All in all, it's just a simple, tough helicopter.
If it means anything to you, a BA is just a B with gray (asymmetric) blades and some mechanical magic that allows you to lift 330 lbs more and pull a little more torque. If you were operating light, the BA is faster than a B. The BA feels a little less nimble than the B. It could be that I ran BA in the summer more recently than a B, but the BA seems more affected by DA. My guess is that summer DA would make performance planning critical at the rim altitudes.
Remembering my transition to type:
I missed the ground idle stop, a lot.
Right side down at a hover felt really weird.
The skid heel springs mean I never, ever, feel for the ground. Every freakin' time I do, I embarrass myself- and I have something like 20 years in type.
Right vs left pedal was only an issue as I spun up to operating RPM from ground idle. Going the other way isn't an issue for me because I can't snap it back to ground idle- there's no stop (also embarrassing).
Lots of tail rotor authority.
Yes, the unbaffled fuel sloshes. Hover like Granny in her big old Buick, and not an issue.
Do read the RFM carefully, especially the hydraulic bits. The system installed is simple but a little quirky. I'm not apprehensive about the servo transparency issue, but I don't honk this thing around where it could hurt me, either.
Otherwise, it's a hoot to fly- not quite a Hughes 500, or even a 300- but still agile and controllable compared to Bells. On that note, the cyclic seems more proportionate in both axis as compared to the 206, which seemed to take a lot of pitch.
Last edited by Devil 49; 9th February 2011 at 12:57.
Reason: clarity