When an older Bell has come short because of issues with the feet, tail or somewhere in between the evidence has clearly determined what the cause was.
The same applies to the flying bus and it's hydraulics or indeed any other non-RHC aircraft.
The crux of the issue is that for a very long period of time (and it continues today) a Robbie comes to grief midair, showering the countryside with pieces and the events leading to the accident are generally not easily identified or identified at all.
The goto point then becomes wind or turbulence and by default, therefor, the pilot. This makes the Robbie faithful comfortable as it would never happen to them, they are much more experienced and capable than those that wilfully ignore all the warnings.
If you look at enough cases what you find is that these accidents also occur with experienced pilots and in weather that couldn't be shown to be rough.
All the other manufacturers account for for approximately two thirds of the hours flow, many operated in far less mundane environments (mustering certainly isn't mundane but those accidents tend to involve becoming one with a tree or wire) and with higher seating capacity yet they account for the smaller percentage of fatal accidents.
The Robbie's apparent flaws are nothing new, so the risks shouldn't be anything new to those that fly them.
The Robbie was made to be cheap, it is what made it affordable to train on and accessible to many smaller operations who could simply not afford anything better.
Given the choice today I would rather be trained on a Cabri, which has recently been stealing Robinson's lunch money. Hopefully they get a 4-seater going, that could really create a few ripples in the piston waters.
Last edited by Bell_ringer; 9th Apr 2018 at 05:35.
Reason: typos