From the passenger's point of view there is not much to choose between them - you can either have the slightly larger-cabined but vibratory 92 or the slightly smaller but smoother 225. But I know that the Norwegian offshore wokers unions have repeatedly complained about vibration levels on the 92 - I suspect they would prefer the 225 if they tried it.
Now that I am officially out of the rotorcraft industry, I can finally post on the “vibration issues” with the S-92. In my former position I had the opportunity to go around the world to help customers put the S-92 in service. During that time, I have had the opportunity to ride on customer 92s in the Gulf, the North Sea and Newfoundland. Barring some maintenance issues, all of the 92s I have flown on have been within limits. And there in lies the problem. While the limits on the 92 are acceptable on a military aircraft they are not acceptable in the civil market. It is my experience that some of the operators do just enough track and balance work to get the ship within limits. If you want to feel what a well tuned 92 feels like you need to take a trip to Newfoundland. Their 92 is the smoothest customer aircraft that I have flown in. A well tuned 92 is every bit as good as a Super Puma (which I have also had the opportunity to fly in.)
Road Warrior
Ref post #612
Road warrior, hope you're still reading these posts, I have a question that hopefully you can answer. I stopped at your post as my eyes were glazing over trying to go back through all the history, plus you made a very important comparison to numerous S-92s that you'd flown in globally. For those interested, see posts 207, 221, 473 and trawl through after 612 for more applicable posts.
Does the S-92a AVS automatically compensate for variable payload, weight distribution in the passenger cabin, or does it have to be manually tuned? Could this explain the differing feedback on vibration levels noticed? I'm thinking along the lines of maximum payload + uneven weight distribution in the cabin = quiescent imbalance on airframe. Correct me if I'm way off base (no pun intended) and the ratio of PAX and fuel/cargo combined payload is insignificant in comparison to total aircraft weight.
I'm curious now as thinking back over the last 4 years of S-92 flying I can recall days when the vibes were worse, just wondering why the difference when all the a/c are assumed to be well tuned and knowing that Cougar would have been doing the highest maintenance standard, making it seem more odd that a variable vibration issue should be present. Or is it all down to how hard the rotors are working and all the variables in play there?
Ah well, back to trawling through the posts whilst waiting for some hopefully beneficial insight...