I must say after I read the first post I cringed at what I suspected would be lighting bolts fired back and forth. I am enlightened to see such good debate, advantages and disadvantages of each aircraft discussed civilly. Perhaps now that both aircraft are fully fielded and have several years of operation we as an industry see each in a different light.
I’ve been fortunate to fly in, sell and lease both helicopters. And I must say each is a fantastic machine and as HC so eloquently put each manufacturer’s philosophy of design really shows itself in these two helicopters. And each will have its appeal to different pilots and engineers, its Mercedes v. BMW; Airbus v. Boeing; or Burgundy v. Bordeaux. Each has some attribute that in a given location, mission and condition perform better than the other.
Dave Stepanek