A few more thoughts on our new R66 ...
Before we got it, I was worried about people getting hurt by walking near the exhaust while it's running - Not worried any more ! I've only seen one start cycle from the outside, but it was enough to convince me that anyone who was anywhere near the exhaust when the fuel goes in would get the idea and leave pretty quickly. Once it's running you'd have to be willfully bonkers to go anywhere near the exhaust.
The boot is huge. It looks as big or bigger than the one on a Jetranger, and can carry more weight than the Jetty boot (136 kg). You can still put stuff under the seats, but I don't think you'd bother. We'll keep safety items and company requirements under the seats, but it seems very unlikely that you'd ever need to put passenger baggage there.
There are some great little touches like the light which shines onto the circuit breaker panel, or the drains which catch any fuel spill or engine oil spill when you're filling those.The engine, MR gearbox, and hydraulic oils can all be checked via the same cowl on the LHS. A torch will be handy, but isn't needed if you don't happen to have one in your pocket at the time. There are steps up the LHS so you can get up to pre-flight the rotor head without needing a ladder.
The exhaust is directed somewhat downwards as it leaves the engine, but the underside of the boom, tail feathers and the tail rotor still get a fair bit of soot. Our aircraft are washed every day they fly, but we'll be painting a fair bit of that area dark to help keep them looking good.
I think one of the problems is likely to be over-enthusiastic take-off profiles. I looked at the video someone posted earlier on this thread, and I can tell you that it's just sooo tempting to do that when you first get the keys to an R66. It has so much spare power, that there's a major surprise in store for those who've spent too long easing heavily loaded 44's and 206's into the air. I suspect that's why the book limits take-off torque to 10% above hover torque - to try and keep pilots somewhere near a sensible departure profile. I'm planning to do specific work with our pilots along these lines.
Lastly, I'm happy that we still have the Robbie cyclic. When I fly a 206 or 350 for a day, I invariably end up with a sore lower back as a result of lifting my leg over the cyclic and turning at the same time to get out of the helicopter a dozen times a day. With the Robbie I just lift the cyclic handle out of the way and there's no stress on my lower back as I get out. I'm equally happy with the cyclic from the left seat, and don't have any problem with keeping my hand up a bit higher when flying from that side so the other pilot can follow through on the exercises. It's entirely personal of course, but I'm happy the way things are.
Last edited by Unhinged; 12th March 2011 at 21:27.