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Old 2nd Aug 2008, 16:23
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birrddog
 
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Cost, space and weight effective technology, and spare parts

Nick,

I would like to reiterate the themes from previous posts:
1. Lightweight and small
2. Cheap
3. Simple
4. Time to Market

Lightweight and small, so we can put all the avionics and accessories from an S92 into a 44/206.

Advances in electronics and materials science means we should have a lot more functionality with less space and weight.

Cost effective, so we can _afford_ to put all the avionics and accessories from an S92 into a 44/206

Focus on technologies and materials cheaper to produce, with lower defect rates and production costs.

Simple, so pilots can self diagnose and repair most issues, e.g. an alert screen tells pilot fadec faulty, pilot goes into trunk, pulls out a spare (like a fuse in a car), replaces in the field, carries on flying and when he gets back to base he can send of/swap out the faulty spare.

There are a lot of cases where redundancy does not need to be in-line, and you can land to replace a part. Not everyone flies over the north sea in the fog and ice and needs to pay the weight / cost penalty.

Time to market for new technology
By technology I mean any material or device going into a helicopter. We need to improve the pipeline for developing and implementing new technology and materials so we don't have 30-50 year upgrade cycles, and that new technology can easily and cost effectively be retrofitted.

And when looking for technology advances, it should not just be in functionality, there is enough on the market today for most our needs, it needs to be to make existing functionality cheaper, lighter, smaller and quicker to market.

As an Aside

Having a light utility helicopter that can compete against a Cessna 182 would be a big boon for the industry.

Why does a helicopter need to cost 5-10 more than an equivalent airplane with half the performance?

The certification and insurance liability overhead has to come down so we can get newer technology out to the market faster, more reliably so everyone can benefit from the cost, safety and weight benefits.

Oh, and we always want more power and range

Thanks for taking the time to wade through our suggestions.
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