I was hoping to find a bunch more opinions and some points raised that I hadn't considered - which you have all provided in spades.
Thank you for taking the time.
All of your comments and considerations are going into our melting pot. The extra maintenance on the 500's head is certainly worth investigating further and I am speaking with the locals (Mechanics) today to discuss the options with them further. We have to chase hangar space anyway, so the conversations have a two-fold intent.
BTW, the lease overhead on a $500,000 platform is roughly $2000/week over 60 months with a 30% balloon, before fixed and per hour running costs, insurance, hangar space etc.
I didn't realise that the 500 was reportedly so uncomfortable in the back? Worth knowing, for sure. One of the major ones though may be the exhaust. We will have to operate from CA's in the bush on occassions - and in the dry the bush is a tinderbox. I know of an Army Kiowa that was torched when the guys accidentally knocked over their Hexi-Stove! It was that quick. Perhaps, even with High Skids the 500 would pose too great a risk of starting a bush fire?
HeliJedi - I take your point. I like the Squirrel to fly. It has more seats and three good 'boots'. The biggest issue is with price. That's not to say we wouldn't expand into it, and there IS something to be said for offering a unique cabability, even if someone else comes on the scene. I believe the Navy will be getting rid of their AS350BAs 'soon'. They may go for a reasonable price. Full IFR with A/P, hooks, winches etc. Until then, there just are not many Squirrel's around. The AU$ was at US$0.79 lat night, which is a shock when compared with two months ago! I'll certainly give it some more thought. Bottom line - an AS350 'anything' will cost two to three times as much as the platforms we're investigating. But your words are haunting....
500 Fan - thanks for that. I know Great Slave -I've always wanted to fly for them - I think they would still have my resume on file
. I have seen the Great Slave 500Ds with the belly pods, but I hadn't seen that set-up before. Cheers. I have always figured the 500D to be a better sling/vert.ref platform than the 206. Would you agree? I have heard tell of 50% better in terms of loads?
rotornut - cheers mate - onto it today!