totti, I will reiterate for you..."I have flown the 429, as well as the 135 and 145 , and find that what the Mercy one pilots say about the aircraft is true. " FYI when I was flying the 135 and 145 I was in the employ of AEC. I have compared all three aircrafts actual performance against that of the RFM, have you? Therefore my observations are based on more than "hype and someone elses opinon", unlike yours. You assume that the AIN article was 'obviously sponsored' (do you have evidence of that 'FACT' or is this also just opinion?). I pointed out that in a completely seperate and non related conversation on a visit to Mercy they expressed the same opinion, have you heard differently from them?
Yes Bell missed the mark on payload. I think there is a bit of confusion in the AIN article. If you look at what was said: "It is not a concern for us because our missions are typically less than 125 miles each way. I can sit on the pad with 900 pounds [payload] and full fuel all day." Given the usual mission range and the stated fuel burn it is safe to assume that they are off loading fuel. Given that Mr. Keough is not a pilot I think it is safe to assume that what he refers to as 'full fuel' is actually their standard mission fuel, not what you or I would refer to as full fuel. More of an honest mistake from a non pilot wouldn't you say?
Your other 'fact' wrt:
"The 135 was a good workhorse, but with the 429 we can still make 130 knots over the ground into a 30-knot headwind. It's a Corvette. This thing is fast." That's 160 KTAS, right? Too bad the VNE is really 155 Kts.
Did you bother to convert to TAS? KDSM sits at 958'msl. They probably fly at 2000'msl or higher. At 2000'MSL the 429s TAS is 157 ktas(153 kias vne). At 4000' msl TAS is 160 ktas(151 kias vne). At 6000'msl the 429s TAS is 162 (149 kias vne). And yes it will fly that fast. It's this speed factor that would, presumably, allow them to takeoff with less than a full fuel (as you and I would call it) and still safely accomplish their mission with a reserve.