Originally Posted by
rotorfossil
Many years ago I attended one of the early safety courses. It was apparent that that Frank was between a rock and a hard place. Before the R22, helicopters were too expensive for the average private pilot, and the ones that could afford were taught by mainly experienced ex military instructors. Suddenly, the R22 appeared and the users were low time pilots, training schools with low experience instructors, cattle herders, deer cullers and the like. This pretty much guaranteed a high accident rate and Frank was being sued left right and centre. The result was the safety courses and a blizzard of safety notices for survival of the company.
It's also the reason why an R22 went from the planned $40k - $50k USD or something for a new one that you threw away after 12 years (the plan), to the price they are at now. Because they were getting sued by people that used them for reasons they weren't designed for, or just weren't trained properly on....all of them getting killed or maimed and blaming the heli. That put the Robinson liability insurance premiums through the roof for the factory