I prefer the 500 for inspection and patrol as well as repair/construction. First of all it flies well it tight quarters, down in the trees that you may find along right of ways,
also flies and hovers well regard less of wind azimuth. If you are doing a real inspection, you will find that most of your flying is in that mushy zone, just above ETL but not quite fully transitioned into fwd flight, It seems to be less prone to LTE, and SWP than most other single rotor helicopters and this is a big plus flying low, slow, and heavy in tight areas.
Another nice feature, as was pionted out is its crash suvivability. Unless you get a tree in the cockpit or roll down a hill you'll probably just walk away.
As far as the 1700 lb power pole, you may be able to pull it off, but not in a production environment. Unframed poles are a very low drag load which allows max possble lift to occur. But 1300-1400 pounders are about max.
On a standard day at sea level you usually hit max torque at about 3300 lbs, transients at about 3400 and the rotors start slowing at about 3500. ( you can get the empty weight of a " D " model under 1500lbs.)
As far as auto from 80 ft, with zero aispeed you will break the helicopter. You will be fine but the machine will be broken, period.
you will need a good twenty five KTS, off the nose and a nice flat surface between your toes to have any chance of pulling that one off. I've had a few of these occur,in actual working conditions and there is a big difference between getting all lined up over the spot going 1 Mississippi, 2 Mississippi, and rolling off the throttle,and having it get real quiet and heavy with your head out the door tring to get something done.
Lastly, from an operators standpoint you get more bang for you buck with a 500 for these missions than with any other make/model Any thing bigger is overkill, and any thing amaller just wont get the job done !
( i.e.R44 )
cheers , Wirepilot