Originally Posted by TorqueStripe
As long as we are not talking about the Astro, you have the hydraulic controls in the 44 which obviously makes a big difference; the tail rotor is little bit differerent as well providing a superb control authority.
Thanks TorqueStripe. I didn't realise R44 had hydraulics, but i imagine they have set out to use improved cambered aerofoils, so need it on a medium size machine. TR direction is optimal bottom forwards direction, so will work with MR downwash.
I imagine R66 pylon extension is to keep it's handling competetive with modern hingeless designs, but without the cost. Putting rotor so far above mass centroid may cause reduced hover stability, from low frequency flapback oscillation , so i would not be suprised if design team were considering SAS.
Mart