Gaseous,
You're absolutely right about regulating by cost! However, the BCAR-VLH regulations and the EASA-VLR regulations do allow you to slip in with a kit aircraft at the £40-50K point, with the operating costs as I have described. While this is certainly well out of the reach of the everyday-joe, it certainly puts helicopters flight into the reach of many fixed wing aviators - a market that is 5-10 times larger! In addition, people that currently fly self-fly-hire would be able to buy, build and maintain their very own high quality, high performance rotorcraft. Reducing cost and getting much more than a R22, Rotorway or Safari can offer on top.
Dave,
Thanks for the continued discussion. I agree that we are not going to produce a next-generation rotorcraft by implementing my proposal, but however this was never the intention. The intention was to produce a high quality, safe and reliable kit helicopter that will get private fliers up and flying at the minimum cost, safely. Squeezing, the levels of payload and performance that I have described out of a IO-360 powered machine without sacrificing reliability certainly requires highly skilled engineering, but I have no doubt, it is perfectly feasible, if a little close to the asymptote.
A next-generation machine requires much more, a better engine, a better rotor and better systems, but this will take a lot of time and money to develop properly and in my opinion is that it is beyond the scope of this project.
As I understand it this thread is about building a high quality, low cost kit helicopter that could be available in a couple of years and possibly be certified at a later date via the EASA-VLR (Europe) and Primary Category Rotorcraft (US) regulations. The high levels of performance and reliability offered by the proposal will up the expectations of the market, hence raising the minimum standard required for a manufacturer to successfully enter the market with a new machine and hence put an end to dangerous kit products and inadequate/non-fit-for-purpose certified designs, benefiting all in our community.
Thanks to everyone for sticking with these long posts!
CRAN
