JW411, pilgrim,
I suspect you had no experience with the -100 and early ALF 502/503 converted helicopter engines or you might agree with wikipedia:
Problems
The ALF 502 turbofans suffered from some reliability problems. The internal electronics were prone to overheating which could trigger an automatic shutdown of an engine with no option of in-flight restarting, and certain rare atmospheric conditions caused loss of engine thrust due to internal icing.[4]. In recent years, there have been cases where toxic fumes from engine oil have entered the air-conditioning system and entered the cockpit, adversely affecting the pilots.[5][6]
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But I suppose it's easier to brand everybody John Wayne who flys a three year old airplane at the BAe recommended cruise of .78 mach (IIRC.) Incidentally, Barber poles were frequently lowered by subsequent airlines on many models including the B727. After being re-skinned into a freighter, for example, MMO was lowered from .87 to .80 on some of the worst repaired birds.
These numbers to the best of my memory (don't make me look it up.)
Loved the tailbrake on the "pregnant hunchback sweet potato." We threw it out at 500 feet. It always loved ref-5 at touchdown (sssshhshhh! don't tell anybody!)
Yeeeeeehaaaawwwww!