R22 vs. 269/300
I have limited experience so far in the hughes. So far I have to say that the R22, performs better. I was actually quite disappointed at the lack of reserve power hovering with half tanks, a 165 pound passenger, at 3000' msl and a balmy 3 degrees celsius. The engine RPM limit in this bird is 2900. I had it pegged there, and still only had about 1.5 inches of MAP to spare until full throttle. Maybe it's a weak bird. I would like to hear from people with experience flying 269A's with fuel injected 0-360's. So far I have seen a couple of the good attributes of the heli. It is extremely easy to fly. I was a bit concerned about flying with a standard cyclic and no governor, but I held that thing like a rock right off the bat. Anyway, I have to get one thing off my chest. I really hate it when people say the Schweizer has more power than the 22. It's just not true. From what I've seen in the Hughes, you need almost all that 180hp you can get, but guess what happens to HP as you climb? In the R22 you can usually get by with hovering at 124HP. You can pull an extra .9" for 131HP. That's usually enough to get ya an alright Max Perf. takeoff. You can climb all the way up to about 8000' on average before you can't pull 124HP (depending on the DA). If the R22 was only just a bit wider with more fuel capacity.