The writing has been on the wall for a long time...
With higher margins on R44's and increased demand, he can afford to loose that niche market. He's not going to make ANY changes to the R22, even if they are simple. For example, they don't have plans to put the rounded end-caps for blades on the R22 like they did for the R44.
There hasn't been any technological "leaps" in small rotorcraft design in the last 20-30 years. For example, Frank's design has changed very little since it's inception. It won't happen this year and probably won't happen next year, but I predict that Frank WILL NOT accept any new R22 orders after December 31, 2005.
Does anybody want to place that bet?
New composites, materials, and design improvements have been suggested over and over again. However, to implement most of these changes would require a completely new design. What's more likely... that Frank will choose to develop a completely new helicopter from scratch OR will he market the Raven I as a better training platform?
(Pat, thanks for posting this information!)