Originally Posted by
aa777888
This is not entirely untrue for the US. For example, there are three folks checked out by the school I lease back to who SFH my R44 quite regularly. However I can't speak to how the US and EU compare in this respect overall. Certainly there's plenty of SFH fixed wing op's, not 100% sure where the US industry stands on this for rotary wing.
Here in London, I can pick up the phone right now and hire an R44 at about 6 different locations all a short drive from my home. That doesn't exist anywhere in the US, not even near a wealth centre like New York or Los Angeles (where they manufacture them). The US does have fantastic availability/pricing for fixed wing though. I've hired helicopters in FL, NC, VA and CA and it is always a painful process to find an R44 for hire. My last SFH of an R44 in the US was at Total Flight Solutions in Louisburg NC; nice guys but was 2.5hrs drive from where I was actually staying and second choice was even further away (5hrs drive) on the western side of the state.
To compare places places to land (sure you're familiar w/ HeliPaddy app), here's a screenshot of landing spots for the southern UK:
