There are times when people who have no experience of an aircraft either in terms of flying it or its pluses and minuses should not comment on it.
The W30 was limited in range, and due to RR fly by the hour engine costs, eventually too expensive to operate.
However, on the Penzance to Scillies scheduled service it was the aircraft of choice by many passengers, the alternative being the S61.
On North Sea operations,its' good points were its' large square boxlike passenger cabin in which most men could stand up and walk about, and its excellent baggage hold in terms of capacity and shape.
I flew it for several years and enjoyed it very much. There was no doubt that the aircraft was under-developed in terms of auto stabilisation, autopilot, and powerplant.
However, had the money been available to develop the Series 3 version of this aircraft it may well have been very successful. For £90million more we could have had a 150Knot, 550 nm range helicopter which could carry 17 pax and their baggage. The money was not available unfortunately.
Even in its relatively under-developed state, I had now qualms about flying it,and neither did my colleagues as far as I am aware.
RBS