Nick, thanks for clearing up the slip rings thing. Could you say, then, that there are no single point failures (short of daft things like blades falling off etc) that would bring the system down? If so, that is commendable, not sure that I am convinced just yet....
Customers, as you say Nick, are those in the back. They charter our aircraft, they pay my salary and increasingly they decide what equipment they want to have in the helicopters that they are going to fly around in. When they say that they would like to have de-icing, we will be delighted to supply that for them but so far they neither they, nor we, have identified a justification for the cost and weight (I say again, within the context of the N Sea). It does not make business sense to spend a lot of money on a feature that is not wanted by our clients nor strictly necessary. That would make us uncompetitive in a very competitive market, and going bust does not do much for flight safety.
Ditto when they say they would like to be flown around in an S92, though so far they have not said that, but I expect one of them might one day.... No rationalisations going on, just commercial reality.
HC