Originally Posted by
Northernstar
Wait to see what the serviceability is like. If U.K. vip and hems airframes are anything to go by….
I can’t see the culture in Austria accepting sub standard rates. But then maybe that’s why instead of open competition it was a gov to gov deal otherwise would anyone have bought it outside of the home nation? Some small but also big shoes to fill.
How long before the Bundesheer decide more Blackhawks would have better replaced the 212’s. They’ve had such success with them and even upgraded them.
it’s akin to someone taking our lovely 175’s up north and selling to a military force somewhere. Just ask why the French have introduced almost all Airbus types into their military and para public fleets, but not the 175.
Newest 169s out the factory do a lot better than the earlier models still being flown in UK HEMS. I think 3 of those are actually pre-production and have prototype maintenance manuals for their parts.
The spanky new ones coming out are doing really well, very little down time in comparison. Like any type, there’s nothing better than maturing.
Damper links still go all the time but a lateral wiggle between the blades during the preflight will easily pick up a link about to go. If you can feel it then the link probably has 5-10hrs left on it and engineers are so used to changing them now it can be done in less than an hour.