To: Elpirata
I never questioned the reliability of the R22 and I made one post about the reliability of the R44 Raven Hydraulic system but that was just a repeat of another post on another forum. My main beef with the R22/R44 is that they are restricted from performing basic flight maneuvers that they were required to do in order to gain certification. Those flight maneuvers are flying out of trim and avoidance of sideslip. Because of that it was my contention that if the two helicopters were offered for certification at this point in time and they were not capable of performing those required maneuvers then they would not grant certification.
The other was the design of the rotorhead required an 18-degree offset when rigging the helicopter which with a 90-degree phase angle would cause the helicopter to fly left. I further contended that with the necessary cyclic input to counter the effects in inflow roll and possible blow back when the cyclic was finally at rest it would be to the right of the rigged neutral setting of the cyclic stick.
I further stated that with the cyclic being offset to compensate for the 18-degree offset at rigging the pilot would be placed in jeopardy if he /she encountered a zero G maneuver and he/she complied with the POH and pulled the cyclic straight back. In doing so the offset cyclic would cause an exacerbation of the right roll component and the pilot could possibly lose the helicopter.
If the Robinson is flown with care it can function as well and in some cases better than any other small helicopters. However, the built in design problems can kill you a lot faster than any other helicopter.
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The Cat