Nigelh:
....what bothers me is that you are going to make yourself ill with all your anti Bell venom !!! Just chill ...
Oh Nigel...simple, caring Nigel. Please do not concern yourself with my health for it is quite good. I do not have any anti-Bell venom in my blood; I've flown Bell products all my life and am quite fond of them! ...Most of them. ...Not this particular turkey called the 505 though, which seems to be trying for the "Not Ready For Prime Time" award.
You wrote of your friend:
The new owner has opted against the Frahms vibration kit as he said his was silky smooth right up to around 125 Knots so didn’t feel it worth the money.
People often are so impressed and overwhelmed upon flying a new aircraft for the first time that their senses are fooled. It's not until we spend some time with a new bird that we become objective about their qualities and traits. Your friend/new owner may indeed have felt that it was "silky smooth" but unfortunately that is not what other, more experienced pilots have reported.
I'm not sure what your experience level is, Nigel, but those of us who have some time flying two-blade, underslung rotors around know...KNOW!...that they get rough as the airspeed increases. And not just two-blades! Hell, an experienced pilot/friend of mine flew in an EC120 and was definitely *not* impressed with the ride-quality at 110 knots in cruise (not to mention the fuel burn!). Bell didn't change the laws of physics with the 505. I believe that your new owner-friend will regret not getting the new, additional damper. It is pure fantasy to think that people are going to be zooming around at 125 knots in their 505, drag-racing 407's.
As for the skid gear I am afraid I haven’t heard anything about that . Maybe there is an inspection to be done but no big deal .... it’s ALL under warranty for 1,000 hours / 3 years !!
You're kidding me, right? Are you saying that you're *not* aware of the life-limit on the landing gear of 500-LANDINGS?? I thought everyone knew about this! 500 *landings* and then you have to change the gear. Each hovering-auto counts for 25 landings. It's not "no big deal." It's a huge deal.
The only other aircraft that I know of with a restriction like that is the AT-802 Air Tractor spray plane. The landing gear has a 3,000 landing limit before it has to be replaced. That's kind of crazy, but at least 3,000 landings is better than 500.
It will be interesting to see how the 505 works out in the field as flight-time on the fleet increases. I suspect that many 505 owners are going to face-palm themselves and go, "Shoulda bought an R-66!"
We shall see...