Just read the following in the weekly AOPA e-newsletter:
ROBINSON TO DESIGN FIVE-PASSENGER HELICOPTER
Robinson Helicopter Company is testing parts and will assemble a prototype in a year or two of a five-place R66 helicopter, company founder Frank Robinson said this week at the Helicopter Association International convention in Orlando, Florida. It will be powered by a Rolls-Royce turbine engine and is intended as a replacement for older Bell JetRanger aircraft nearing lifetime limits. It will look much like the present R44 four-passenger helicopter and have a dedicated baggage compartment. Robinson was coy on the cost, saying it would be less than $1 million but more than the R44's cost of $400,000. It will have a two-blade rotor that will be mounted 8 inches higher than that on the R44 in order to handle center-of-gravity issues created by the larger design.