R-22 vs 300C/CB/CBi
Well,
The big debate on track again.. A absolute wrong debate in term of pure training. Franck Robinson himself said again and again he never designed the R-22 as training helicopter. On other hand Hughes designed the 269 based on a training helicopter requirement from the US Army.
Therefore, I believe the 300 is much better suited for initial training. The R-22 being too touchy, it could be frustrating for any beginner - after all willing is not the only ability required to learn helicopter flying.
The R-22 is a good aircraft and when possible all student should learn to fly it - after having passed at least half the flight time for the certificate thought....
Most of the student pilots are passing through CFI rating an most of the school are using R-22, and I believe it should be a requirement to handle the R-22 properly to avoid any mishap while teaching.
The R-22 took a dominating position, due to its low operating cost, and 2000 original overhaul limit. Training is a business and lowering cost was/is an issue.
However, I am sure school owners are less stressed when their fleet of 300 is outside flying...!!!!
Having some R-22 in the fleet for navigation training, is a good solution to give your student "costless" way to build time and navigation requirements.
My perfect flight school fleet would be 4 x 300CBi, two R-22 and one R-44 (operated from a private owner.