That's good news! Since Frank Robinson brought cost effective helicopters into the world, for folks like myself, i can only wish the R66 development team good luck. I'm sure when the initial R44 powertrain prototype becomes an actual R66 prototype the designers will have a good looking machine to keep everyone happy. Some styling concepts probably already exist.
Interesting to see the mast extension. The longer moment arm should reduce the cyclic response time constant, although it will also reduce dynamic stability from increased flapback for pitch/roll attitude change. I gather SCAS will be standard. I suspect the reason is to improve controlability in reduced g manouvres, to keep the machine competetive in a market place moving towards hingeless rotors.
Keep up the good work RHC...
