Originally Posted by
retoocs
Aren't the S-70i just a S-70M? S-70M does have a restricted type certificate H5NE.
You are correct. While I wasn't paying attention (I'm retired) Sikorsky followed through when I said there was talk of their getting FAA certification for new production S70 aircraft. In fact it was just this March that the M appeared as a new restricted ship. Good on them. The public agencies don't need it but the private operators can now plunk down a bunch of millions and buy a new one and go put out fires etc. It would also mean that the ones bought by agencies could be sold to private operators when the agency is done with them. Being un-certificated would mean they can only go to another public aircraft operator unless someone when through the certification process. I don't know how the FAA would regard a model never operated by the US military ( the S70I) as far as issuing a restricted certificate.