RTB, rather than trying the above mentioned scenario.

If the client are willing to pay the extra for the twin and get less efficiency, well what's wrong with that??:roll eyes:

As for this
If a twin has to make 2 trips instead of 1 then there is more exposure, 4 engine trips and 2 times the exposure of other critical components to achieve the same thing payload transfer.

The loads very often is in the region of 6-700kg in any case, (heavy equipment which is split into main components) so to save the amount of trips the loads would be 12-1400kg's which would be too heavy in any case even for a B3e due to the temp.

[AnFI]

Anfi,

Ever seen what the outcome of an engine failure in a single over 150ft rainforest looks like??? Well, there are still a number of missing aircrafts around the Amazon from that reason.

You have to understand, that there are some places you just can't ''land immediately''. Some places you crash, and then you fall the 50 odd meters to the ground after going through the canopy.... in those cases I'd rather punch off the load (if externally) and pull back on the power and RTB, rather than trying the above mentioned scenario.

If the client are willing to pay the extra for the twin and get less efficiency, well what's wrong with that??:roll eyes:

That's fair, rainforest is properly bad, but twins are not imune from "land immediately" either, as we have seen frequently recently.

[Mark Six]

Quote:
The OEI performance of a single is not as bad as people make out, it just means you have to land imediately

That has to be the funniest statement I've ever seen on this site.

[Nubian]

but twins are not imune from "land immediately" either

Nope, most crashes happens due to the guy(s) behind the controls that c..k up in some way, and it does not matter how many engines you have on your back. However, the odd times when an engine failure does occur, it is nice to be able to make it to the next clear patch....

BTW, all single rotor helicopters have 1 MGB..... and it is usually not a problem :suspect:

[AnFI]

nubian: "BTW, all single rotor helicopters have 1 MGB..... and it is usually not a problem"

Precisely, the most reliable things in helicopters are the single system (simplex) critical components. They almost never fail. Much more reliable than gearboxes or engines in twins.

[I-IIII]

Ciao AnFi
Just for your knowledge the main gearbox in 350 and 355 is the same.....:*

[AnFI]

I-IIII "Just for your knowledge the main gearbox in 350 and 355 is the same....."
No; the 355 has a combiner gearbox attached which has killed people. The 350 does not have this.

twin maths is a con

[rotorspeed]

AnFI

Just out of interest, why are you so anti-twin? You are a bit of a stuck record! And if your mantra is correct, why do most of the world's regulatory bodies think otherwise and legislate for twin for over water and IMC public transport?

AS355N good light twin; nice and smooth and comfortable. But don't expect the engines to go to time - the early Arrius 1A is hardly robust and Turbomeca won't miss an opportunity to extract money. Having said that actual in-flight failure is very rare.

[I-IIII]

AnFI
The gearbox is the same,the combined box is another story and killed people like arriel 1 and 2 killed people,like the tail rotor on B3e killed people like bell 206 killed people,like the ignorance killed people,like drugs killed people,like sigarettes killed people.:ugh::ugh:
We are not discussin who killed who

[AnFI]

why do most of the world's regulatory bodies think otherwise and legislate for twin for over water and IMC public transport?

too long to answer that; money, politics, public perception, bad logic etc etc

and i am not really against twins - i just think it is a bad solution

[aerotune]

Thanks for the feedback, what are the TBO's for the engines?