Stories very reminisent about A models of all aircraft. Had an American Airlines pilot once tell me that when they first got delivery of the new MD11's they called them SCUDS - once they launched, you never new where they were going to land.
Bristow backed away from the AB139 partly due to concerns about support. Back in the late 90's, they had a meeting with Augusta and had lots of questions - things like warranties, cost of parts, retirement times, etc. - all those things you would like to know before shelling out $100 mill. The meeting was apparently in March, and by July they had not received any answers. One Bristow exec. put it this way: "if that's the kind of support you get when they're trying to sell it to you, what kind of support are you going to get after they've sold it to you."
Makes me wonder why Bell bailed out.