Originally Posted by
johni
I guess the market for the HX50 is the private owner who doesn't fly much. Hence the R66 makes no sense as it costs £700,000 and you have to pay a lot (£270,000 ?) for a rebuild after 12 years.
Whereas the HX50 is £500,000 and has no "rebuild clock ticking" as soon as you buy it.
Other options are Hughes 500 (expensive, cramped), Bell 206 (expensive, old), EC120 (expensive, unpowered), AS350 (v expensive)
....which is probably why Hill has so many orders! (that, and the 4 axis AP and glass cockpit)
Yeah but if you placed a deposit for £100k for an HX50 and don't get a helicopter, that's not quite so good.
I think we all get that the HX50 proposition represents a remarkable deal. It's my view that it's way TOO remarkable. As soon as the first customer machine flies, I'll eat my words and tip my hat to the Hill team. Until then, it's just blah blah.